Thursday, February 05, 2009

The dumbest conversation I've ever had with a student

I have a kid in my honors class who recently transferred from another school. He has done nothing so far to make me think he is remotely honors material.

We had our test on Julius Caesar today, and every student finished before the bell except for this kid. I noticed that during the quote identification/significance section of the test, he was writing something on notebook paper. I assumed it was his answers, and he just preferred to write on lined paper.

Well, he turned in his test and left the notebook paper on his desk. I asked him to turn in the notebook paper, too.

It was all the quotes from my test.

I took it from him. And here's the conversation that followed:

STUDENT: I can't take those home and study them?

ME: Why do you need to study them? THIS is the test.
STUDENT: Well, I know I would know them if I studied them. Can't I take it home and come back and finish the test tomorrow?

ME: Um, no. You've known about this test for over a week, and every quote on here is a quote we went over several times in class. You are supposed to study before a test, not after it.

STUDENT: Seriously?

ME: Yes. You should have studied for this test, and obviously you didn't. How is that fair to the people who studied, paid attention, and were ready to take the test today?

STUDENT: So there's no way I can make this up? Not even for half credit?

Seriously, y'all. Does this kid have a lick of sense????? I've never had a kid say anything this bogus to me in my life.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If memory serves ... you have this kid in 2nd Period, right?

Do you think he wanted to sneak the quotes out to someone else in 5th or 7th?

Or is he not even that smart?

Amy said...

Yes, he's in my infamous 2nd period.

I do think that's entirely possible. In fact, maybe that was his plan all along, and he came up with the other as an excuse.

Either way, not too bright, that one.

Jenny said...

Not bright at all. Ugh.