Pushy Pete thinks he's a great guy, the life of the classroom, which got old back in February. Today he needed to make an excuse for every suggestion I made. "Oh, I was going to do that, I just didn't get to it before I asked for help." "Oh, I know how to use MLA, I just didn't do it."
I turned so icy after the third interruption (his last, as it happened) that the other students quieted down and exchanged glances.
"Good," I thought. "Maybe they'll stay quiet long enough to listen when it's their turn."
Sometimes, when I'm feeling my cruel than usual, I consider paying a student to run out of my office during the first week's office hours. Word would get around and I'd have a lot more time to get productive work done.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I'd do the Indiana Jones escape-out-the-window trick, but I'm on the fourth floor.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm glad to get them into my office. I want them to come in for help. I just wish that (a) they'd come in much earlier in the semester, and (b) they'd listen to what their papers need without interrupting to justify their mistakes, especially when there's a line.
BTW, I've been called out on CM for posting too soon after an event and potentially blowing my cover, so I'd just like to add that there actually were 15 students, not 12; the style guide is the American Journal of Basketweaving, not MLA; and the student's name is Entitled Erwin, not Pushy Pete.