One of our 8th grade girls has her "Big" paper due, guess when, TOMORROW. She's known about this for about 1 month now, and she even did her research, notecards, etc... Every time I've seen her I've asked her if she wants to work on it, and her continual response has been, "Not right now...I have to go." So, today, I ask her if it's done. And, of course, SHE HASN'T EVEN STARTED! She says she doesn't care; she's not going to do it and just take summer school. I, quite sarcastically, replied that "Yes, that's definitely the better decision here." So, before I know it, it's 6:15 and she marches into the office begging for help to get this thing done. I have to say, it took about every ounce of empathy in my body to say "yes". I wanted to tell her too bad! You've wasted all this time, and this is your responsibility! Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part! (right Marcie? :) But, when it came down to it, I know that this paper is a big part of her grade and she needs to turn it in. So I helped her. For 2 1/2 hrs. we worked on it. It's not the best paper ever. She didn't cite her information, she didn't proofread it, but it's done.
Was I right to help her? I don't know. It's true, she has to learn responsibility. But maybe the biggest paper of the year isn't the time to teach that lesson. Or maybe it is.
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1 comment:
well...she may end up learning responsibility if she gets in trouble for not citing her sources... :(
But I think you were right to help her. If that means anything. :)
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