Quick Fix

U.S. history. It was the week before spring break. The classes had mostly been excellent. Third period was the "bad" class, although I'd take this "bad class" over most middle school classes any day.

Martin was one of the reasons it was a "bad" class.

When Martin walked in, he was in a bit of a panic. He was not ready for his Spanish presentation.

He had mentioned the presentation two days prior. He wasn't sure how he was going to memorize it.

But this was Friday, and it appeared Friday was the day.

Martin had a solution. He'd record his speech on his phone. Then he'd go into class with his hood up and one earbud in his ear. He'd give the speech as he heard the recording.

I can see several problems with this...

I had been covering the history class for a week. They had assignments, but they weren't immediately due. I saw more than one student working on other assignments--math, science, English.

(My general policy is work is work. If I'm collecting something, I'll push for them to be on task. But if I'm not, or if they've finished, I have no problem with them catching up or getting ahead with another class' work. Working students aren't causing problems.)

I would not have prevented Martin from reading through his speech. He could have spent the period preparing.

I'm sure you'll be unsurprised to hear Martin and his two buddies did not prep his speech or his cheat. Nope.

Their conversation, after asking me if I liked specific bands (The Police, The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink Floyd, etc.), revolved around their teacher's prowess as a football coach. (He's not the school's current coach, and he hasn't been for at least a couple years.)

Ah, Martin. Typical.

I wonder how his presentation went.

What problems can you see arising from Martin's proposed plan? Did you take a foreign language in school? 

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