For all the pens and paper I have around the house and as part of my everyday carry, I apparently never learned to take coherent notes. This meant that today I passed out the same worksheet I passed out last week.

Then the students caused me problems.

The students thought it was kind of funny when the got the same worksheet and some of them pointed out what I’d done and I responded with “Yeah, I know.” and then the lying/improvisational department kicked in and I said that I wanted to review it because I wanted them to discuss why the incorrect sentences were incorrect. “Explain the mistakes.”

This kept them busy for a while and then I moved on to the next assignment.

Then the students tried to sabotage me. Their homework was to do research on a game and bring the research to class where they would do some writing using the research. Instead they all wrote the paragraphs at home which meant they’d used translators, which meant their English was probably worse than what I was hoping they’d do in class.

The problem was I’d planned on the in-class writing assignment taking up a substantial portion of the afternoon. This meant I had a substantial portion of the afternoon to replan.

My attitude was “Don’t you sabotage me! I’m the only one who gets to sabotage me!”

The lying/improvisational department took over and I told them to change papers and read their partner’s papers out loud and then proofread the paragraphs. Then everyone had to rewrite their paragraphs based on the suggestions.

That filled up enough of the afternoon that it looked almost as if I’d planned it.

As a rule, especially with lower level classes, I’m nice for the first few classes until it’s time to not be nice.

I give homework and try a few difficult things, but mostly I’m setting my students up for when the heavy stuff comes in. Today the heavy stuff came in and I stopped being nice.

After a pretty good first half of a three hour class, I could see students wearing down in the second half as demands increased. Then I gave them a writing assignment and watched their eyes glaze over and their brains fry (note, this happened in rapid succession so that it seemed nearly simultaneous). Most of them sat paralyzed and did nothing, one was working on something else until I came by. Two giggling women have guaranteed themselves new partners next week.

Then one guy pulled out his cellphone and started doing, well, it doesn’t matter because they are not allowed to have cellphones out unless I give permission, and it’s even questionable then.

I asked him what he was doing and his response was one part denial grunt and one part “oh crap” grunt. That’s when I turned the volume up to nine.

I told him he should get out if he didn’t want to be there and that if I saw his phone again, even if it was next week, he’d be thrown out. He mumbled something that may have been “sorry” and then stared at his textbook as if using the force would make words appear.

This could make things interesting next week. As the plan includes the students proofreading each other’s paragraphs, anyone without a paragraph will be sent out to finish it or not come back. I’ve already got the “you’re wasting everyone’s time” speech prepared.