Into the Strenuous Briefness

As planned, I asked my 4B gifted class, “Can I trust your class to complete a lab activity with a sub on Friday? Defend your answer.”

(It’s a paper lab, so there are no safety concerns and no equipment.)

While they wrote, they did actively discuss the question with each other, which was interesting to overhear, especially when pairs of particularly social students disagreed (“Definitely not!” “Yeah, of course!”)

I was really intrigued and surprised by how simultaneously thoughtful and infuriating their answers were.

“Yes, because I think we think we like to show off, and we would want to show the sub how much we know and how mature we are.”

“No, because we would be way too distracted on the lab side of the room.”

“Yes, because when the packets and book stuff you usually leave us, it gets really loud, and only one or two people even actually do the work, and everyone else just copies and talks. If we were doing a lab we would be more focused, I think, and we’d have to actually do the activity.”

“No, because sometimes it’s hard for me to learn from the lab, and without you here it would be even harder. So that’s important for me.”

On the one hand, I like they are so good at monitoring themselves. They know exactly the kinds of things I expect them to be able to do, and they know what they need. They’re also super honest, and I genuinely appreciate that. It means that they trust me and feel safe sharing out in my room.

But, also, really, you are in a high school gifted science class. So if the reason that you can’t be productive when I am gone is because you (collectively) are unable to discipline yourselves and maintain the behavior/concentration I typically demand, maybe you (collectively) should take initiative to fix that.

I don’t want to leave a textbook packet. I need them to actually learn something and be productive when I am gone on Friday because we do not have time this quarter to completely write off a day.

I love these kids dearly, and I know that they (generally) love me and my class, but they make me a little crazy.