Is it wrong I want to respond "Yes?"

We are working on editing and revising papers today. I gave explicit instructions, (three times,) including writing them on the board. Of course that means nothing to high school boys.

Student: "Mrs. Scott, what do I do when I am done getting my paper edited (by a fellow peer)?"

Me: "Revise the edits."

Student: "What do you mean?"

Me: (trying not to lose it, since I JUST gave a lesson on how to revise, including a full demonstration with a student's paper; never mind that they have been revising since the 7th grade and these are juniors and seniors in high school.)

"Fix what is wrong, go back through, erase or cross out misspellings, put in transitions, change/replace words with better and/or stronger words, etc."

Student: "So you want me to write my final draft now?"

Me: "No, not yet, you are revising your rough draft right now."

Student: "I don't understand."

Me: "That's because you weren't listening."

Student: Blank "......"

Me: "Go through your rough draft, and on your rough draft, make revisions, cross out or erase and fix it. Then read through it again and make sure it flows. That's called revising."

Student: "So you want me to rewrite my whole paper?"

Me: "What did I just say?"

Student: "I don't know"

Me: (sighing heavily, trying not to throw my shoe and/or stapler at his head) "I really need you to listen to the directions"

Student: "I don't understand"

Me: "I can only help you if you listen you are not listening to me"

Student: "So am I writing my final draft now?"

Me: "NO."

Student: "What am I doing?"

Me: "Fix the edits on your paper, do you see here, all the things people marked as wrong, or need improvement on your paper? All that stuff written all over your paper in different colored ink? What you need to do is take your pencil (pick up your pencil, pick it up...) ok, now fix it...literally, on your rough draft. Like here, you spelled this word wrong, so you need to cross it out and fix the spelling...(go ahead, do that now...)

Student: "Right now?"

Me: "Yes.

Student: "Am I re-writing the whole paper, again right now?"

Me: DON'T re-write it, DON'T write your final draft, just cross out or erase the problems and revise the rough draft."

Student: "So, what am I doing, then?"

Me: glaring...."You need to go sit down now"

Student: "But I don't understand what I'm doing."

Me: "Sorry, you'll have to ask somebody else, now."

Student stomped off, dejected, but somehow, miraculously figured it out.



Later, at the end of class, (this is summer school, so they have class for four hour blocks a day...we revised our papers, then we re-read them, then we wrote the final drafts.)

I have written on the board the following:

"Stack your paper in the following order (bottom to top)
-rough draft including revisions (bottom of the stack)
-final draft
-self-assessment sheet, (completed)
-final scoring rubric sheet (blank)

Staple all together and turn in to Mrs. Scott by 11:30 today."

I then made them all put their pencils down, look at me so I could see their eyes (so I knew at least they were watching me) and demonstrated how I wanted them to turn in their final paper.

At the end of the day, the SAME student handed me his stack, in the opposite order, with no rough draft. I handed it back to him and said:

Me: "This is not correct, if you want me to grade it, you need to read the directions on the board and stack this properly, with all the required pieces.

Student: "It is TOO correct!"

Me: "You are missing your rough draft there, Sir."

Student: "You NEVER said I needed a rough draft...."

Me: I quietly walked over the board, pointed at the words "ROUGH DRAFT" and said "Don't argue with me, Anymore. It's obnoxious."


This evening, I received a text message, from the SAME student.

I had given my cell number (not home phone) to my students at the beginning of the semester to be used in emergencies only, as in, you or your parents are in the hospital, (which actually happened.)

His text message?

"Did I fail the class?"

He currently has a C-, although I haven't yet graded his final paper. He is most likely going to hold at a C-, or drop to a D+.

The question remains however, given the events of today, and his text that is an obvious abuse of my kindness (and beyond annoying,) is it wrong that I want to reply "yes?"