Disbelief

For a change of pace, I decided to do more of a kinetic exercise in my WR 115 class yesterday.  It was an exercise in careful observation, use of concrete details in writing, how to control time in a narrative.  ANYWAY, it was basically an exercise where they have to take a walk and then I teach them a bunch of things that can arise out of taking a walk.  It is one of my most favorite lessons to teach and I was a little school-girl giddy about it.

We were halfway through class when one of my students in a lull says, "Can we go outside today?"

"Yes," I said.  The student stared at me in disbelief, wondering if he had magic powers like Harry Potter or, for the older set, Fonzi.  Had he somehow convinced me of  something.

I explained the exercise to them, that they were allowed to go outside for ten minutes but they couldn't take their phones, not to walk in pairs, not to chat, but to go take a quiet walk around campus.  The weather couldn't have cooperated more if I'd had control over it.  It'd warmed to seventy outside but it had rained the day before and fall was in the air, like a ripe apple harvest.

The room emptied in 10 seconds flat.  They were practically storming out of the classroom.  Except.  Except for two young girls.  One of the girls came up to me and asked a clarifying question about the assignment.  She's a quiet girl in class and so I answered the question before saying, "Are you going to go outside now?"  She made up some lame story about having broken toes.  No boot, no cast, no limp.  Yeah, right!

The second girl sat quietly in the corner of the room.  She's seemed like a nice enough girl in the class, but she also doesn't say much.  When I say, "Are you, um, going to go outside?"  She shakes her head "no" and looks back down at her folder.

"You know this is an exercise for the class and not a bathroom break, right?"

"Yes," she says.

"You know we're going to do a writing exercise after this that is based on the walk, right?"

"Yes."

"You know this isn't just a busy work task, but an actual lesson that pertains to the essay your writing.  I don't waste class time with just time fillers."

The girl looks up from her notebook, levels her gaze at me, and says, "You can make a note in your little book if you like."  She then returns to her notebook.

I mark her absent for the day.  She remains in the class for the remainder of the period, even interrupting a discussion later in the day by talking with her neighbor.  She's the reason I have an attendance and participation portion of the grade that is reserved for my best judgment.  If it happens again, there will be consequences.