Co-reading Chapter 9 with the teacher. Highlighting unfamiliar vocabulary words, looking them up and discussing their meanings. Discussing questions pertaining to chapter 9.
I gave Ayden the chance to edit his take-home exam in class for full credit. I annotated the Google Doc with precisely what he needed to do. He was pretty frustrated and ended the Microsoft Teams call. I remained on the line for the entirety of the session in case he changed his mind.
Assignment
edit take-home exam
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
15
Lesson Comments
I was shocked when Ayden hung up on me. I texted him to log back on, and he texted back the following: "I'm done with school for the day. Sorry." When I replied that I was disappointed and expected him to edit the test for homework, he responded: "I quit. It's restarted. I'm done with it. Give me an F. I'm not doing it. Be disappointed with me. I really don't care." He did not respond to my texts after that exchange. I was concerned and texted Denise. She checked on him and helped him complete the assignment later that evening (in my opinion, she did the work for him.) This experience confirms my gut instincts at the beginning of the year; I am not the right English teacher for Ayden at this juncture. He has grown too comfortable with me. He deserves a teacher who can make him work and prepare him for college. Effective immediately, I will not teach Ayden. I will provide lesson plans for the rest of the semester without compensation.
Ayden and I finished the last few pages of chapter eight. Ayden will be tested on chapters 1-8, including 20 vocabulary words. The test will be open book and open note; I explained to Ayden that this is a common testing format in college, encouraging higher-level thinking. I hope that this format will make Ayden more comfortable with writing.
