I hadn’t intended to write about this topic again, but my students made me do it.

In the same class where students got extra homework earlier this week, two of the same boys decided that sleep was more important than 1) listening to what I was saying and 2) doing the assignment I gave them. It’s as if my giving them homework and them completing it earlier this week somehow gave them a pass for any bad actions they did the rest of the week.

The funny part, and more proof of the Vortex of Suck, is that they put their heads down at the same time. After I woke them up, they had a glazed, zombie look in their eyes until I started to explain the assignment. At that point, they put their heads down and went to sleep. I stopped explaining the assignment, woke them up and gave them a choice: do the work or leave the room and go off and sleep together. (Something like that.) I also told them they should save their textbooks because they would most likely need them again next year.

They opted to “not sleep” which is different than “be awake”. They didn’t work and I had to warn their partners in Suck that they shouldn’t talk to them lest they face consequences again.

What surprised me was the attitude the pair expressed. They acted as if they were somehow smarter than I was and that somehow I wouldn’t chase them down and make them do work as I had just done earlier in the week. Perhaps because there is a short break coming up they were thinking that I might forget about them over the break. (Actual answer: teenagers.)

Next Friday I’ll see them again and we’ll find out if the attitude is still there. I’m pretty sure it will be which means my attitude will go to 9 or 10 (for the record: it goes to 11) and they’ll get extra work. They’ll also get new seats up by me.