The Cursed Class...Part Two

The 8th graders finally - FINALLY - got in their field day.

Granted, it rained most of yesterday so it was (of course) canceled.  Today it was dry, but cold (at least for this time of year).  I don't think the temperature ever reached above 55 and it was cloudy and windy.  But by golly, they got field day in.

So that was the good news.

The bad news is that on field days for the other two grades, we're more or less trapped with our kids all day with no planning or breaks.  So, during first and second period when they usually go to their elective classes such as PE, art, band, and the like, they stay with their homerooms (because the PE, art, and band teachers are all out running field day).  Usually what we end up doing is giving them some fun time - a movie or something easy like that because, after all, these are their fun elective periods.

Today, however, guidance wanted us to give them an on-line career inventory survey to help them do career planning with them as they get into 8th grade and high school.  The good part was that it was all done on line.

The bad part was that it was all done on line.

The Guidance Goober saw to it that we all had the computer labs delivered to our rooms, as well as an individualized instruction sheet for each kid that gave them all the user name, password, and other information (including birthdays as some didn't know their own birthdays last year!) that they needed.

All they had to do was follow the directions and everything would be fine.

Let me say that again. All.  They.  Had.  To.  Do.  Was.  Follow.  The.  Directions.

You know where this is going, don't you?  Just last week we did a Periodic Table of Elements project that involved FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS and many of them were amazed that I'd hand it back to them and tell them to "read number six again and follow the directions."  They assured me they had followed all the directions, but it one glance I could tell if they had or hadn't.  They just want to jump in, and not do anything so borrrrrring as reading directions.

So.  Today they had to go to a website, set up a user account, and answer 60 easy questions about what they liked and did not like to do.  Easy, right?

I had three - three! - kids who took over 45 minutes to set up their user account because they couldn't (wouldn't?) follow the directions on their sheet which told them EXACTLY how to set up their user account and what their user account was called.

I am not kidding here.  Between the account issues with my kids, and then having to listen to them whine about pages loading slowly  - "good gracious, there are 300 seventh graders logging in all at once, give it time!"- it was a solid two periods of aggravation.  I think Mrs. Social Studies next door was ready to toss at least one kid and computer outside and slam the door behind him.

It was definitely a day that called for chocolate.

Counting the minutes.