Same old, same old.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I have this one student (the loud sidekick from a previous post, let's call her "sidekick girl"), who just doesn't want to learn, and is always getting caught doing something else. I personally think she's on something. Maybe crack.

Anyway, I always catch her doing something else when I'm teaching. If we're doing word processing, she's on the internet. If we're on the internet, she's playing a game. If we're in Excel, she's "practicing" her typing while reading a magazine. She didn't do any of the assignments I gave out to be done over the break. It doesn't really bother me because she doesn't get credit for that time and loses out on any benefits (daycare, car fare, etc..).

But it's funny to see her try to avoid answering why she doesn't have it. I asked her for her work, and she said "Oh.... isn't it on your desk?" I replied "No. Did you do it?" She said "Um.... (LONG pause) lemme see if I saved it." And she starts checking her floppy disk. Mind you, this is the floppy disk all the students keep in the lab, so unless she snuck into the lab sometime in the last two weeks, there's ABSOLUTELY, NO WAY it's going to be on that diskette. She then keeps this charade up until she thinks I lost interest.

In the middle of class (actually well before the middle of class), she gets up and mumbles something about "bathroom" and leaves the classroom. She never comes back. At the end of class, I have the students sign out like they ALWAYS do. Another student that was sitting next to "sidekick girl" says "Oh, you have us sign out too? I guess someone is in trouble." Yep. I had to put her down as absent from the whole class. That more class time she's missing.

What do you do when you're a toadie and no longer have anyone to cling to? You say your little comments, but they just come across as pathetic. It's just a sad sight to see. Like a sidekick without a main character.