It's Only a Day Away

A student spent the whole class chatting with another kid even though his 500 word writing piece is due tomorrow. After intervening several times, I finally called him over to my desk in frustration. "Hey," I said, "if you want to spend the rest of the year talking to your friends, let me know. I'll just put the zeroes in my gradebook now, and leave you alone."

He was indignant! "You can't do that!" he huffed. "You have to wait until the due date to give me a zero!"

I raised my eyebrows.

He scowled. "It's your deadline!" Then he stomped back across the room to continue his conversation.