Andy's Short Story - HW 24 - Cool Unit - Me in 3 years

Bob looked at the young woman trying to talk to him. He looked at the computer's display of 6 students he still hadn't finished grades for. Grades were due at 3pm. He looked down at his running shoes. He told her - "I only have two minutes for you right now, Doris." She sucked her teeth, and rolled her eyes, but mildly, since he was her teacher.

"See, what ha' happen' was, I was, like trying to upload that video all night! For real, I even aks my mother to help me. She even write you a note! See!"

He waved off the note and she wasn't sure if that meant he already believed her or if he was intentionally refusing to admit the evidence that would vindicate her.

He asked, "Do you remember the 10 ways we came up with to deal with digital frustration? Did you try any of those techniques?"

She said, "I told you! I aksed my mom!"

He said, "I believe that you tried and that you asked your mom. But you waited until the last night on this project, and I told you that could lead to situations like this. I'm going to put in your grade as a C, and if you manage to upload the video by tomorrow at noon, and its strong, I will change this quarter's grade to a B- at the end of the semester. Now, I need to end this meeting."

She said, "But it won't upload! I told you! Can't you just watch it on my camera?"

He said, "You need to upload it - please try the strategies we came up with. Thank you for coming by."

With a more emphatic sucking of her teeth she walked away, head bobbling. He spent the half hour necessary to get the last grades in. He took two minutes to watch a video that one of the most creative students had made. Smiling, he jogged down the stairs, walked out the door, and headed towards the park - the pavement splashed with bronze and crimson and lemon yellow leaves. It looked like he'd have a half hour of running in the cool air before he had to be back for the department meeting.