cute but no

We're halfway done with the semester. By now I can predict who will be failing this course. I sigh. If they would only listen. They don't. It's the middle of the week and they have to show me the have read. I give them a worksheet. I explain what they're supposed to accomplish with this task. I repeat the instructions. I emphasize. I ask them to be quiet just this one minute. Then they start scrawling things on the worksheet. I walk around and ask them to show me their homework. They produce their concept maps from their backpacks and binders, like they don't need them to complete the worksheet. Like it wouldn't make their morning a bit easier and their homework actually valuable. I walk around and mark them. Some of them are quite good. Some are making a (belated) effort. And then I arrive to this boy's seat. He's tall and cute. He produces a page still attached to his notebook. I look at it. It is not a concept map, I say. Then I read it. This is what I explained just ten minutes ago. He says nothing but pouts. An eighteen year old pouting. He tries again, still silent, but adds a sad puppy face. No, I say. This is a zero. He pouts harder and bats his eyelashes.

I can't anymore. I smile. Then say, That's all you are getting. A smile. That's as far as you're getting with me.