Dream Job: Wendy's!

Now, we all get students complaining about what we teach, questioning the relevance, and coming up with ridiculous ways to get out of doing work...

I have a student who has been doing all of the above lately. And I thought I had set her straight with the "You're learning skills like following directions and formats, and problem solving" speech.

Today as we were working on creating foldables for Compare and Contrast Essay Formats, she said that she didn't need to do this and announced that her dream job was to work at Wendy's.




So I took her seriously and said, "So you want to start out making the food, but work your way up to CEO, right?"
"What's a CEO?"
"The boss!" her friend answered.
"No. I just want to make the food."
"Ok," I said thoughtfully. "So... that will give you gas money in high school, but what then?"
"What?"
"You won't make enough at Wendy's to live off of, just making the food..." I prompted.
"Well, my aunt's a waitress and she makes a lot in tips." I am always careful to make sure not to accidentally diss student's family's life choice. However...
"Waitresses don't work at Wendy's. There are no tips at Wendy's. They make minimum wage."
"Oh." She paused in her argument. "Well, then I want to be a waitress."
"Ok. Well, then you'll need to be able to remember complicated orders, and be able to follow directions. So let's practice following directions..." I started to walk off.
"But I'm good at remembering!" She exclaimed.
"Then why didn't you remember to do your homework?"
And I walked off amidst giggles from her and her friend.


At the end of the period? Her work for the day was finished.