The Plan B Classroom 257Teacher: Your mouth just got you a detention, young
man. And I don’t want students in my classroom
who don’t do their work. Anything else you’d like
to say?
Rickey: Yeah... This class sucks.
Teacher: Nor do I need to listen to this. You need to
go to the assistant principal’s office... now.Oops. That was Plan A, wasn’t it? Tricky author. Let’s
see what it would really have looked like with Emer-
gency Plan B:
Rickey: I’m not working on this assignment right now.
Teacher: Is there something about the assignment
that’s hard for you? Let’s see if we can figure it out.
Rickey: Forget it...I can’t do this! Just leave me
alone! Damn!
Teacher: Rickey, listen a second. I know you have
trouble with writing and spelling, and you get very
frustrated when you have to do assignments
where you have to write and spell. Let’s see if we
can find a way for you to do the important part of
the assignment—letting me know what you
thought of the story you just heard, which is
something you’re very good at—without you
getting all frustrated about the writing and
spelling part.