Identifying the Real Problem
Posted by The Muffin Lucario on Saturday, March 19, 2011
Under: School
In technology class, we're working on building basic vehicles to compete in the game of 'Tic-Tech-Toe'. It's basically tic-tac-toe, but instead of doing it on paper, you have to make the vehicles move these pieces around in this arena thing. While we work on our vehicles, we have to log and record our progress in our 'engineering notebooks'. One of the things we must do is identify the problems we face while creating and designing our car. While my partner and I have already faced numerous problems, I think the biggest problem is my partner herself.
Her name is Deagan. She's Mr. V's daughter, but she's nothing like him, sadly. Mr. C generated our partners randomly on some weird computer program, and I ended up being with her. I didn't think it would be so bad at first, but boy was I wrong.
Deagan's pretty smart; she's in accelerated math and enriched ELA. She's a bit of a class clown-- whenever someone (especially teachers) tells a joke, she pretends she doesn't get it (and then suddenly gets it much later) and everyone finds that hilarious for some reason. She also has a ton of friends, but she isn't necessarily one of the popular freaks. Sometimes I see her hanging out with them, but that might just be because she's friendly to everyone. Everyone but me.
She isn't outright rude, but I can tell she doesn't like me. The first day of the project, I had to stay in social studies after the period was over to finish a test. When I finished and made my way to technology, Deagan had created the frame for the vehicle (which we later found out was several inches too large. Way to go, Deagan). I sat down wordlessly, watching her continue to work. She didn't say anything to me, but she was talking with people in another group as if they were her own partners. When Deagan came to a part she didn't want to do (attaching the pullies to wooden dowels and adding slide stop) she shoved it in my face and made me do it. I reluctantly grabbed it, and started to hammer in the pullies. After all, I hadn't done anything since I was up in Mr. Wiest's room, so it'd only be fair if I did that. But within seconds, she called over Mrs. G, the teacher helper (there's this kid with learning problems or something in the class) and told her that I needed help. What the...? I was doing fine! She seemed to think I was incapable of doing anything on my own, apparently. So before I could say anything, Mrs. G lectured me on how to do the stuff the right way, which I of course already knew! When I was finished, Deagan grabbed the project, and went off to sit with her little friends. I just sat there, watching her silently. She was working on the project, but whenever she needed help, she consulted her friends. Uh, hello? Am I not her partner? Later, she came back, and gave me the vehicle again. "Kim, you can put in the wires because you haven't done anything. I did all the work." Did I really have a choice? She'd just run off with her buddies without talking to me, and do whatever parts she wanted to do. And during the few chances I had to work on it, she'd always call over Mrs. G, who would either lecture me on how to do it, baby talk me through it when I tried to work, or do the thing on her own. I never had the chance to speak for myself.
I began hooking up the wires, and within seconds, Deagan called over Mrs. G, even though I was doing fine on my own. "Mrs. G, Kim needs help." I glared at Deagan; when did I ever say that I needed help? "I don't need help," I grumbled, but Mrs. G ignored me. She took the vehicle, and baby talked to me about how to properly hook up the wires.
When it came time to test the vehicle in the arena, Deagan stepped up to the controls without asking me whether or not I wanted to try it first. I stood on the other side of the arena, watching as she plugged the vehicle in. She asked some random kid to hold the cord for her. Wait, wasn't that what the other partner was supposed to do? I watched in bitter silence as she drove the car around, laughing and clearly having a good time. But then some other kid hooked his vehicle up on the other end, and started driving his. There was some sort of problem with it; it was going out of control. It cruised around the arena in random directions, going a lot faster than it was supposed to. It ended up crashing into our car before driving over it. While doing so, the wheels pulled out our wires. Our vehicle stopped working.
After we tried to reconnect the wires, I stepped up to the arena controls, eager to try it out. But Deagan pretty much pushed me out of the way, and grabbed the joysticks. It turned out it didn't work still. After that we struggled to fix it, which took quite some time. Whenever Deagan needed help adjusting something, she'd always ask some random kid from another group. She never talked to me once, so I just stood there. The next time we were ready to test, I got a chance to control it, but only because I was firmly grasping the joysticks beforehand.
We still have a lot of work to do on our project, and I dread having to work (well, not work) with Deagan again when the weekend's over.
Her name is Deagan. She's Mr. V's daughter, but she's nothing like him, sadly. Mr. C generated our partners randomly on some weird computer program, and I ended up being with her. I didn't think it would be so bad at first, but boy was I wrong.
Deagan's pretty smart; she's in accelerated math and enriched ELA. She's a bit of a class clown-- whenever someone (especially teachers) tells a joke, she pretends she doesn't get it (and then suddenly gets it much later) and everyone finds that hilarious for some reason. She also has a ton of friends, but she isn't necessarily one of the popular freaks. Sometimes I see her hanging out with them, but that might just be because she's friendly to everyone. Everyone but me.
She isn't outright rude, but I can tell she doesn't like me. The first day of the project, I had to stay in social studies after the period was over to finish a test. When I finished and made my way to technology, Deagan had created the frame for the vehicle (which we later found out was several inches too large. Way to go, Deagan). I sat down wordlessly, watching her continue to work. She didn't say anything to me, but she was talking with people in another group as if they were her own partners. When Deagan came to a part she didn't want to do (attaching the pullies to wooden dowels and adding slide stop) she shoved it in my face and made me do it. I reluctantly grabbed it, and started to hammer in the pullies. After all, I hadn't done anything since I was up in Mr. Wiest's room, so it'd only be fair if I did that. But within seconds, she called over Mrs. G, the teacher helper (there's this kid with learning problems or something in the class) and told her that I needed help. What the...? I was doing fine! She seemed to think I was incapable of doing anything on my own, apparently. So before I could say anything, Mrs. G lectured me on how to do the stuff the right way, which I of course already knew! When I was finished, Deagan grabbed the project, and went off to sit with her little friends. I just sat there, watching her silently. She was working on the project, but whenever she needed help, she consulted her friends. Uh, hello? Am I not her partner? Later, she came back, and gave me the vehicle again. "Kim, you can put in the wires because you haven't done anything. I did all the work." Did I really have a choice? She'd just run off with her buddies without talking to me, and do whatever parts she wanted to do. And during the few chances I had to work on it, she'd always call over Mrs. G, who would either lecture me on how to do it, baby talk me through it when I tried to work, or do the thing on her own. I never had the chance to speak for myself.
I began hooking up the wires, and within seconds, Deagan called over Mrs. G, even though I was doing fine on my own. "Mrs. G, Kim needs help." I glared at Deagan; when did I ever say that I needed help? "I don't need help," I grumbled, but Mrs. G ignored me. She took the vehicle, and baby talked to me about how to properly hook up the wires.
When it came time to test the vehicle in the arena, Deagan stepped up to the controls without asking me whether or not I wanted to try it first. I stood on the other side of the arena, watching as she plugged the vehicle in. She asked some random kid to hold the cord for her. Wait, wasn't that what the other partner was supposed to do? I watched in bitter silence as she drove the car around, laughing and clearly having a good time. But then some other kid hooked his vehicle up on the other end, and started driving his. There was some sort of problem with it; it was going out of control. It cruised around the arena in random directions, going a lot faster than it was supposed to. It ended up crashing into our car before driving over it. While doing so, the wheels pulled out our wires. Our vehicle stopped working.
After we tried to reconnect the wires, I stepped up to the arena controls, eager to try it out. But Deagan pretty much pushed me out of the way, and grabbed the joysticks. It turned out it didn't work still. After that we struggled to fix it, which took quite some time. Whenever Deagan needed help adjusting something, she'd always ask some random kid from another group. She never talked to me once, so I just stood there. The next time we were ready to test, I got a chance to control it, but only because I was firmly grasping the joysticks beforehand.
We still have a lot of work to do on our project, and I dread having to work (well, not work) with Deagan again when the weekend's over.
In : School
This blog is for just about anything that doesn't involve Jo or my artwork. You can expect to see plenty of rants, interesting tales, and updates for various things.
