What do you tell your teacher . . .

[Jeebo]

What do you tell your teacher when the dog really DID eat your homework? Dogs do like to chew on things, you know, and every once in a while it's bound to happen that it just HAPPENS to be your homework, and that you don't discover the mutt's misdeed until it's too late to do it again. So when this happens, if you tell your teacher the TRUTH, (s)he won't believe you. So what do you do?

Are there any teachers out there? Have any of y'all ever had one of your students actually claim that the dog ate their homework? Was the student able to persuade you that it's what REALLY happened? Are there any students out there whose homework really WAS eaten by the dog? What did YOU tell your teacher?

I'm sorry, I admit I'm kinda weird, I just wonder sometimes about silly stuff like this. Although it wouldn't seem silly if the dog really DID eat your homework and you were faced with the prospect of what to tell the teacher and a very important grade depended on it. And I know there must be real-life situations that are comparable to this, although I can't think of any examples right now.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

Ron

[HEyHEY]

1. whao dude!

Did you take your meds? It sounds like someone is too worried about getting into college. Losen up man have some fun. But what you can tell your teacher is this;

"A dog ate my homework, and if you don't believe me I'll bring it in tomorrow, but it'll be covered in shit"

[SOteric]

2. I'm a teacher.

I've heard some pretty strange excuses about the lack of homework.

I've never heard the classic 'dog ate my homework' presented as a genuine rationale. Good thing that. I demand to see the partially chewed papers in question. Dogs do chew and tear. But they rarely eat such things and even when they do, they don't eat them in their entirety.

I teach creative writing. I tell my students during orientation day that if they do not turn in their homework, they get a '0' on that assignment, unless they've arranged in advance to turn the work in late. That said, if they can come up with a real whopper of a creative excuse, - even a complete lie but well written, I will give them part credit on the assignment.

[Maddy McCall]

3. I teach at a uni...no students have claimed that yet...

I think hi-tech has caused the excuses to evolve.

Now I hear, "My printer was busted," or "My hard drive crashed just as I was typing the last sentence."

I have heard, "My girlfriend threw it away this morning, didn't know I needed it."



But, when I was working on my MA, my two mutts broke into my house (I had not pulled the door to) after they had splashed in the creek. The big dog pulled the comforter off of my bed, and she and the little dog rolled around on it, before they located two library books, which they chewed to shreds.

Imagine my delight when I arrived home that evening and found the books' remains and the damp, hairy comforter on the floor in my den. I decided to pay back the library and just told the librarian I lost the books...it was $200 by the way! I just couldn't fathom telling her that my dogs ate them.

IF a student came to me and told me that, I would probably laugh, and ask why the student had not saved it to the hard drive and printed another copy. When I do papers, I always print two copies--one to submit, and one to carry in my briefcase. I like to be safe, not sorry.

[Nightowl]

4. My daughter is a teacher

I don't know if she ever got that excuse - but she did have to tell some of her first graders that her puppy ate their homework.

Needless to say her class loved it.