After a pretty lively discussion in my Monday pseudo-evening small group breakout session, I let the students go five minutes early. As students file out, a young male we will call Oscar slips in. Oscar is in this class, although he just showed up tonight and, how do I say this, Oscar did not look good. He has a pretty nice shiner and a gouge above the eye. His right arm is in a cast and a sling. His hands look like they went through a meat grinder, I have a pretty good idea what happened, but ask politely anyway.
Oscar: “I crashed my bike.”
Ten points for pseudored. He explains what happened; I have new respect for his intelligence. He was wearing a helmet; the visor cracked and broke, which explains the black eye and eyebrow gash. Foolishly, his words, he had taken off his gloves, which is why is hands were beat to hell, but was wearing the correct protective clothing which is why the rest of his body is unharmed. His arm is broken, his shoulder dislocated.
But the problem we wanted to discuss was the difficultly he foresaw in attempting to take the essay exam on Wed. as he is, like a majority of us, right handed. He could probably type it, although he could only use one hand.
This is not the biggest or most annoying of problems, I happen, as it were, to have the email of the disability concerns lady who is, as it turns out, an angel. I give said address to him with a promise that I will contact her that night and send along a copy of the exam. He could take it there and they would give him a lovely person who will write or type his dictation. With much thanks Oscar leaves happy if battered.
That evening I send an email to Lead Teacher to let him know what’s up, and assure him that I have made arrangements. The reply, “Does the student have documentation?” Um, his face? I know that some students make up excuses and manufacture problems, but this one would be a bit difficult to create. A sling maybe you could buy, but a cast? I was amused actually with thoughts of Oscar with his roommate, standing in the middle of campus, Oscar begging roommate to smack him around, help him get an extra study day. I know that students often have grandparents die en masse, migraines and dentist appointments, but I say physical proof of trauma trumps a doctors note every time, and I also think Lead Teachers too many years have made him as paranoid as a CIA informant.