| Good afternoon, Ms. Pennington. |
| You are in my, um, American History 201 class, right? |
| How can I help you today? |
| It's about my term paper. |
| I, uh, I know it's due next Monday, but, um, I was hoping... |
| I don't think I can get it done by then. |
| Could I please turn it in by the end of next week instead? |
| I have a really good excuse. |
| Oh I'm sure you do! |
| I've been teaching 33 years. |
| Do you know how many excuses I've heard? |
| "My dog ate my paper". |
| "My roommate had a party so I couldn't concentrate". |
| "I have seven papers due in the same day!". |
| "I went home to see my parents and my car broke down". |
| My favorite was a student who told me she "forgot" all about her term paper until the day before it was due. |
| It's amazing she remembered to come to class. |
| Huh, I didn't forget, sir. |
| I've been working on the paper, really! |
| Here, I brought my outline and a rough draft. |
| It's, um, just that... well, a lot of things have been going on in my life, |
| and I'm having trouble managing things. |
| I see. |
| You know, I assigned that paper four weeks ago, |
| and I've been reminding students about it in each class. |
| So, tell me your story. |
| What's happening in your life? |
| First, about two weeks ago, my roommate found out her mother is real sick. |
| She has breast cancer. |
| So she's been really upset, and, uh, |
| I went home with her for a couple of days to see her mom. |
| That caused me to miss biology lab, |
| and I have a huge biology final coming up on Tuesday that I really need to study for this weekend. |
| Then I got the flu last week, and missed a day of class. |
| I tried to work on your paper that day, but I felt really horrible... |
| OK, I can understand that. |
| I'm glad that you're, er, helping your roommate through a tough time. |
| That's more important than school work. |
| But all this seems to have happened recently. |
| What about the two weeks after I first assigned the term paper? |
| I, uh... I guess I didn't use that time very well. |
| I kind of put off getting started on it. |
| Yes, you did. |
| You know, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard a student say that... |
| I'm sorry, Professor Dalton. |
| I've learned my lesson. |
| If I had spent just a little bit of time each week on the paper, I could have had it done on time. |
| I know now that I need to plan for unexpected things. |
| You seem like a bright, conscientious young lady, Ms... |
| your first name's Jill, isn't it? |
| When I was a young student, an upperclassman gave me some advice that I've never forgotten. |
| He said, "You're going to find yourself with a lot of small gaps during school days, |
| 15 minutes, or half an hour. |
| What you do during those gaps will make a big difference in how successful you are". |
| Wow! That's great advice. |
| Yeah, I thought so. And I still do. |
| So I'll tell you what. |
| You can turn your paper in no later than 9 a.m. on Friday, right here on my office desk. |
| In exchange for this favor, |
| I want you to pass that advice on to all your friends and dorm mates. |
| Thank you, professor Dalton! |
| You bet I will. |
| Um, as long as you're here, let me take a peek at your outline and rough draft. |
| Do you have any questions about the paper that I can help you with? |