19- 200 Printed Copies

Kids can often be frustrating and hilarious at the same time. Many times, I find myself wanting to both shake and hug a student for something they’ve done. I felt this way today, when Kathleen finished typing her research project. Kathleen was in the publishing stage of a Science research project about Prairie Dogs and was at the computer typing her final draft.
Each student is allowed to print two copies of their finished work, one to take home and one for me to display in the classroom. I have told them over and over again, “TWO COPIES ONLY.” The school provides plenty of printer paper, but the teachers have to buy their own ink cartridges for their classroom printers. Ink cartridges can get expensive, so I ask the kids to print sparingly.
Kathleen danced up to my desk and proudly presented to me an inch thick stack of paper. In her bell- like voice she told me, “I hit the print button so many times, it printed over 200 pages!” Her huge brown eyes sparkled as she added, “I had to put in a whole bunch more paper. Too bad the pictures started to get ugly.” Giggling, she placed 200 copies of her report on Prairie Dogs onto my desk.
Each page had a colorfully printed picture of a prairie dog. She had used up the entire color ink cartridge, which is why some of the pictures looked “ugly”.
I think I stared at the stack of paper for over a minute before I could respond. I pushed away all urges to lecture on following directions and started to laugh. Kathleen laughed with me. In the end, I agreed that she could take as many copies of her report home as she wanted to hand out to all of her relatives and friends.