and this is why kids these days are lazy. No one makes them work . I can apply my standards to this activity anyways "students will work effectively in a team to achieve an end goal." Goal is to clean up our mess truck is the tool to help achieve goal, students work as a team to clean up. Or I even have a standard for them on keeping their work area clean. So, they are learning, I have standards for it. Last week my students asked me to get more pallets to break down and make boxes.these kids want to build and create but aren't allowed to in other classes or even at home. I even had one of my 7th period trouble makers leading a group assembling the boxes from the sides other students made.

It may not be teaching math or language arts but I teach these kids valuable skills they can actually use in the real world to get a job.

We are building planter boxes from reclaimed pallet wood so broken slats and the nail infested 2x4's we do t use get burned or tossed in a giant dumpster we have on the other side of the school. I don't have a trailer so I use my truck bed, because truck? I had my first period help me load up with no issue. The students actually asked me to bring my truck so we could clean up our mess so I did. Another class I asked a handful of students to do the same since they didn't want to build boxes or take apart pallets so I figured they could help load up the scraps because it was an incredibly simple task for them to do.