The doppelgänger

There is a boy at my school that is Mark's doppelgänger.  The kid even wears track pants which used to be Mark's uniform of choice.  He doesn't look so much like Mark as he just is Mark at that age.  I knew it from the first day he fished legos out of his pocket and showed me something he'd built.

I have been working with him and it hasn't been going well.  He had zero motivation to do anything and I had zero leverage (the woes of being the teacher's aide).  Like Mark, he is very stubborn.  Unlike Mark, I couldn't say, "OK, then, no computer" or  "OK, then, you can't play with Gavin."  Because playing with Gavin was king.

The student was interested in fiddling with my watch so I told him that if he wrote his name on his paper (a big first step!) he could figure out how to unlatch my watch.

He said, scornfully, "I don't need to figure it out.  I know how."

He quickly wrote his name and I let him play with my watch.  Then I wanted him to do more work and I didn't have another watch.

So that evening, I asked Mark for advice.  I explained the whole situation and wondered what Mark thought about some little puzzles or trinkets that the student could lay his little mechanically minded hands on for a reward.  Mark listened stoically and then said, "Just get Skittles, Mom."

Mark was brought up on Skittles.  They're a good bribe because I think they're nasty and am never tempted to eat my stash and they are tiny so easy to dispense.

I stopped at the store on the way to school and proudly showed the student my reward.  He looked at them mournfully and said, "I can't eat them.  I can't have artificial colors."

Rats.

It was a writing assignment and I was left with nothing again.  It was a personal narrative they were supposed to be writing and he didn't have any ideas or willingness to try.  I felt a little helpless.

Except for the fact that he is basically Mark.

I said, "How about Super Smash Brothers?  Why don't you write about that?"

His little eyes lit up and he said, "I was just thinking the same thing!"

He quizzed me all about what I loved about Super Smash Brothers and I had to admit I had never played.  I do however speak the language of Mark.

It comes in handy.