I loathe late work!

So far student teaching in 3rd grade has been a blast. I am learning so much from this experience and I am very grateful to have such a wonderful mentor who is open and honest and knows what she is doing. It has been amazing to see her wonderful teaching skills at work and to gain such useful techniques for my own teaching experience.

However, I do have one major problem with student teaching so far. Late work!!! Well, actually, it's the way my mentor handles late work. I understand that you need to teach children to be responsible when it comes to turning in their assignments. I don't think anyone should get a free ride, so I agree that students need to be held accountable for getting their homework in on time. The problem that I am having with late work is that my mentor holds these fun projects over the student's heads in order to bribe them into turning in their work on time. I don't know how she normally carries out this plan, but because I'm in the classroom this is how it has taken place the last two weeks....

Mentor- (tells the students) "If you have all of your assignments turned in you get popcorn and a fun art project to work on this afternoon. If you don't...you are in for recess and you will sit and work until they are completed."

Me- (thinking to myself) "Oh, that sounds reasonable."

Students- (thinking to themselves) "OH MY GOD! I HAVE TO GET MY WORK DONE RIGHT NOW! IF I DON'T FINISH THIS MATH ASSIGNMENT AND TURN IT INTO THE CLOSEST OBJECT THAT RESEMBLES A HOMEWORK BASKET IMMEDIATELY MY LIFE WILL END!!!"

As you can imagine, this causes some major panic and drama for an 8 year old. For the next three hours all I hear is..."Do I have any missing work? What do I need to do now? I turned that in already, why don't you have it? I put that in the basket! I swear I've turned that in! What does it look like? What am I missing still? Can I have my fun project now? Why don't I get to work on the art project? "So and So" is eating their popcorn in front of me and it makes me sad! What am I missing still? Did you get that assignment yet? Can I start my art project now? What am I still missing? I'm done with that assignment where do I put it? Am I missing anything? Is this the right assignment? I can't find my assignment, can I have another one? Can I cross my name off the board and start my fun project?" ETC. ETC. ETC.

By the end of our "Fun Fridays" I want to blow my brains out! I don't understand what my mentor used to do before me to keep this process on track and running smoothly? Right now, they all come running to me with their questions because they don't want to ask her and be in trouble for not knowing what to do. My problem is that I can't handle 20 kids asking me questions all at once, and have to know what has and hasn't been turned in yet, and who is or isn't prepared, and which kids do or don't get to start the fun projects that we dedicate our "Fun Fridays" too! Right now fun Fridays are not much fun at all. In fact they are more like nervous breakdown Fridays for me. There has got to be a better way to handle this late work issue. I am open to any and all suggestions. PLEASE!!!! SHARE YOUR WISDOM WITH ME!