Writing workshop whoa

A full class of second graders has been working very hard at doing animal research. From picking an animal to reading and taking notes on index cards, to publishing. They happen to be publishing on laptops from the comfort of their own desks. Completely silent because they are oh-so-involved with changing font, inserting pages, and typing - all while STILL thinking about capital letters and punctuation. Phew, who knew typing was just like writing?

In the process of typing our research facts, the students have been trained to save regularly. This particular project has them saving their work as Name-Animal in the same folder on the server. This means they sift through the list of all Name-Animal's in the class while searching to open their file.

Apparently they realized today that they can not only open THEIR files, but they can also open their CLASSMATES files. This clearly had to be explored by curious second grade minds.

Turns out, that by the time I realized they had figured this out - they had also managed to learn how to delete a friends hard work, resave an empty file, and get right back to their own research paper in a matter of moments.

The subsequent class discussion was not only the quietest, but also had the best eye contact.

I channeled my fifth grade teacher.
It still gives me this sinking feeling... disappointment... when faced with such an occurrence. I also wonder how Mrs. S (fifth grade teacher) would have reacted if SHE had file deletion on the laptop. I have a feeling there would be flames involved.