Instruction Deconstruction

(I’m a language teacher at a small school. My students are taking a Spanish test. They’re allowed to leave when they’ve finished, but I screen all the tests to make sure they’ve tried answering all the questions and aren’t just trying to get out early.)

Student: “Teacher, I’m finished.”

Me: “No, you have to re-do the writing part.”

Student: *a few minutes later* “I’m finished!”

Me: “No, you have to re-do the writing part. You still haven’t followed the instructions.”

Student: “I have, too! It says to write a dialogue, and I’ve written a dialogue.”

Me: “Yes, it does say to write a dialogue—”

Student: *cutting me off* “Yeah! And it is a dialogue.”

Me: “—about someone buying something. Not just random stuff.”

Student: “But… I shouldn’t have to read the instructions; that’s unfair.”