Shape Path unable to fill and creating a new layer

I've literally taught 100 kids in my Digital Art Class how to draw an ellipse with a path and use a custom pattern to fill that along the path. I have one student who it will not work for...I tried closing and opening a new file, but still the same problem. 

When he draws the shape on the background (and we tried it on a new layer too) it automatically adds a new layer and he's unable to fill that path at all. The Fill option won't even light up under Edit. Usually, it's just that the path isn't selected so we can click Command+T (mac minis, Photoshop 2020) and it works. Nothing is working. Please help!