I'm a little late this morning with my post...life happens.
There are two versions of each unit test in our math curriculum. I use one as a pretest and one as a post test. My students didn't know very much about statistics at the beginning of this unit. I received a lot of question marks, "I don't know", and "I don't know yet." (Thank you Growth Mindset.)
One student circled the words statistical question on the first page of the test and wrote, "Why is this a thing?"
And then there was the response shown above (edited so you can read it):
"Mountains have gaps and peaks. More out = outlier. A cluster of donuts. (Hey, I haven't the faintest idea. :)"
I hope he doesn't answer this way on the SBA this month.
I was teaching a math lesson last week and one of my students asked, "Do I have to multiply or can I add?"
The lesson called for multiplying large numbers, but several of my students want to keep doing repeated addition even when it is not efficient.
"The school district expects you to multiply by now. In fact the State of Washington expects you to multiply. The people who wrote the Common Core expect you to multiply in fourth grade."
"Just me?"
(Giggles)
"Yes, Sam*, just you. The rest of you may add."
(Cheers)
"Just kidding."
(Sighs and groans)
We all multiplied.
*Not his real name
One of my students grinned at me last week and announced, "My haters are my motivators." I don't know if that is original to him, but I love it.
I have been teaching my students about rhetorical questions. I have defined them as questions I don't want them to answer because we should already know the answer.
One of my students was cutting out some shapes for a project and he asked, "Should I clean up my own mess?"
I responded, "That's a rhetorical question."
Teacher talking to a student in the hallway:
Did you know that I can hear you whistling all the way into my classroom?
Whistler: Really? How far is that?
Teacher: What are the two U. S. Political Parties?
Student: Fourth of July and New Years.
I sent a group of boys to the library first thing to return our library books. While they were gone, we had the usual morning announcements broadcast from the office. When they returned they told me, "Don't worry Mrs. Bauer, we said the Pledge of Allegiance. We just joined one of the second grade classes."
No one has complained to me yet.
