Quote of the Day (friend)

"Mister, I swear I'll be your best friend if you make my grade anything but that F." - An easily rejected offer from a student who came in for help for the first time on the last day of the semester. She got offended when I told her I didn't want a beggar as a friend. (12/14/12)

Quote of the Day (book)

"Mister, would this be a bad time to ask if I could check out a book?" - Question from a student on the second to last day of the semester. Guess what grade he/she is currently getting? (12/13/12)

Quote of the Day (imaginary)

"Hey Mister! Did you see the way I wrote my name on today's assignment?" - A student's excited question right before he rummaged through the assignments to show me he had replaced all the i's in his name with square roots of negative one. (12/12/12)

Quote of the Day (cards)

"Oh wow! You're going home already?" - Question from a student who was on his way up to my classroom thirty minutes past my contractually obligated time to be at school. This is the same student who would try to break out his deck of cards every time I wasn't looking in his general direction during our review in class today. (12/11/12)

Quote of the Day (birthday)

"Hey Mister, what can you give me that I can give to my sister? It's her birthday today." - Question from a former student who wandered into my classroom after school. (12/10/12)

Quote of the Day (evacuation)

"I'll hold that." - A student's kind offer to hold my clipboard that I used to take my attendance during today's evacuation drill. I later realized he only wanted to carry it so he could fan himself while we waited for the drill to finish. Other whiny comments/questions included: "You know, if there really was a bomb, we'd all be dead by now." "If there really was a tsunami, I'd just walk home." "Do we have to stand in single file line?" (12/7/12)

Quote of the Day (lunch)

"Oh! It's lunch; I don't have to ask you if I can use the bathroom." - Self-realization from a student who came into my classroom for some help during lunch. (12/6/12)

Quote of the Day (living)

"I don't know how you can do this for a living." - Honest question accompanied by a sigh from a  student after struggling through a difficult question with my assistance. (12/4/12)

Quote of the Day (helpless)

"Mister! I got it right WITHOUT your help!" - Excited response from a high school student after she  completed a difficult problem and checked her answer with mine. Just minutes earlier as I was explaining how to do it, she was the only one loudly grumbling about how each problem looked impossible. (12/4/12)

Quote of the Day (deadline)

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be able to finish before then." - Surprisingly confident response from a student who had under 40 minutes to finish her make-up exam that she had procrastinated till the very last day. She did "finish" the exam in time...with 7/20 questions left blank. (12/3/12)