Quote of the Day (break)

"Well, I kinda like school." - A high school student's reply after I asked her why she was complaining about the upcoming end of the quarter and its accompanying break. (10/2/14)

Quote of the Day (white van)

"White van!? That's so cliché!" - Surprisingly adept use of an uncommon word from a high school student talking about the recent reports of a stranger trying to entice young kids to ride in his vehicle. (10/1/14)

Quote of the Day (lawsuit)

"Then I'll sue the computer." - Comment from a high school student when I told him I would no longer be his teacher if he followed through with his (playful) threat to to sue me for accidentally flashing my attendance up on the projector. (9/19/14)

Quote of the Day (OCD)

"No, I'm not. I only have 12 of the 17 symptoms; I checked!" - Response from a high school student after I teased her about having obsessive-compulsive disorder because she was straightening the row of desks she sits in. (9/29/14)

Quote of the Day (football)

"I'm kinda glad that they lost. They're too full of themselves." - Comment about the loss our school's football team suffered last week from a former student who is normally very proud of our community. Just a few hours earlier the football team gave a spurious rendition of the haka at a pep rally. One of my students (who is on the team) entered the room proclaiming, "They need to know that we won't take the haka seriously unless it's right before a game." (9/26/14)

Quote of the Day (free time)

"Mister, is that what you do on your free time?" - Question from a high school student after he saw me show a former student some activities to try on an interesting educational website. (9/25/14)

Quote of the Day (abduction)

"It IS possible...if he got abducted by aliens." - Comment from a high school student arguing about the validity of a graph that showed the distance someone walked jumping from 1 mile to 2 miles in 0 seconds. (9/24/14)

Quote of the Day (preparation)

"I'll never take another test without being prepared." - Comment of frustration from a high school student who spent every recess and lunch from the last 4 school days coming to my class to finish a retake of an exam. (9/23/14)

Quote of the Day (trending)

"It'll catch on; you'll see." - Comment from a high school student after I questioned her on the use of an amalgamation of two popular catch phrases into "swag sauce". (9/22/14)

Quote of the Day (old)

"Oh man, now I feel old." - Comment from a former student during a visit to my class during recess when she realized that it was two years ago that I was her teacher. (9/19/14)

Quote of the Day (swearing)

"I'm sorry, that was me. I just realized that I forgot something in my car." - Apology from a coworker after a shockingly loud profanity was uttered right outside my doorway in the morning before school started. (9/18/14)

Quote of the Day (forehead)

"She's just racist against her forehead." - Comment from a high school student after I asked her why all of her friend's pictures had the top of her head cropped off. (9/17/14)

Quote of the Day (anger)

"I'm so mad at myself." - Comment from a high school student after seeing a less than satisfactory test score. A cursory glance through the questions she got wrong yielded lots of growls and sneers as she saw easy mistakes in almost all of them. (9/16/14)

Quote of the Day (ediblle)

"Mister, why do they name all the technology stuff after food?" - Question from a former student who came in for a chat during lunch. When I asked him what he meant he answered, "Apple, Mac, Blackberry. There's even something called a Raspberry Pi." When I asked him what food "Mac" was he replied somewhat condescendingly, "Macaroni...McDonald's." (9/15/14)

Quote of the Day (idea)

"Mister, I have the perfect idea for what every student should be taught on the first two weeks of school." - Comment from a high school student upon entering my class on the third floor. When I asked him what his great idea was, he replied (while gasping), "Stairs conditioning." (9/11/14)

Quote of the Day (tall)

"You and Mr. Lau are the two tallest Asians I know." - Superfluous comment from a high school student as I approached her to return her homework. This came just days after another student in the same class argued that Mr. Lau and I could pass as brothers. (9/11/14)

Quote of the Day (expiration)

"Ew Mister, look! They [the school] are serving us expired food." - Comment from a high school student showing me a pack of crackers with an expiration date from July. When I encouraged her to just throw it away rather than risk getting sick by eating it, she said, "That's OK, it tastes too good to throw away." (9/10/14)

Quote of the Day (goal)

"Mister, what's an example of a good personal goal?" - Question from a high school student trying to fill out a sheet of goals. His eavesdropping classmate chimed in, "I put down 'Be more sexy'." (9/2/14)

Quote of the Day (contraband)

"Mister, what do you want me to do with this?" - Question from a high school student gently cradling a water balloon. Knowing the type of student that he is, I got some paper towels and a plastic bag for him to place it in just in case he still needed it for his science class. (9/8/14)

Quote of the Day (name)

"Ugh, Mister. Why couldn't you have just put my name on it?" - Comment from a high school student after I made her sort through the growing stack of papers with no names on them to find her missing homework assignment. (9/5/14)