Quote of the Day (right thing)

"Argh! I'm so mad at people for doing the right thing." - Comment of frustration from a student who accidentally left her phone in the bathroom. Apparently, she found out that someone found the phone and brought it to a teacher. When she asked the teacher, she was told that one of that teacher's students recognized the phone and said they would return it to the owner. Somehow the good Samaritan and this student never crossed paths and now I had to deal with the aftermath (no pun intended). (3/13/17)

Quote of the Day (AP Calculus)

"I tried to explain what it was to my dad, but he didn't get it." - Part of one of my AP Calculus student's experience where something she saw on TV reminded her of a topic we covered in class. She continued, "I told him he didn't get it because he never took AP Calculus...and now I'm grounded." (3/10/17)

Quote of the Day (hair)

"Mister, I'm having a bad hair day." - Answer from a high school student after I asked her why she was having such a hard time doing some of her more basic calculations. (3/9/17)

Quote of the Day (bully)

"'Bully or be bullied.' That was our anti-bullying campaign...The teacher didn't really like that one." - Confession from a high school student after a short conversation about bullying at the end of class. (3/8/17)

Quote of the Day (acceptance)

Me: "Did you get accepted to [university name]?"
Student: "I did."
Me: "Congratulations. Wasn't that your first choice?"
Student: "No, it wasn't."
Me: "What!? I wrote you a recommendation for that school. I could've sworn you said it was your first choice."
Student: "It was, but I kept telling myself that it wasn't because I didn't think I could get in."
(3/7/17)

Quote of the Day (together)

"Well...a class that fails together stays together." - Statement from a high school student upon finding out that one of her classmate's test scores matched hers. (3/6/17)

Quote of the Day (mission)

"I'm going to make it my mission to find [student's name] a prom date." - Bold statement from a high school senior vowing to help her classmate. (3/3/17)

Quote of the Day (once upon a time)

"Once upon a time I used to like school." - Comment said with a sigh from a high school senior just as class ended and she was about to take a test in her next class. (3/2/17)

Quote of Day (choking)

"Mister, did you eat a peanut?" - Question from a high school student who unfortunately caught me choking from drinking my water too quickly. (3/1/17)

Quote of the Day (37)

"I'm ready for this! I'm going to get a 37." - Sarcastic comment right before I started reading the instructions to start taking the ACT in class today. (2/28/17)

Quote of the Day (5 year plan)

Student: "Mister, if you could pick anything you wanted knowing you would be successful in five years what would it be?"
Me (suspicious that this sounded like a college entrance essay prompt): "I'm not sure. What would you do?"
Student: "Well, I don't quite know how I could phrase what I want in a good way."
Me (anticipating a meaningful teaching moment): "Maybe I could help. Just give me the rough version so I can help you clean it up a bit. So what do you want to do if you could be successful at it in five years?"
Student: "What's a nice way to say, 'I want to rule the world.'?"
(2/24/17)

Quote of the Day (yearbook)

"Mister, you know that quote I got from you the other day? Well, our teacher liked it so much that she asked if we could take your picture to go with it." - Hesitant plea from a high school student in regards to her past request for a piece of advice to put in the yearbook on how to get ready for the school year. My advice was to prepare physically by waking up early and building a routine a few weeks in advance then to prepare mentally by crying in the corner from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. (2/22/17)

Quote of the Day (Ottawa)

Student 1 (looking through a booklet): "Where's 'Oh-toe-wah'?"
Student 2: "You mean Ottawa?"
Student 1: "Yeah, that's what I meant."
Student 2: "The way you said it sounded like a Pokemon."
(2/22/17)

Quote of the Day (whiplash)

"Dude, her mood-swings are so bad they give me whiplash." - Comment from a high school student to her peer about one of their teachers. (2/14/17)

Quote of the Day (marathons)

"I'd rather run a marathon every day than go to English class." - Comment from a high school student right after class finished. I later learned that she had a presentation in her next class that was giving her some major anxiety. I heard she did a really good job. (2/16/17)

Quote of the Day (Penn State)

Student 1 (shaking a shirt angrily): "Mister, look at this! My stupid pen leaked so I had to change."
A few moments later, Student 2 enters with Student 1's assignment.
Student 2: "Where do you want me to put this?"
Student 1: "Just set it by my pen-stained shirt."
Student 2: "Why do you have a Penn State shirt?"
Student 1 & Student 2 share confused looks. (2/16/17)

Quote of the Day (chicken)

Student 1 (reacting to a trivia question regarding the name of Charlie Brown's beagle): "That's easy! I named my chicken after him."
Student 2: "You named your chicken 'Snoopy'?"
Student 1: "Yup."
Student 2: "Cool. I named my chicken 'Katsu'."
(2/15/17)

Quote of the Day (chocolate)

Student 1: "Who gave that [box of chocolates] to you?"

Student 2: "This? Oh, [student name] gave this to me...but I think I forgot to say thank you."

Student 1: "What? How did that happen?"

Student 2: "Because, when he gave it to me I think all I said was, 'I can't eat all of this!'"

Student 1: "Then why is it almost all gone now?" (2/14/17)

Quote of the Day (hat)

Student (holding a black cap): "Mister, do you know if you can put hats in the wash?"
Me (reaching over to see the hat's care instructions): "Let's check."
Student: "I wouldn't touch that."
Me: "Why not?"
Student: "Because I dropped it in the toilet."
(2/10/17)

Quote of the Day (hatred)

Student (cheerfully from down the hall): "Mister! I don't hate AP Stats anymore. I'm finally starting to understand what's going on in class."
Me: "Nice! I'm happy to hear th..."
Student: "It's because I've actually been doing the homework. It's amazing how much I can understand once I started doing my homework; I guess I should have been doing my homework all this time."
(2/9/17)