Quote of the Day (personal info)

Student: “Mister, where do you live?”
Me [having learned not to immediately answer that question from last year]: “Where do you think I live?”
Student guessed correctly and explained, “I was just wondering if your house would get flooded [from the tropical storm].”
Me: “Usually my home is OK. Thanks for worrying about me though. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
20 minutes later
Student [standing up to turn something in as I walked by]: “Whoa! Mister, how tall are you?”
Me: “What’s with all the personal questions? Are you trying to hack into my bank account?” (9/12/18)

Quote of the Day (tropical storm)

"But you know what? You're still in school so just shut up and do your math homework!" - Comment from a high school student who was getting fed up with her classmate who had been incessantly prattling on about how he wished that the incoming tropical storm would force the school to close so he wouldn’t have to do any school work. (9/11/18)

Quote of the Day (good/great)

Student: “Hey Mister. How has your day been going?”
Me [thoughtlessly]: “Good.”
Student: “Well, it’s about to become great!”
Me: “Oh? Why?”
Student [motioning to his peers as they entered the room]: “Because, it’s your favorite class!” (9/10/18)

Quote of the Day (70)

“Whew! I’m happy I got a 70%.” - Comment from a high school student when she got her test score after learning her peers’ scores were hovering around an average of 48%. She continued, “I mean...I’m happy, but I’m not happy with just a 70%.” (9/7/18)

Quote of the Day (Einstein)

“Ha! I feel like Albert Einstein right now!” - Excited comment from a high school student after she figured out a particularly difficult calculus concept in class. (9/6/18)

Quote of the Day (AFLAC)

Student 1 [reading about Ben and Casey Affleck]: “Wait! There are two Afflecks!?”
Student 2: “I thought it was pronounced AFLAC...oh wait, that’s the insurance company.” (9/5/18)

Quote of the Day (bachelor)

[Male] Student: “Mister, do you watch Bachelor in Paradise?”
Me: “No.”
Student: “You should. There’s so much drama on that show.” (9/4/18)

Quote of the Day (map)

“I’ve got it all mapped out. Get an A in first quarter. Get a B in second quarter. Get a C in third quarter then go straight to an F in fourth.” - Comment from an unconfident AP Calculus student after she saw that she was getting an A despite a challenging beginning. (8/31/18)

Quote of the Day (nemesis)

Student 1: “Mister Lau, why do you hav-”
Me: “...”
Student 2: “Oh WOW!”
(8/30/18)

Quote of the Day (almonds)

Student 1: “Mister, do you still have the can?”
I searched my closet for the empty can of almonds that Student 1 filled with paper clips last year. She then wrote “Help yourself” on the lid and left it in a very visible spot in the class. After finding it and reminiscing about her prank, Student 1 asked if I could leave it out on my desk for old times’ sake. Just a few minutes later...
Student 2 [holding up the can]: “Can I really have some?” (8/29/18)

Quote of the Day (copy and paste)

Student: “Oh Mister, before I forget, could you write a letter of recommendation for me?”
Me: “I already started since you asked me for it a while ago. I’m sorry that I just haven’t had the time to finish it.”
Student: “That’s OK. I’m fine with you just copying and pasting it from a good one that you wrote for someone before.” (8/28/18)

Quote of the Day (trimming)

“I spent the weekend helping cut tree branches in our neighbor’s yards.” - Response from a high school student after I asked him how his weekend was in preparation for the inbound hurricane. (8/27/18)

Quote of the Day (hurricane)

The following are various quotes from students in regards to the approaching Hurricane Lane.
“Be safe Mister!”
“Don’t die Mister.”
“I would actually feel safer in this classroom than in my home.”
“No school tomorrow or Friday? I’d better go to the library to stock up.”
“I only want the hurricane to hit [teacher’s name]’s class.”
“Hopefully I’ll see you on Monday.” (8/22/18)

Quote of the Day (hike)

Me (to Student): “Stop skipping school.”
Student: “Sorry. Do you know why I was gone though?”
Me: “No. Why?”
Student: “It’s for a good reason. It was [former student]’s last day.”
Me: “And?”
Student: “And we went on a hike so I know you would understand.” (8/21/18)

Quote of the Day (age)

Student 1 (to Student 2): “Hey! Happy birthday! How old are you now?”
Student 3 (to Student 1): “You’re not supposed to ask a girl how old they are.”
Student 1 apologizes.
Student 3 (turning to me with a smile): “But you can ask them when they were born or what year they graduated.” (8/20/18)

Quote of the Day (AP)

AP Calculus Student: “Ugh! I hate my [course name] class.”
Me: “Why?”
Student: “Because [teacher name] said that we could expect it to be harder than an AP class.”
Me: “Wow! Is that a challenge? That sounds like a challenge.”
Student: “No, no, no. It’s OK. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” (8/14/18)

Quote of the Day (cross country)

Student 1: “Ugh. I really don’t want to go to practice after school today.”
Student 2: “Practice? For what?”
Student 1: “Oh, cross country.”
Student 2: “...oh, um...do you have to go to the mainland for that?”
Student 1: “Huh? No, most of our meets are on Oahu.”
Student 2: “So how do you...you know, go across the country?”
Student 1: “Oh my God! Did you really just think that cross country means we have to run across the whole United States!?” (8/14/18)

Quote of the Day (Squircle)

Student 1 (to Student 2): “So yesterday, Mister was helping me and he asked me how I would solve one of these (trigonometry) problems. So I said we had to use the Unit Square.”
Student 2: “Unit Square!? I don’t think there’s even such a thing. Isn’t it the Unit Circle?”
Student 1: “Yeah, but I was just...”
Student 2: “OK, let me ask [Student 3] for help instead.” (8/14/18)

Quote of the Day (greeting)

Student: “Hey Mister! Do you remember a time over the summer when you were walking or about to go running by the big yellow gate and someone yelled at you?”
Me: “You mean someone from a tinted truck that was so far away that I couldn’t see who was saying hi?”
Student: “Yeah. That was me!” (8/10/18)

Quote of the Day (clothes)

Student (that I’ve taught for more than one year): “Mister, I like that (white) shirt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear it before.”
Me (kinda creeped out): “That’s because I just bought it. It’ll probably have a stain by the end of today.”
 Student: “Oh, is that why you wear dark clothes all the time?”
Me (really creeped out because it’s true): “...” (8/9/18)