Student [as I passed him in the hallway]: “Oh Mister, I’m sorry I didn’t come to class yesterday.”
Me: “You don’t have to apologize. Is everything OK?”
Student: “Yeah. But yesterday, I passed out so I went home instead of coming to class.” (8/17/21)
Student [as I passed him in the hallway]: “Oh Mister, I’m sorry I didn’t come to class yesterday.”
Me: “You don’t have to apologize. Is everything OK?”
Student: “Yeah. But yesterday, I passed out so I went home instead of coming to class.” (8/17/21)
Student 1: "I feel like I did so bad on the test."
Student 2: "You couldn't have done worse than me."
Student 1: "I bet I got a zero."
Student 2: "Don't say that. I bet you passed."
Student 1: "I wasn't ready for this test. I totally didn't study as much as I should have for this test."
Student 3: "Oh my gosh! Did you know that today is Friday the 13th?"
Student 2: "It is?"
Student 1: "That's why I just totally failed this test." (8/13/21)
Me: “Good morning [student name].”
Student: “Good morning Mister. Oh! Mister, I don’t want you to call me by [student name] anymore.”
Me: “Oh? What would you like me to call you then?”
Student [grinning through his mask]: “You can call me ‘Favorite Student’ from now on.”
Me: “Sure…on Opposite Day.” (8/11/21)
Student [at the beginning of class]: “Mister, can I get another worksheet?”
Me: “What happened to the one I gave you on Friday?”
Student: “I think I lost it.”
Me: “Sorry, you’ll just have to copy it from the board. I only make one copy per student.”
Later, the student is seen looking in his bag and pulling out the same worksheet he had just been asking about. (8/9/21)
Student [entering during the break between classes]: “Mister, do you know what my second period is?
Me [frantically wiping down desks for the next class]: “No. I would have to look it up. If you don’t mind waiting I can…”
Student: “Oh. I can find it too. I just thought you might know what it was so I wouldn’t have to look it up.” (8/9/21)
Student: "Ugh. I don't want to start the Final yet since I won't have time to finish it."
Me: "So what are you going to do with this time instead?"
Student: "I don't know maybe just show you these memes that my friend sent me this morning. Do you want to see them? Argh! But I have so much stuff to do; it's causing me so much stress."
Me: "Instead of stressing over the Final, why don't you open it and see how many questions are on there and how many you already know how to do."
Student [opens the Final]: "Oh, I already know how to do that one [student answers the problem]...and that one [student answers the problem]...Wait! Are you tricking me into starting the Final!?" (5/11/21)
"Mister, I've been saying this to everyone so you're not that special. Happy Teacher Appreciation Day." - Greeting from a high school student before class started." (5/4/21)
Student 1 [to Student 2]: "My goal this summer is to get buff."
Student 2: "You also need to get a tan. Look! Even Mister is darker than you." (4/26/21)
"Why do teachers do that? It looks so dumb." - Question from a high school junior as we were talking about the different virtual backgrounds that people use during their online classes. (4/23/21)
"I was about to say to [student name] that I liked her pin, but then I saw it move." - Recap from a student explaining how he saw a bee that was on his classmate. The classmate added, "Thanks for letting me know. I'm allergic to bees." (4/22/21)
"In a way even though I'm not in school as much, struggling through all of this helped me learn things like time management." - Confession from a high school senior who was still willing to push forward despite failing my class in the first semester. (4/19/21)
"Mister, did you ever think about moving your class to the first floor?" -- Question from a high school junior after climbing all the way up to the third floor for class. Even though she's only been (physically) coming to my class for a few weeks, it's already a running joke since her older sister (my former student) would make the same complaints every day. (4/16/21)
Student: “Mister, how long have you been teaching here?”
Me: “Since 2006.”
Student: “What the!? I wasn’t even 3 years old at that time!” (4/15/21)
“Mister, the bell rang. It’s time to start class.” - Comment from a high school student who was trying to prompt me to start class when I was busy taking attendance. Normally not Quote of the Day material except this reminder to be punctual was coming from a student who hasn’t turned an assignment in on time all year. (4/14/21)
“I feel like making a meme of you for not having one.” — Comment from a high school student after I told her that I line dry my clothes because I don’t have a clothes dryer. (4/13/21)
“Oops. I don’t know if I was supposed to tell you that.” Comment from a high school student after he said that one of his teachers took off their mask to teach saying, “I’m vaccinated so it doesn’t matter.” (4/12/21)
Me: "Welcome back! How was your first day back on campus?"
Student: "ACTUAL HUMAN INTERACTION!!!!" (4/9/21)
"For some reason I thought you were shorter." - Parting comment from a student that I met for the first time after more than half a year of meeting virtually for class. This was the same student who got upset with me at the beginning of the year for not remembering her from when she would come into my class to wait for her friends last school year. (4/8/21)
Student [in a video conference stands up and moves to a different room with her laptop]: “Sorry. My dog was just being annoying.”
Me: “I wish I could bring my dog to work.”
Student’s dog bursts into her room and jumps into her lap.
Student: “Yeah. I guess there is one good thing about this learning from home stuff.” (9/17/20)
Background: instead of having a live open house, we were required to make videos to introduce ourselves and explain our expectations to our students’ parents.
“Mister, I watched your video with my mom. She asked, ‘Is that really his voice!?’”, said a student who was (not supposed to be) wandering around on campus. She continued, “My mom felt so bad. She asked if we should buy you something.” (If I had known that, I would’ve talked even quieter in my video). (9/16/20)