Student [wearily entering class]: “Mister, you better watch out.”
Me: “Huh? What did I do?”
Student: “If you think I’m always tired now, just wait for [sport name] season to start.”
Me: “Why? What are you going to be like then?”
Student: “I’m going to be so grouchy! So you better watch out.” (9/9/21)
Me [apologizing for absent-mindedly touching a student’s notebook to point to something she wrote]: “I’m so sorry. It’s just a habit. I shouldn’t have touched your notebook.”
Student: “That’s OK. It’s better than my [subject name] teacher. They tapped my phone as they walked by so they could see what time it was.” (9/8/21)
Student 1 [enters the room]: “Mister, do we have a test today?”
Me: “No. Where did you hear that from?”
Student 1: “Oh, Student 2 [from my last period] texted everybody before school that we had a test today in your class.”
Me: “Why would he say that?”
Student 1 [shrugs]: “I don’t know”
A few minutes later
Student 3 [enters class]: “Mister, do we have a test today?
A few more minutes later
Student 4 [from down the hallway]: “Mister, why do we have a test today?” (9/7/21)
Student 1 [thinking out loud while rushing to finish his work before leaving for the weekend]: “Wait! What’s two times two?”
Student 2 [in shock]: “WHAT’S TWO TIMES TWO?”
Student 3: “Ha ha ha. Look at Mister’s face!”
Moments later, a breeze blows through the class and Student 1 skillfully snatches two of his papers before they hit the ground.
Student 1: “Did you see that? I’m like Spider-Man!”
Student 2: “I’m pretty sure Spider-Man knows what two times two is.” (9/3/21)
Student 1 [enthusiastically entering the classroom at the beginning of the day]: “YAY! IT’S FRIDAY!”
Student 2: “What!?”
Student 3: “No it’s not. Today’s Thursday.”
Student 1 [as if all the life was sucked out of him]: “Oh. You’re right.” (9/2/21)
“The teacher can’t even answer my questions. She just tells us, ‘Let’s look it up in your textbook.’” - Frustration voiced from a high school student who has a long term sub in the class that she is most interested in. (8/31/21)
Student 1 [to Student 2 as they chose their new assigned seats]: “Come sit over here!”
Student 2: “No. I want to sit over here.”
Student 3: “Come sit with us.”
Student 1: “Yeah, come sit over here.”
Student 2: “No. I’m going to sit right here. You guys are a bad influence. I want to do good in this class.” (8/31/21)
Student 1 [upon entering class]: “Whew. Those stairs don’t get any easier.”
Me [trying to show empathy]: “Yeah, especially when wearing a mask.”
Student 1: “Of course it doesn’t help when your water bottle is like half your body weight.”
Me: “What kind of water bottle do you have?”
Student 2: “Is it like one of those big jugs or something?”
Student 1 pulls out a 32 ounce hydro flask from his backpack.
Student 2: “Oh! That’s not that heavy!” (8/30/21)
Student 1: “Mister, [Student 2] forgot his water bottle.”
Me [shrugging]: “Just leave it there for him to come back and get it.”
Student 3: “Nah. Just call him.”
Student 1 [takes out his phone]: “Yo [Student 2}! You forgot your water bottle in Mr. Hwang’s class. Come back and get it.”
Student 1 [hangs up and looks at his phone]: “Oops. I don’t think that was [Student 2]’s number.” (8/27/21)
Student [enters the classroom]: “Is this the right class?”
Me [puzzled]: “Yes…why?”
Student: “Oh because one day I walked into a class and there were all these people in there that I didn’t recognize. I was so confused.”
After some questioning, I found out the student had been trying to come to my class, but walked into a classroom that was also in the corner on the third floor on the opposite end of the building. (8/25/21)
Student [near the end of class]: "Mister, is tomorrow's lesson hard?"
Me [shrugging]: "It uses a lot of stuff that we learned about today, so if you struggled with today's lesson then I guess the answer would be yes."
Student is visibly concerned despite wearing a mask.
Me: "Why? Are you not going to be in class tomorrow?"
Student [nodding]: "Yeah, my parents want me to stay home tomorrow."
Me [silently judging]: "I hope it's not because you're sick."
Student: "Oh no! No, it's not for that reason. I'm getting my second shot tomorrow." (8/25/21)
Student 1 [talking to Student 2 about a paper he has to write]: "It's going to take forever to type up my paper."
Student 2 [replying to Student 1 as I walked by]: "Yeah. I'm such a slow typer. Oh well, I'll just use voice to text. That should be much easier, right Mr.?"
Me [pointing to my throat]: "Should I be offended?"
Student 1 starts laughing.
Student 2 [defensively]: "No. No! I didn't mean it like that." (8/23/21)
Student [who had failed a pre-test just a week earlier]: "Mister, if I know how to do these, do I need to show my work? Or can I just write the answer?"
Me [looking at the problems on the board with the answers already posted]: "Sure, but I can't even do some of these in my head. Can you walk me through how you would do number 14?"
Student [hesitating]: "Fourteen?"
Me: "Yes."
Student: "Well, I would break down 21 into 3 and 7. And the 210, I would divide by 2 and get...105."
Me [trying to keep 3, 7, and 2 in my memory while trying to factor 105]: "Good. Keep going."
Student: "But the 105, nothing goes into that and since there's nothing in common..."
Me: "But 105 is divisible by something, so you can't just say that you're done. What's it divisible by?"
Student: "Um...it's divisible by some number."
Me: "Some number? Yeah. You're going to have to show your work to get credit." (8/23/21)
Student 1: "[teacher name] said she would send us out if we ever seemed like we were sick."
Student 2: "That's what [second teacher name] told us too."
Student 1: "I get why she said that, but I'm worried because I have allergies. I don't want to be sent home because of my allergies."
Student 2: "What are you allergic to?"
Student 2 [before Student 1 can answer]: "I'm not allergic to anything. I wish I was allergic to something."
Student 1: "No you don't. Why would you even say that you wanted to be allergic to something?"
Student 2: "I don't know. I want to be allergic to something to make my life more interesting." (8/19/21)
“Mister, can I go ahead and save my seat now?” - Question from a high school senior one hour prior to the start of his scheduled class that was given the privilege of choosing their preferred seats on a first come first served basis. (8/18/21)
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)
