...spelling...

We were talking about introductions and conclusions.
We had worked through an example together about McDonalds.
The attention grabber that we made up was about how many fast-food chains there are in the country.
When I wrote fast-food chains on the board, a student blurted out:  What?  Isn't that spelled with a z?

I let out a deep sigh.
Many students laughed.
He was totally serious.
The rapper 2 Chainz has confused this poor young man, and likely many others.

I went on to explain how some people/products change the spelling of a variety of words for a myriad of reasons.
Froot Loops for example...I wrote it on the board.  Of course, it is actually spelled f-r-u-i-t.  But that doesn't allow for matching between the two words, nor the ability to use pieces of cereal as the letter o. 

The students almost seemed offended that companies/people would mislead them up like this.

Well, if nothing else, count one more student, heck a class of 29 students, fully educated on the true spelling of chains and fruit.

...lockers...

At the beginning of the year a student...a senior...who has a locker outside of my classroom asked me for a favor.  She asked if she could write down her locker combination and leave in my room somewhere, just in case she forgot it sometime.  She warned me that on occasion, in the middle of the week, in the middle of the year, she might come to school and simply forget how to get into her locker. So, for the first week or two, I saw this student pop into my room on a regular basis to refresh her memory by checking her combination in its secret location.

Well, this past Tuesday, a week before Spring Break, she came for a visit...wondering if I still had the code stashed away.  It was there, waiting for her...ever-ready for that random day in the middle of a week, in the middle of the year.

A freshman came into my room after school today, claiming that she asked him to get her combination from me.  I wasn't sure it was a good idea to give it to a random freshman, so I told him that I needed her to ask.  Then I heard her from the hallway, nevermind, tell her I got it!

Just a few more weeks to go, and her locker days are over.  How many times do you think she will need a refresher?

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Another locker incident today:

During a passing period, I was standing at my door, as usual.  A student was slowly walking by me, and offered a slow, and somewhat awkward greeting.  I said hello back and suspiciously asked what was going on with her.

Then it became apparent that she was waiting for another student at her locker to catch up to her so they could walk to lunch together.

Awkward Student:  Hurry up!  I want to get to lunch!

Locker Student, hitting her locker, with arms full of books:  What the heck!  It won't open!

In the midst of hitting the locker again:  Oh...hahaha...this isn't even my locker...

She moved down a few to her right, and opened that locker with ease.  I couldn't help but laugh at her.

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With all this locker confusion, either we're doing a little time-travel back to the beginning of the year, or these students seriously need some time off!

...fast-food clowns...

We were working on the basics of writing outlines.  I had given students a skeleton of an outline that they had to fill in with the appropriate symbols.  Also, I had filled in some of the content, and they had to provide the rest in the empty spaces.
One topic was why people like or dislike various restaurants.  I had given them McDonalds as the first Roman Numeral that they needed to write about.  As students were busy filling in reasons why people might like McDonalds, one student needed a little help...From across the room, he asks, Miss O'Brien, what's the name of that clown at McDonalds?  Before I could tell him it was Ronald, another student quickly retorted with, Jeremy.  Hmmmm...Jeremy McDonald...it doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

...guacamole...

Yesterday I tried a new Mexican place nearby.  I enjoyed a nice torta al pastor, along with a side of guacamole & chips.  Guacamole is my favorite food...no really, it is.  And I was quite impressed with their recipe.

Because portions are huge, I couldn't finish all the chips & guac, so I brought it to work for my lunch today.

The chip-to-guac ratio wasn't totally perfect, so I had a few chips leftover.

After school I ate the last few chips before walking out the school doors.

On my way, I saw a couple students in the hallway.  We chatted for a moment, and the guy was sitting on the floor working on some homework.

I leaned over & picked up the words daughter cells on the worksheet, and nonchalantly offered:  Oh, genotypes and phenotypes?  (Yeah, subbing sometime last year during a lesson on the matter made me appear to be an expert for a moment.)

As I walked away, the girl said, you smell good!

The two students looked at each other for a moment, the she said, you smell like tortillas!

Really?  Anyone else had those two statements follow each other?  You smell good!  You smell like tortillas!

Never a dull day...

...intimidation...

I was pretending to be a chess coach again this week.  (Yes, again.)

What do you think is more intimidating at a Chess Meet?

1.  The home team displaying their two giant chess trophies on the table by the score sheets (close to two feet tall & one in the shape of a chess piece).

OR

2.  The away team walking in with a teammate who completes the Rubik's Cube at lightning speed.

...short answer tests...

Recently I gave a test that included a short answer portion.

Before administering the test, I talked to students about how text language is never appropriate for an answer on an assignment.  One example I often see is idk.  We talked about how I don't know is NEVER an appropriate answer, and certainly not in text language form.  In fact, I told them that if they didn't know an answer, they could at least write something amusing so that it made me smile rather than get frustrated that they didn't prepare.  A few years ago I had a student do something like that...They were supposed to write the Six Steps in Good Note-Taking.  Instead she wrote out directions to making Ramen noodles.  Creative.  She even included pictures.  See, that's the kind of wrong answer that makes me smile when grading.

One of my students this year took this suggestion to heart.  Here are a couple of his answers when he couldn't think of the actual answers:

1.  Close the lid tightly.
2.  Skydiving giraffes

See, you didn't even need to see the question to know that these were ridiculous.  But it sure beats an empty line, or even worse, idk.

...the end of the world...

Today was the last day of regular classes before finishing up the semester with final exams.

Students were basically spending most of the class studying...so we had some time for "stalling."

You never know what might be said when conversations go off on tangents...

Student:  I was thinking last night, Friday can't be the end of the world.

Me:  Oh really, why is that?

Student:  Because if this Jesus guy is real, he won't want to end the world before his birthday!  Then he would miss it!

Me:  Ok, good point.  So maybe not until December 26th?

Student:  Well, no, because he will want time to enjoy his presents!

Me:  Hmmmm....maybe next year, but then I guess we will run into the same problem...

Conclusion:  The world will never end.  Seemed logical to the class...

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At the end of class I was asking students if they had any questions about their study guides....That same student spoke up.

Student:  Can I make a confession?

Me:  Yes.

As soon as I said it, I realized maybe it wasn't wise to so readily encourage a student to make a public confession about who-knows-what...

She got out of her seat and walked to the front of the classroom.

Student:  I have a confession.  Last year, when we were given those free toothbrushes...
(many nods and uh-huhs from the crowd acknowledging they remembered that day)
...well...
(she covers her face with embarrassment, then continues)
...I took mine to the bathroom and scrubbed the toilet with it.  I mean, I got down in there.  Then I gave it to Josh Anderson (name was changed to protect the innocent victim).

The class reacted with a mixture of disgust, shock, amusement, and more.

It turns out that Josh's cousin is in this class.  I wonder if we will get a report sometime as to whether or not he used the toothbrush that cleaned a toilet bowl before he owned it.  But the bigger question I have is, why did my student think of this random act from the past after an hour of studying, & feel the need to confess it to her peers?  Some things will always remain a mystery to me.