Thursday, October 2, 2014

He Looks So Young

Friday in an Algebra I class. Of course they had a quiz. Which was largely uneventful. (This is a very good thing.)

5th period there were three boys who could not sit still. It was a good thing most of the class finished quickly, for I don't think they would have been able to hold it in much longer. When released from the silence, the boys got into a strange conversation.

The only part I heard:

"Which is the warmest ocean?"

"The Pacific? No, the Indian? I don't know."

At which point I chimed in with something about how the boy would learn that in his geography class.

"I'm in the 10th grade."

Freshmen take geography. I assumed he was a freshman. In my defense, he looked young.

Oops.

At which point I asked about his geography class the previous year. He told me who his teacher had been, and I understood.

I really must check the roll sheet before assuming what grade students are in.

12 comments:

  1. Oh my-that is a shame when you know the teacher is bad. This does not help the kids at all and it's a shame

    ReplyDelete
  2. How old did you think the kid was?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now I'm curious which is the warmest ocean, I'm going with Indian myself.

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well I didn't know either so I Googled it and there were a few different answers. From what I could see it's Indian then Atlantic then Pacific but it depends where you are of course as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oceans are so vast that it would depend. The ocean near us is cool, for example.

      Delete
  5. Oops! I'm 44 and I didn't know--but now I do after reading Pinky's comment!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! So much of it comes down to the teacher. That's just too bad. Of course, the student can take it upon himself to learn, but that's a big asking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least they were curious enough to have the conversation.

      Delete
  7. I didn't know the answer, either, but I've always been geographically challenged. It's funny how the older one gets, the less age-difference matters. Generations, yes, but there's the disparity between 13 and 15 is enormous compared to the disparity between 41 and 43.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree with you in the comment above- at least they were curious enough to talk about it. Much part of learning comes from curiosity!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is true. I'm amazed sometimes at the things they talk about.

      Delete

I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.