Thursday, January 19, 2012

Stay on topic, damn it!

Sometimes kids raise their hands and have completely off topic questions/responses, like this gal, whom we shall call Mustache due to her obsession with facial hair:

I am standing in the front of my room giving the students directions for the long term project I am assigning when all of a sudden...

Mustache raises her hand: Mr. Teacher, I found something out.
Me: Ok...
Mustache, very matter of factly: Mr. Teacher, I was driving one day............ and there were a bunch of cars going beside us along the freeway................. and we passed a farm. Did you know that there are cows on the farm? Do you know what sound a cow makes?
Me: Off topic.
Mustache: Moo.
The class starts giggling and it is everything I can do to get them back on topic. Grrrrrrrrr. And I have 10 other girls just like this! Gah. Ok... rant over... they're pleasant girls... but some days they drive me crazy.

2 comments:

Nicholas said...

You need cleverer comebacks. Your answer should have been, "if the cow didn't say 5+4 is 9, then I'm not interested."

OR,

"If the cow didn't know what year Caesar Augustus died in, then I'm not interested."

Acknowledges the question, keeps everyone on topic, and puts the kibosh on dumb questions. ;)

fan of casey said...

Mike: Would it be ethical to not call on students who consistently ask off topic questions? In other words, can you just ignore her next time and just move on?