A student comes in and complains about an essay that he has to write. Apparently NO ONE did the assignment last night, so today they were told to do it again, and that anyone who does not have it tomorrow gets a detention. He wanted to go bug his English teacher because he said he didn't understand it. I said "no." Did he read the story? No. Were the directions clearly spelled out? Yes. I basically read the directions to him, emphasizing each point. (Note: this essay requires about 6 sentences.)
Finally, the guy behind him says, "You know, in the time you've complained about this, you could have had it done."
To which I reply, "Yes, get to work and don't talk until that essay's finished."
The student asks, "Can I talk when I'm done?"
"Not until I read it."
"But you're a math teacher."
AHH! WRONG THING TO SAY STUDY HALL STUDENT. I told him that I went to a liberal arts college and that I got a 4 on my AP English test when I was a student at my school. The stereotype that math teachers can't write or use proper grammar or otherwise speak their native language infuriates me. I may not always love writing, but I don't think you'll find any grammar mistakes in this post. If you do, please let me know and I'll fix them immediately.
Anyway, he did get the essay done, so if I did nothing else today, I did save one student from 30 minutes in a silent, windowless room. And I did read the essay. I added and erased a few commas and told him that the language could definitely be cleaned up some (it was awkward and wordy) but that he would at least get by. Secretly, I wanted to read the story and let him know what a decent essay sounds like, but I'm doing so much math every day, I just don't have time to write essays on short stories! I sadly don't have much reading time at all. YES, SOME MATH TEACHERS EVEN LIKE TO READ! ;-)
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