(My tenth-grade history class is currently learning about the Vietnam War. Today’s focus is on the bombing of Cambodia.)

Teacher: “It was like science fiction. People in the US couldn’t believe it was happening!”

(We proceed to watch a short film filled with archival footage, as well as have a fifteen-minute discussion. At the end, my teacher asks if there are any questions. The girl in front of me raises her hand.)

Student: “So, did this, like, actually happen?”

(I’m a third grade teacher.)

Student: “Miss, do you think Santa Claus is real?

Me: “I don’t know, honey. What do you think?”

Student: “I asked you to think first!”

(I am in English class. We are reading a very famous and, what I assumed, very obvious play.)

Teacher: “Looking at that monologue and what we’ve read in this section, what are some indications of foreshadowing that Willy is going to kill himself?”

Student: “OH, MY GOD! HE DIES?!”

Teacher: “… the play is called Death of a Salesman.”

(I am in fifth grade. We’re playing a game in class. We have come up to this question.)

Teacher: “You have two coins equaling thirty cents. One is not a nickel; what coins are being used?”

(Both teams debate this for awhile while I’m sitting there telling my team that it’s a quarter and a nickel.)

Student #1: “Three dimes!”

Teacher: “No. There’s only two coins.”

Student #2: “Two quarters?”

Teacher: “That would equal fifty cents.”

Student #3: “This is impossible! There’s no answer.”

Me: “A quarter and a nickel.”

*no one hears me*

Student #4: “A twenty cent piece and a dime?”

Teacher: “No. We don’t use twenty cent pieces.”

Me: *loudly* “For crying out loud! It’s a quarter and a nickel!”

Student #1: “No, it isn’t! She said one isn’t a nickel!”

Me: “Exactly. ONE isn’t a nickel. There are TWO coins, and one of them IS a nickel!”

Teacher: “She’s right. One point.”

(We’re discussing a poem and the symbolism in it.)

Student: “Everything means something? Even the butterflies?”

Teacher: “Especially the butterflies.”

Student: “But butterflies don’t do anything. They just fly around… and poop!”

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