Today's lesson...

So I taught a 30 minute lesson on asking questions today. No, I'm not talking about the scientific method or another form of hypothesizing & seeking results, I'm talking about the very mundane questions that students like to ask me. (i.e: Can I sharpen my pencil, Can I go to the bathroom, Is this homework, Do we have school on Monday, When's Spring Break...you get the picture).

I drew a T-chart on the board and wrote "Questions to ask my neighbor" on one side, and "Questions to ask Mrs. Wiebe" on the other. Then we brainstormed questions that would fit in each category. Pencil issues, HW questions, school holidays and the like could be aimed rather effectively at another student, while bathroom breaks, emergencies, and instruction queries should be directed at me. We practiced asking good questions, both to our neighbors and to Mrs. Wiebe, and I thought, for one moment, that maybe, finally, my students had turned the corner on minimizing their questions in the classroom. But then, without missing a beat, I had a student raise his hand, assuring me it was an emergency and that he must direct his question in my direction, and ask "Can I sharpen my pencil?" I just about cried.

61 days of school left. But who's counting?

This is the face of a teacher who had no idea what the next 180 days of school had in store for her.