Grading Papers

Anyone who wants to be a teacher/is preparing to be a teacher/or any little kid who pretends to be a teacher LOVES grading papers. My sisters are always asking me to bring home papers to grade (which I GLADLY take them up on!) and have a blast helping me. Once you become a teacher, though, grading papers quickly loses its appeal. Instead of a fun little activity, it becomes a never-ending task. This year, it was my mission to stay on top of my grading and not let it pile up like I was in the habit of doing last year. So far, so good (week 3!). Since it's not such a huge burden anymore, it's actually hasn't been dreadful and I've actually been able to enjoy some of it. One of the things that is the most fun about it, is reading some of the students' RIDICULOUS answers.. or lack thereof.

For instance, we took a math test today about place value and decimals. One of the questions asked, "Which is greater, 0.7 or 0.07? Explain." My favorite answers were:
- "No."
- "0.07 because it has more numbers."(Ugh. I seriously went over this like 8,000,000 TIMES!)
- "They both are the same except one just has another zero." (Then they're not the same!!!)

Then, I was checking the spelling tests... one of the words was 'spelling' which, thankfully, most of the kids spelled right. On one student's paper, the word spelling was spelled correctly, and then at the bottom was a huge "title" for the page that said "SEPPING TEST :)" Hmmmm. Not sure what to do with that one.. except show you proof.

See the correctly spelled word at number 5.. then see the HUGE incorrect spelling at the bottom!

They keep me guessing, that's for sure. And, the best part is, it's not something that only happens at the beginning of the year... My mom recently forwarded me an email I had sent to my family at the very end of the last school year. We were studying ecosystems and the students' answers were so ridiculous I had to share them with someone! Upon reading them again, I thought they were worthy of posting here.   

Question: How will the owl be affected if the population of rabbits suddenly decrease?

Answers:

- "Fly away."

- "There will not be a lot of light."

- "He will be mega hungry."

- "I will not have anything to eat."

- "By dying." 

Question: What is the niche of the worm shown in this food web?

Answers:

- "Squirrel."

- "Bird."

Haha. Somewhat discouraging because it makes me wonder if they EVER listen to anything I say, but all too hilarious to really care too much!