Twenty-three. But the point here is I look young. I know.
The other day, at dismissal, a middle schooler turned to me, said, "you look like a teenager!" and then scampered away. It was weird because he is a teenager.
My students often ask how I old I am. This is a great opportunity to give them a mental math puzzle (I am 3 times 5, minus 8, plus the square root of, et cetera) but I don't like the moment where they figure out my age in front of me. It makes me feel like I'm Rumplestiltskin in the end of the story when he accidentally reveals his name and turns back into a spinning wheel or whatever. So lately I just say: "I will give you one clue. I was born in the year the Berlin Wall fell."
Fifth graders say "you were born in 2001?" because they think "something something fell" means the Twin Towers. Are you more impressed that they know, off the top of their heads, the year the Twin Towers fell, or disconcerted that they are guessing the year they themselves were born?
Kindergartners say "I do not know what that is." The consensus among the kindergartners is that I am either 15 or 16. They are closer than the fifth graders.
A second grader guessed 47 and I didn't refute it.
Speaking of coming of age, later in the year we will have sex ed. This will be a hilarious time for you and me both, blog. I got a sneak preview of the impending awkwardness recently when one of the fifth graders came to me during independent reading block and said "I need help with these two words." This student struggles with English and is working hard to improve. Right now she is reading a nonfiction book about life in prison. She pointed to the two words. They were "penis and scrotum." The best part is she was actually retained in fifth grade, meaning she has already had sex ed, meaning there's about a 50/ 50 chance that she knew the words and just has a really creepy sense of humor.
The other day, at dismissal, a middle schooler turned to me, said, "you look like a teenager!" and then scampered away. It was weird because he is a teenager.
My students often ask how I old I am. This is a great opportunity to give them a mental math puzzle (I am 3 times 5, minus 8, plus the square root of, et cetera) but I don't like the moment where they figure out my age in front of me. It makes me feel like I'm Rumplestiltskin in the end of the story when he accidentally reveals his name and turns back into a spinning wheel or whatever. So lately I just say: "I will give you one clue. I was born in the year the Berlin Wall fell."
Fifth graders say "you were born in 2001?" because they think "something something fell" means the Twin Towers. Are you more impressed that they know, off the top of their heads, the year the Twin Towers fell, or disconcerted that they are guessing the year they themselves were born?
Kindergartners say "I do not know what that is." The consensus among the kindergartners is that I am either 15 or 16. They are closer than the fifth graders.
A second grader guessed 47 and I didn't refute it.
Speaking of coming of age, later in the year we will have sex ed. This will be a hilarious time for you and me both, blog. I got a sneak preview of the impending awkwardness recently when one of the fifth graders came to me during independent reading block and said "I need help with these two words." This student struggles with English and is working hard to improve. Right now she is reading a nonfiction book about life in prison. She pointed to the two words. They were "penis and scrotum." The best part is she was actually retained in fifth grade, meaning she has already had sex ed, meaning there's about a 50/ 50 chance that she knew the words and just has a really creepy sense of humor.
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