To My Brilliant Students

In honor of some of the most brilliant minds that I have the privilege of shaping for the good of humanity for the next generation, I would like to list some of the things both heard and written in my classroom this school year so far:

"For me Hawan was very difficult to handle because 1 second he upsets me then the next minute he apologizes, so Hawans behavior was very much like an Ethiopian weather." - P, one of my Ethiopian students, 8th grade, written in a journal entry

"Mr. Musser! I know a shortcut! But....it'll take a little longer than the normal way." - O, another of my 8th grade students, spoken to me while on a class outing at the mall

"I miss thy hug that was warmer than a fire pot." - HJ, one of my Korean ELL (English Language Learners) students, 11th grade, in a poem where they were supposed to practice using similies and metaphors

"And I will be waiting for you until the sunlight turns to moonshine." - HJ, again, in the same poem

"All of a sudden he heard stomping noses!" - Z, 7th grade, in a short story, attempting to say "stomping noises"

"But the decision was final: we were moving to Turkey; I had no choice but to adopt." - P, again, trying to say that he had no choice but to "adapt"

"Why do I have to be Justin Bieber?!? Why can't P be Justin Bieber??" - EJ, my blond-headed Dutch student with a bowl cut, overheard by me while he was working in a group with P, my Ethiopian student, and KE, a Korean girl, to come up with a skit for the class

"Elves don't do DRUGS!" - E, 7th grade, shouted out in the middle of class when another student was reading his short story out loud about an elf who was plotting to assassinate his king by slipping a lethal "drug" into his wine

"Her situation was severe - she had a bad Bruce on her spine which was so painful to her." - S, one of my Turkish 11th grade ELLs, in her short story about a girl who has a diving accident; she was trying to say that the girl had a bad "bruise" on her spine

"I liked how the book ends with this uncertainty which could mean a squeal." - D, 11th grade, referring to a possible "sequel"

"Yes, I believe it is important how you loook because if you have a job and you visit a customer with only your underwear, he's not going to trust you." B, 7th grade, in a journal entry responding to the prompt: Should people care about what they look like?

"In 20 years I will be 33 and I will probably be an adult... Even though I think that Jesus will probably come before I'm 33, but still, living long can be a good thing, right?" - DL, 7th grade, Korean ELL student

Student M: "Mr. Musser! Sometimes A puts her head close to mine and then she burps in my ear!"
Me (to Student A): "Eww, that's gross! Why would you do that??"
Student A (quite innocently): "It's my personality!"


I hope you enjoyed it! ;-)