Bringing A Pencil

Bring a pencil to class:

It sounds simple, but when students in my class are asked to do so, they have hundreds, if not thousands of different excuses to why they do not have one. I have heard plenty of them but here is a list of some of the best that I have heard this school year.

"I left it in my last class"

"I threw it in the hallway"

"I threw it at an 8th grader"

"I left it in the bathroom"

"I left it at the pop machine"

"I left it in my car"

"I left it at home"

"I threw it away"

"I used it to open my bag of chips and it broke"

"I don't use pencils"

"I traded it for a piece of candy in my last class"

"I prefer pens"

"I prefer not to use one"

"I had two last hour, so I decided not to bring any to yours"

"I'd rather not" (What does this mean anyway?)

"My pencil is broke" (So, you do have one, you just need to sharpen it)

"My pencil fell into the toilet"


Oh, how I love my students, but sometimes it is hard to believe that these emerging adults will someday lead our country (with or without a pencil :)