Friday, December 5, 2008

Students' solutions to an annoying problem

Yesterday, I did one of the things I always tell my students not to. I put a cap on a dry erase marker and went to snap it shut. Having my hands full, I pressed the cap against my body to close it that way. Well the cap went one way and the marker made a nice black dot on my lovely white sweater. I tried to smile and tell the kids that's why I tell them not to do it. Being the super wonderful class that they are they offered me the following suggestions as to how to "fix the problem":
"put white glue on it"
" Cut out a piece of paper and tape it on. then draw lines"
" Spray hairspray on it. That's what my mom does to get dirt out of clothes"
"Turn your shirt inside out then it wont be dirty no more"
I tried to blot the stain with a wet paper towel, which had no effect. A few of the students said " That's because you used a brown paper towel, you need to use the white tissue.

I love to hear the ideas and their thinking about a topic or, in this case, a small problem that turned into a whole class discussion on the best way remove a stain.

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