WHERE'S MY QUOTE BOARD?

Somehow, somewhere along the line in my teaching career, I started writing down things that students said that were funny. I'd write down word for word what they said, give them credit by writing their name, and leave it on the board for 24 hours. All my other classes would see the crazy things they said, and out of context, they'd sometimes be pretty funny.

If I wrote anything that was embarrassing, the student who was quoted had the option of me erasing the quote. Over the years very few did. They seemed to like to see their name on the board, no matter what they said. Over 5 classes, I may have had two or three quotes for the day; other days, maybe ten or twelve. Something about the moon or tides or adolescent minds or adolescent hormones.

Had Jessica been a student of mine, I'm sure she would have been the quote board queen. As I was channeling (a term I just coined for channel flipping or channel surfing), I stopped on one of those shows that I really dislike where they talk about celebrities and some comediens make comments about how deranged the celebs are. But I saw a headline quoting Jessica Simpson: "I'm not anorexic, I'm from Texas."

Typical quote board material. But I only posted the quotes if they were unintentional. It was easy to see those who wanted their names in chalk. One year, 1991, I think, one student kept a list of all the quotes for the year. He, and others said I should write a book, but some things are good only for the moment. Jessica's quote did remind me of a quote from an honor student who queried one day in my class, "Are there any trees in Texas?"