So I’m going back over the first day questionnaires that I gave to my students and reading them again (now that I actually know who everyone is). 1

Here are some of the questions that I ask them to answer, along with a few of the more intriguing responses that I got this year:

What did you do this summer?

• “Traveled the world (just part of it)”
• “Attended nuclear engineering camp at Stanford.”2

Do you have any hobbies?

• “Does shopping count as a hobby?”
• “I like to draw & eat.”

Why are you taking this class?

• “Because I took pre-cal & figured if calculus was anything close to it then I wanted to stay away from it.”
• “Counselors put me in the wrong class. I’m switching out.”3
• “To see math in a new light because the prior ‘lights’ have not been too great.”
• “To boost my GPA.”4
• “I wanted to take a class that would push me but not kill me.”
• “I was originally going to take something else, and… I thought, Hey! Mr. Youn kept trying to recruit me so why not?”5
• “…My sister told me her teacher taught her how to play poker at the end of the school year.”6
• “I heard you were a good teacher.”7
• “Because it makes me see things in a different light. I want to know other ways to skin a cat.”

How important is the AP Exam to you?

• “5 or die.”

Are you involved in any extracurricular activities? About how many hours a week? What about a job?

• “Hanging out with friends. 16 hours.”
• “Boyfriend.”
• “I have no outdoor activities.”8

Where do you plan to be after high school? College? If so, studying what?

• “Anything away from home.”
• “Out of the house.”
• “Hopefully a somewhat prestigious college studying something I’m passionate about.”

Do you have any other comments or questions for me?

• “Math doesn’t come naturally to me so you’ll see me in tutorials almost every day!”9
• “What nationality are you?”
• “Are you Korean?”
• “Do you speak Korean?”
• “I’m Korean whaaaat”
• “No.”

1. Because this sure beats the heck out of watching the Longhorns stumble against Ole Miss. [↩]
2. o_O [↩]
3. this kid actually decided to stay [↩]
4. I always find this amusing. Apparently AP Stat has a reputation as a “GPA booster” which is fair, to an extent… but deceptive to a few, I think. I really don’t mind as long as the students can hack it. [↩]
5. Wow! it works!? [↩]
6. lol! That teacher was NOT me! [↩]
7. Aww! I get this more than I feel like I deserve, and every time I think the same thing: “I hope I don’t disappoint…” =/ [↩]
8. I think this kid misunderstood the question. Actually I think all three of these misunderstood the question. [↩]
9. this kid dropped after the 2nd day :( [↩]