I have a poster by my classroom door that pictures a bunch of famous artists. The other day a third grader in line turned to me and said, “Mr. Roth, you’re like Picasso.”
I stroked my chin. “Yes? How so?”
“He doesn’t have any hair.”
Before I could speak, another student stepped forward to defend me. “No, look, you’re wrong,” he said to the other student. “Picasso has hair on the sides.”
They studied the picture again. “Oh, yeah.”
They’re lucky I just handed in grades.


Yeah, well yesterday as the 2nd graders walked in to my classroom, one of them asked me, “Are you tired?” I said, “Well, actually, yes. Why do you ask?” And she said, “Because you look terrible.”
From the mouth of babes…