"She just knows."

The funniest thing happened last week (the names have been changed to protect the guilty). In Pre-Algebra we have been graphing equations of lines (x + y = 5). I stress that they should try to draw straight lines, so a lot of students like to borrow my 6 inch rulers to make their lines straight. The only rule I have (besides not driving me crazy by rattling the rulers on their desks) is that they have to put their rulers away when they're finished using them. After one class I found a ruler on a student's desk so I wrote on my board "Mark cannot use my rulers." When the class came the following day another student asked, "How did you know Mark broke your ruler?" This was news to me, but I kept my mouth shut! Another student quickly responded, "She just know things." Someone else suggested, "She saw it on the cameras. They record everything." Um, no cameras in my classroom, but why should I tell them that? :) I tried not to laugh and just said to Mark, "You know you can't use my rulers anymore, right?" He quietly nodded.

BTW: In case you feel bad for him, "Mark" is not an angel student and has been in much worse trouble than this.