Aaaaaannd, Here Come the Questions

During every single quiz or test I give my 6th graders, I am besieged with questions. 

No matter what the subject. No matter what the format, I end up with a line of students at my desk.

Today, I passed out a practice test, a test that is a preview of an upcoming test, a test that doesn’t even count. I must have had nearly every student come up to my desk with a question at some point.

I swear, sometimes it feels like they’re lined up at my desk before I finish passing out the tests.

I don’t even answer the questions and they still keep coming.

Every single time. I deflect their questions. I repeat their questions. I don’t give clues unless I’ve made a mistake in writing a question or they can’t read my wretched scrawl.

They know I won’t answer the question. They know they’re not getting any meaningful help but still, they keep coming.

Sometimes, it seems like if I read the question aloud, some deeply buried memory of a long lost lecture (from 3 days ago) begins to stir in their minds. Maybe my voice is some sort of auditory cue that wakes up their brains and gets their synapses firing.

I don’t know, but they’re like a herd of test-taking Walkers relentlessly shuffling up to my desk.

I’m tempted to institute a “No Questions!” rule during tests and quizzes but I haven’t yet. 

Yet.