Why 'Counting the Pages of a Dictionary?'

I teach middles schoolers, and anyone who has spent any time around them knows that the oddest adages come out of their mouths.  One day during our silent independent reading time (we call it SIR), I looked up from a weekly conference with a group of students to see a child flipping through the dictionary.  Normally, I would have been thrilled that this particular child had a book at all, but he was not staying on one page long enough to take in anything...even from a dictionary.  I asked this kid what he was doing and without pause he looked up at me and said, as if it were totally logical, "I'm counting the pages of this dictionary."  He then looked down and resumed his task.  I, being confused by this, asked him why.  His response was, "The last page is 1636, and I don't believe it."

This got me thinking (after I told him that there were more productive things to do with his time – with which he didn't agree, of course). Why did he question the page numbers?  That would never occur to me! But on the flip side, why should be believe that there are 1636 pages in the dictionary?

This kid needed proof - something he could trust, which in this case was counting out all 1636 pages on his own.  If he was this distrusting of a published book, why should be believe anything I, or any other teacher/administrator/adult whom he doesn’t know, tells him? What would make him trust what I say? The obvious answer is relationship - get to know your students.  We hear that every year in during August staff development.  While I am totally on board with that, I think that for some kids it goes deeper.  Not only does there need to be a relationship, but kids need to be met at their level, on their terms and in their time.  I wish I had an answer for how to accomplish this, but I don't.  If I did, I'd put in a book not on a blog. This is just my way of processing the discoveries and sharing the good with the ugly.  There will definitely be both! Enjoy!