A Math Lesson Gone Wrong

Last year I did a math lesson about probability and the likelihood of an event happening. At the end of the lesson the students had to write down two examples of things they were sure would not happen. One particular student's first example was, "I will not go to Thornton Creek today." I could have argued that maybe his parents were going to stop by Thornton Creek on the way home from school, but overall it was an okay answer. His second example was much more, well, let's say...colorful. (Especially since it was the first month of school.)

There must be something about this lesson. I did it again a couple weeks ago and one student wrote, "How likely is it that a fish will jump out of the water and pimp slap me in the face with his tail?" Great image, disturbing language. I might have to reconsider doing this lesson in the future!