"Who needs a dictionary for a math test!" one of the students in my testing group exploded this morning as I handed him his.
His classmates laughed, and I shrugged.
I wasn't angry; I understood his anxiety and dread as he was settling in for a four-hour testing session. Based on their level of language acquisition, many of the other students in the group also received dictionaries.
"Somebody somewhere thinks it might help you on the test if you had that," I told everyone. "You don't have to use it, but you sure can."
He scoffed and tossed it aside.
A couple hours later he raised his hand and pointed to his screen. "I don't understand this question," he whispered.
"I can't help you," I said, "but you do have that dictionary."
He sighed, but a little while later I saw him open the dictionary. I hope it helped.
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