In the past couple of months, we’ve been experiencing an odd phenomenon around here: people calling Mr. Improbable to find out if his website is real or a hoax. These are usually students — and once or twice, teachers — who call, on speakerphone, from a classroom.

Presumably, the idea is to teach critical thinking skills, and how to evaluate information on the internet.

Sometimes, we get e-mails. Mr. Improbable’s webmaster forwarded him this one yesterday:

hi my friend and i shane want to know if your website is credible or not. “http://improb.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html” You may think why the heck are we talking to you about this. but we are in school and are practicing how to know if sites are credible sources or not. so please let us know asap.

… and as she noted, “determining someone/something’s credibility often requires asking uninterested third parties who are not directly associated with the entity in question.” Well, and tactfully, put.

Parents, have your children experienced the ridiculousness of this particular assignment? Seriously, what is going on here?

A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, e-mailed me with the following:

What do you do when you need a bathroom break while you’re teaching a class? As a student, of course, I would just slip out quietly, but I can’t exactly do that when I’m leading a discussion. I also have IBS, which has happily been in a bit of remission lately, but I worry about the etiquette of that too–there are moments when my body just goes “Get up NOW” and I am not really sure how best to handle this. In a class that was two hours or more, I would probably build in a 5-minute break as a general policy, but right now I’m teaching an 80-minute class, which is exactly the wrong amount of time if you have a small bladder, as far as I’m concerned.

I thought I’d email you not just because I want your opinion, but also because I thought this might be a good question for your blog–I’m sure other academics have this problem! It can’t just be me, right?

I’m sure it’s not just her. I know this for a fact.

And here’s what you do: small group discussions. “Okay, everyone, break into groups of three or four, and take five minutes to [come up with something creative about whatever it is we're discussing]. I’ll pick a couple of groups to report when I get back.”

Convenient, simple, and almost always pedagogically appropriate.

I believe I am going to take a very long weekend off from this blog. (Do check out the lively commenting action at the other one, though.)

In honor of school starting again, may I direct you to two blog postings from last year, in case you missed them:

Advice for teachers

and

Advice for students.

Feel free to add your own back-to-school advice in comments!

Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday. (Note: because of the holiday, there’s no Globe magazine this week, and hence no column.)