There is no such thing as a perfect worksheet, and students will often read a question and figure out an unintended way to answer it. Here are two clever responses… the difference being the teacher’s assessment.
I look at the first one and I can hear the Madagascar movie version of it in my head. The teacher states the obvious, “Not the answer I was looking for” and gives it a big red X.
It’s obvious in the second one that the answer also wasn’t what the teacher was looking for, but that teacher gave it a big red check mark and a star.
“Not what I was looking for” does not mean wrong.
A clever response may be unexpected, however whether it was an intentional circumvention of the intended outcome or just insightful and clever it deserves to be appreciated rather than marked incorrectly. In my books, both these kids deserve a star.
That brought tears to my eyes. Sad, then happy. I’m sure the first is out there and viral and I would like to bet the teacher was blasted by thousands who feel the same as you. I truly hope it got back to them, and maybe changed their perspective in their teaching methods.