Identification of a quadrilateral as a trapezoid, rectangle, or square Yesterday I was tutoring a student, and the following question arose (number 76):

My student believed the answer to be J: square. I reasoned with her that the information given only allows us to conclude that the top and bottom sides are parallel, and that the bottom and right sides are congruent. That's not enough to be "more" than a trapezoid, so it's a trapezoid. 
Now fast-forward to today. She is publicly humiliated in front of the class, and my reputation is called into question once the student claims to have been guided by a tutor. The teacher insists that the answer is J: square ("obviously"... no further proof was given).


*

*Who is right? Is there a chance that we're both right? 

*How should I handle this? I told my student that I would email the teacher, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. 

In our 5th grade math group, our teacher came across this multiple choice problem that we thought about for a short period of time. We discussed the answer, which we concluded would be a trapezoid, square, or a rectangle. We also discussed what the tutor should do about this problem. We had varying answers, from the tutor having a conference with the teacher with/without the student to the tutor just letting it go. We also thought this was a very cool situation and we all could relate to having us being right and the teachers being wrong.We thought it could be a good idea to include the students when the tutor discusses the problem with the teacher because the students could state their thinking about the problem.
