A “graduated” from our reading class last semester after our screeners consistently showed that he was now reading at least at a grade 7 level – probably closer to grade 8. Given that he is in grade 9 and that he had been placed in our reading class because he wasn’t reading well, this was good news. 

One of his favourite things in class was watching and discussing the daily news. Each class started with CNN10, and each day he took a contrarian point of view and challenged our thinking. He loved being pushed to think beyond his own perspective, and he loved learning new “fancy” vocabulary words. 

This is why I had to smile when he saw me in the hallway last week – the first time in over a month – and immediately said, “I still remember the words!” 

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like consensus,” he began, even as the crowd of students pulled us towards our separate destinations, “and proximity and… and…” He was still thinking, still searching for words he learned months ago, “… and brazen!” he shouted triumphantly. “BYE, MISS!”

“BYE!” I shouted back, even though it’s not very teacherly. And I smiled as I walked into the classroom to start the next class. Sometimes students really do remember what we teach. Sometimes they do.