It was a writing day. I had scheduled three of them in the last two weeks — a requirement levied by the state to assess where our English language learners stand. The writing hadn’t taken much time, although I credit the early finishes of some of the speedier ones to the liberal use of whitespace between their words.
“Is this all we’re doing today?” someone asked.
“That’s it.”
It was hard to tell whether the question was a complaint or a celebration.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?”
There was loud acclaim that it was a good thing… except for a voice in the front.
“Bad,” she said, barely audible.
I walked over.
“Why bad?”
“Because we’re not learning anything new today,” she said, staring straight ahead. She had spoken in a mildly sarcastic tone and had a look of mock disappointment on her face, but we both knew her words were sincere.
Oh, I live for such moments.