Another blushing boy...

made my day today.

This semester, I have a student teacher.  In order for her to practice being in charge, I have to absent myself from the room regularly.  In order to keep from collapsing under the weight of my own boredom, I spend a lot of time interacting with students in places other than my classroom.

Last week, I visited our In School Suspension to spend some time working one on one with a student I knew needed some extra support.

I entered, pulled up a chair, and had him get out his materials.  As he got himself situated, I glanced over his shoulder at the student sitting behind him.  I realized it was a student I had a couple of years ago.  He was sitting pushed back from his desk and looking at his lap.

We made eye contact and very quietly I said "I kind of want to smack you for being in here."

He smiled uncomfortably and started to pink up.

I continued "And what are you working on right now?  Because it looks like nothing."

He sat up straight as he turned deep red, muttered "I'm reading a book" and held up a book.

I asked him what he was reading and he showed me. I said "I'll take that" and smiled.

I tuned back to the student I had originally come to work with and he went back to his book.

This was a good thing to me.  I haven't seen or talked to this student in at least a year.  We had never been exceptionally close.  But we had enough of a relationship for me to know I could say that to him.  And he knew me well enough to blush with embarrassment in response.  If he remembers nothing else about me or my class, he remembers that I believe he is better than whatever landed him in ISS.