Smart Teacher

Flash Fiction

Smart Teacher

Mrs. Kent pulled down the screen. Joe froze. She usually pulled it down for a quiz. He couldn’t remember hearing about a quiz. Which make it a surprise.

Quickly looking around he could see, it was a surprise to everyone. Some were in shock, others excited, the smart ones of course, excited. Another time to point out how much smarter they were than the rest of the class.

As she turned around to the class, Mrs. Kent smiled. Which didn’t mean anything. She was just as smiley when she knew the class was ready for a quiz as she was when they knew it was almost recess. All in all, it was very easy to know she liked quizzes, and recess. And she didn’t have to take the quizzes.

She turned back and wrote the number 1 on the board next to the screen. “Class,” she said, getting everyone’s attention. “I would like to know what you like and what you don’t like about our school. Next year you will all go to Rivermont, I’d like to know what you think about the five years you’ve been at Willows.”

The class grew silent. “Anyone?” she asked after a few minutes of quiet. “Don’t be shy, you will not get graded on your opinions,” and she laughed.

Suddenly the whole room started talking, Mrs. Kent started writing things on the board as quickly as she heard them. The board was completely covered in minutes!

“OK!” she said finally, laughing. “I will go over all these ideas and see what we can do. Thank you so much!”

Nothing changed of course. She only used this as a way to help the students cope. She always did it when she noticed her class was getting tense, this always calmed them down. Smart teacher.