the expression

Two larger-than-life "superstars" visited my class last Thursday.  My students were elated. 

My brother and his teammate came to thank our class for the support all season.  We rooted for them time and time again this year. 

I didn't tell my students they were coming.   And all of a sudden I came into the room and told them that their were surprise guests here to see them.  The excitement built. 

And then they entered the classroom "and the crowd went wild." 

They couldn't believe it (even though since then a few students have told me they wanted it to be them). 

So, the rock stars thanked my students and told them that they have been a part of the best season in their school history {and brought a pizza party with them}.  My students' expressions were priceless. 

Then, like the good sports they are, my brother and 7-feet-tall Center fielded question after question after question after question...

"What's your favorite color?" (They cheered after one said blue & the other red.)

"What was the hardest team you faced this season?"

"Do you like the Lakers?"

"Does this feel like a post game interview?"

"What kind of dunks can you do?"

It went on and on and on as the students looked on with wide-eyed wonder and awe.  And when I told the students, "Recess has started.  You can go out and play now." Only 5 of the forty left.  The rest?  Stayed in and swarmed them for autographs (on anything from scratch paper to books to basketballs) and pictures.  After nearly an hour of questions, autographs, and pictures, they left.  And I was so grateful.  

On Friday, the fun continued.  See, Standing Student (SS) who doesn't like to sit still at all (one of my favorite kinds of students to teach), went to his backpack while everyone was doing a test quietly at their desks.  I saw this while sitting at my desk but said nothing.  I watched him unzip his backpack, take out a small piece of paper, and unfold it.

His expression was priceless.  The biggest smile came over his face and his eyes lit up. 

Then he folded it back up, placed it back in his backpack, and put his backpack away.

One of our classroom rules is that students must unpack everything at the beginning of the day (i.e. homework), and they are not supposed to go back to get things out of their backpacks during the day.

Naturally, I called SS over and asked him why he went to his backpack and what he was looking at since he should have unpacked everything at the beginning of the day.  Expecting to hear, "a note from my mom," he smiled and said,

"I was looking at my autographs."

Cue a huge smile on my face.  I have the best students in the world.  Ones who join in my enthusiasm for my brother's exciting season. I am one lucky teacher.  That's the moral of this my-students'-expressions-were-awesome story.