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I rarely-- RARELY-- have anything to brag about when it comes to teaching, but I thought I'd share something that left me smiling all Friday night.

On Friday, one of my favorite students, I, sat down with me and her mother to discuss her progress in my class.

First, some background on I. She's a former English Language Learner. She scored a 3 or 4 on her 8th grade ELA test (according to the 8th grade state test, that's proficient). She was in my "on track" 9th grade writing class. At the beginning of the year, she was probably one of my worst writers. She struggled with organization and adding details as well as just writing in complete sentences.

I is incredibly motivated. She's a delight to have in class. Always smiling. Always contributing. Always asking difficult questions. She wants to improve in any way that she can. By the end of last year, it became clear to me that I's writing had improved significantly. Her final paper was one of the best. Her writing was clear, detailed, organized, and it had a real voice.

This year, she continues to improve.

OK, back to the meeting.

After basically telling her mom the above "improvement" story about I, her mom said, in broken English, "my daughter talks about you all the time... Ms. Brady this, Ms. Brady that... She loves your class."

I thought, Am I really hearing this? A student actually talks about what we learn in class at home? AMAZING!

I was speechless, and all I could do was smile.