The student who took over the class

As a teacher, I believe in rituals and routines. I also believe rituals and routines ought to give way to teachable moments or some better "other" if the moment is perfect for such.

After lunch today, a student took over the first 15 minutes of the class. And I let him. He had their attention and he was ready. It started out as a joke, naturally. "Ayo, I'm the teacher today yo! Open y'all books to chapter 2. That's where we at, sir, right?"

But when I just stood out of the way and let him, he ran with it.

Me, "Yes, sir."
Student 1, "You seriously gone let him teach?"
Me, "Yes. And Mr. , I hope you consider a career in teaching. We need more Black men in the field."
Him, "Iont know yet. Ard. Who wanna read first?"

The classroom takeover continued for about 15 minutes as students raised their hand to volunteer to read paragraphs at a time from Sharon Flake's "The Skin I'm In". He even called on ME and my hand wasn't even up. Do you know what I did? I read, just like he asked me to.

I want to divulge more about why this kid taking over the class was so significant, but doing so would reveal more than needs to be known. Just know and believe me when I say, this was big!!