"Is your name Habib?" I asked.
"Mr. Howse?" he replied, more than a little surprised.
Habib had been a student of mine over a decade ago. In fact, his first day in a Canadian school was the first day of my teaching career. I will never forget that day. He used to be so sad when the other kids were unkind to him because of his lack of English, but I got to see that smile grow a little more every day.
I talked to Habib for a long time this morning to catch up. Turns out he's attending college in Alberta and majoring in criminology. He is also playing on the college basketball team. I could barely contain my feelings of pride!
We often ask other teachers, "How many students do you have this year?", and it might seem odd to outsiders as to why the specification of "this year" is necessary. After all, aren't all of our students in our class this year? Truth is, the kids that pass through our doors and our lives never really stop being our students, and we never stop caring about their successes. We just keep piling more students and families into our lives and, for most of us, there is no limit to our number of students.
How many students do I have this year? 27.
How many students do I have? It's gotta be close to a thousand by now.
