Just Another Class

This is for Angel Bird, using the 10 words she gave me.

Pulling down the white screen above the board, Mr. Smith flashed his weary students a smile. "Before we begin, who can tell me what species falls under the class Aves or the clade Avialae?" He scanned the room, frowning at the blank looks his students were giving him. "Well?" He pushed further. 

A soft sigh escaped one of the mousy honor students as she raised her hand. "Yes, Samantha?" He tried to encourage her. "Birds are the feathered, winged, two-legged, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrates that belong to class Aves and clade Avialae." She answered as she stared down at her ligneous desk while fingering the edge of her notebook nervously.

"Very good! You are correct. Class, make sure you write that down, it may be on your next test." Mr. Smith grinned at the muffled groans that echoed his words. "Samantha, since you answered the question, would you do me the honor of being our projectionist for today?" He motioned to the projector next to his desk. "You can sit at my desk for this." He told her when she nodded, then watched her relocate to his chair with a warm smile.

"As many of you have educed, today we will be learning about birds. Jacob, hit the lights please?" He told the boy sitting next to the light switch. Then he nodded to Samantha to turn place the first slide from the stack onto the projector. "Now who can tell me what this bird is called? And I am not asking for the scientific term just yet." This time even the honor students gave him a blank stare.

Rather than showing them a picture of an obviously well known breed of aves, he had shown them a clip of a well seen breed that only a bird watcher would know. It was a tiny cream colored bird with black and gray spots and  a short black beak resting against two white eggs with black and grey spots. "No one have an answer?" He paused as one of the established class clowns raised a hand. "Yes, Travis?" "Its a hatchling..." The boy paused as Mr. Smith chuckled. "Yes, it is a baby bird indeed, but that is not the answer, want to try again?" The boy flushed as some of his friends snickered. "Is it a dove?" 

Mr. Smith flashed the boy a warm smile. "Nope. Anyone else?" He waited a moment, knowing no one else would have the answer. "That is quite alright. Before I tell you what it is, let me ask this. How many of you have seen a bird like this, or at the very least somewhat similar?" Seeing the majority of the class raise their hands.

"I'm surprised there are some of you who haven't these type of aves. They are nearly everywhere nowadays. This little bird, is known as a plover. They are usually found near water but often frequent grassland, tundra, and mountains. Being this close to the Gulf Coast, its expected to have seen them." He turned back to look at his audience, smiling at the curious gleam in their eyes.

"I thought it was a Quaternary?" Another student spoke up, earning himself some laughs and thumb ups from his friends. "Quaternary, is not a type of bird. But since you are interested about it I'll make that tomorrow's lesson, Marques. I'm sure the subject is rather recondite for the majority of you." He spoke earning himself some confused looks .

"Oh, my apologies, you haven't learned that word yet. Recondite has three meanings. The first is hidden from sight. The second meaning is difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend, which is how I meant it in that sentence. The final meaning is of, relating to, or dealing with something little known or obscure." He explained for those who seemed interested in learning a new word.

A small smile formed on his lips as he noted some of the students looking miffed at his words, no doubt they felt insulted, though that had never been his intention. "Mr. Smith, you should assume that we didn't know what the word meant." Another student tried to counterblast, only for Mr. Smith to give him a stern look. "The day your eyes stop showing the truth, will be the day I start assuming, Jean. Now if we are done trying to forestall the lesson, lets continue..."

Reviews

[Angel Bird]

Wow! A wonderful story you managed here to achieve including the ten words I gave you. A truly great job. From the start you had me gripped and wanting to go on reading till the end, and if it had been a longer story I'd have gone on reading without noticing. I could easily picture the scene. You have a special way of grabbing your reader and drawing him/her in into the world of your story. I absolutely enjoyed the read. 'Bravo!'

[Arrinae]

I'm glad you liked it. It took me a little while to get an idea for it, but once I had one IT didn't take long to pull it together. Doing things like this is something I always loved doing back when I was in school, and it really is a great way to learn new words and add to your own creativity. ^_^