pedagogical moment #8,777

So this week my students had to turn in their midterm exams. It was a fairly substantial exam: take-home, open book, essay, some thorough questions. They had a week to complete it and when they turned it in, I knew that none of them had done the regularly assigned work for class so I let them go for the day. One of the students, a soft-spoken young black man who describes himself as a preacher and always brings a bible to class, stayed for a few minutes after I'd dismissed them. He inquired about his performance thus far, then he says "I'm gonna write a movie someday and you're gonna be in it. You're like Russell Crowe." I chuckled involuntarily. Um.....