[attr="class","ninety"]

Real learning. It was a phrase one would hear often in Benner's class when the teacher deviated from the teaching material to discuss topics that might have the average teacher skeptical.What does my crush have to do with math class? or Why are we playing with play dough?

Everyday Benner was faced with odd questions, but his answer was always the same. Real learning! He would use his course to teach his students real, applicable life skills. Although, some might often wonder if there was any real learning happening in his classroom at all.

The place was often noisy, and chaotic. Carlisle liked it that way.

Reclining at his desk, he observed the chatter amongst his students. A few were huddled around a table, talking loudly over their school work. If Carlisle could have guessed, they were probably talking sports rather than schoolwork. With a sigh, the man pushed himself away from his desk, snagging a small stack of papers he kept especially for these times.


"If you want to talk sports than here, work on these word problems instead." Dropping the stack of papers on the table, the teacher smiled despite the panic-stricken faces of his students.

"What! Are you kidding me? What even is all this?!" One of the boys complained, flipping through the booklet in dismay. The packet couldn't be too hard, at least not for these boys. Each of the word problems was specifically catered towards soccer, and given the sport was something each boy loved, their knowledge and dedication would not only accelerate their learning, it might even improve their playing.

"That?" Benner asked rather innocently, batting his beautiful eyes their way. "Well it's real learning of course! I'm sure you'll find it's right up your alley, and who knows? You might actually learn how to play the game." He teased. Their little soccer games were now a well-established routine at lunch time. Benner played with his students as though he really was a student, and their friendly banter carried from the field, all the way into the classroom.

"You're not even that good!" One of the boys laughed, offering his teacher a playful shove.

Shouldering the student aside playfully, Carlisle curled his arm around his neck. "Hm, last time I recall playing against your team, I beat you ten-nothing. So what does that make you?" Letting the student go after the friendly banter, Carlisle returned to his desk to let them work. Challenged by word problems that now seemed to have piqued their interest, he watched them tackle the questions one by one, working more diligently than before.

The math teacher had just taken his seat when a paper airplane would come sailing out of nowhere, hitting him in the head before it crumpled to the floor. "What do you think you're doing Mika?" He fixed the boy a stare that was meant to look stern, but from the corner of his eye, he could spot the boy's study group quickly jotting down notes.

"Uh...measuring trajectory?" The reply would have been totally unconvincing if the group didn't have the notes to show for it.

"Ah, a fine example of real learning. I expect a graph on my desk tomorrow morning, then." He said warmly. Handing the plane back to the group, Carlisle finally made it back to his chair in peace. Each group was crafting a project that would demonstrate at least one mathematical concept they had learned this year. It was a great preparation for their upcoming unity test, and Carlisle was pleased to see how eagerly everyone appeared to be working.

But still....he missed his old students. He wished all of them could be here. Settling down into his chair, the man closed his eyes hoping for a brief respite in the loud classroom.