By Derrick Brown (follow on Twitter @dbrowndbrown)
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Final Exams (At Chipotle)
When my daughter and I walked into Chipotle on a quiet Fall Break weekend, I
didn’t expect to find myself grading “final exams.” But there I was, standing
in line for burritos, face-to-face with students whose classroom journeys still
lived vividly in my memory.
Test One: The Cash Register
The first was ESG, a sharp-yet-slippery presence from last year’s most rambunctious geometry class. In school, he was quick to name the “learned helplessness” he saw in others ... but slow to name his own. He smirked through lessons, sometimes aligning with other teachers’ softer approaches, undermining me when my demands for accountability felt too sharp. Eventually, I drew boundaries. He withdrew. Slept more. Copied work. Scraped by.
But at Chipotle, he wasn’t smirking. He was working. After ringing up my
order, he frowned.
“Mr. Brown… I think I overcharged you.”
He apologized once. Then again. And again. His voice carried humility I rarely heard in class. He fixed the mistake, handed me the corrected receipt. I handed him a tip.
“Maybe the only thing I taught you,” I said, “was how to own and correct mistakes. If so, you just passed life’s test.”
We bumped elbows. Closure in a small gesture.
Test Two: The Real “Final Exam”
On another Chipotle afternoon, I ran into CK, one of the brightest—yet most shortcut-seeking—students from my 2022–2023 co-taught geometry class. That year, “Finalsgate” rocked the room: a covert attempt to “steal” the exam. I pieced together the evidence and presented it to the class with humor, tough love, and forensic detail. <SNIP>.
I told them back then that it would’ve been less work to study than to cheat. But students often do more work ... to avoid work ... than it takes to do the work itself.
Two years later, there was CK again, alongside JP from another class. The
register was down, so we all waited. When her food was finally ready, she
looked at me with warmth.
“Mr. Brown,” she said, reverently. She honored my daughter, smiled, and told me
she had enjoyed my class.
That was her real “final exam.” Not the one she almost stole, but this moment of dignity, memory, and respect. She passed.
The Curriculum That Lasts
As my daughter and I left, I realized both students had reminded me of the same truth: the exams that matter most rarely come with multiple choice answers. They come years later, in the way a former student apologizes three times for a mistake at a register, or greets you with reverence after once trying to cut corners.
In both encounters, I saw how teaching isn’t just about equations or proofs. It’s about planting seeds of responsibility and resilience, even when the soil looks rocky. Sometimes the fruit blooms later, in unexpected places like a Chipotle line.
For me, those moments were sobering—and sustaining. They reminded me why I endure the murmurs, the shortcuts, the “painwork” of teaching. Because every so often, those seeds bloom. And that is a final exam worth grading.
(The "Follow The Leader (changED - Volume 2)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com)
(The "changED (Volume 1)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com)
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I am a “standup storyteller.”
I fuse rap, spoken word (poetry), oration (traditional public speaking), singing, and teaching into messages of hope, healing, and change that I write, direct, and produce to help people who help people.
Everything must change - and stay changED.
Tradition begins and ends with change.
Change begins with me and the renewing of my mind ... then continues through efforts to effect small-group discipleship (equipping others to equip others) with audiences that respect and embrace mentoring, mediation, and problem solving as tools of change.
I am the product of my mentoring relationships, peacemaking (and peacekeeping), and problem-solving ability.
My education began when I finished school.
After school, I enrolled in a lifelong curriculum that includes classes in ministry, entrepreneurship, stewardship, literacy, numeracy, language, self-identity, self-expression, and analysis / synthesis.
My projects execute a ministry that has evolved from wisdom earned through lessons learned.
I want to share this wisdom to build teams of "triple threat" fellows - mentors, mediators, and problem solvers.
We will collaborate in simple, powerful ways that allow us to help people who help people.
I now know that power is work done efficiently (with wise and skillful use of resources, interests, communication, and expertise).
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