Jeff for America

Today was great. And I owe a lot of my success in the classroom to a bouncy ball and candy. I’m preparing my kids for a final exam, and desperately needed them to invest some time reviewing today. I made a nifty review sheet that is extremely similar to their test, and gave them some independent time to complete it in class. From experience (it’s weird to think I have experience now) I knew they were going to just talk and mess around and copy eachother’s work. Taking my own advice, I prepared myself for the day with some unusual tools in hand. A quick stop at Rite Aid and I was set – a giant bag of Sour Patch Kids candies and a medium sized, multi-colored bouncy ball.

For every 5 minutes of quiet work time and progress, I walked through the room and distributed a sour patch candy. If they got through the 20 minutes, they each got 4 candies. Ok, yes…I’m using candy to bribe them – I know I’m not the first person to do this. I guess I was just surprised by its effectiveness. Those kids were eating out of the palm of my hand by the end of the period. Figuratively…not literally. I think that would be looked down upon.

Anyway, after their independent work, we needed to review the questions as a whole class. To make it a bit more entertaining, we tossed the ball to each speaker as they gave their answer. They were engaged, interested, writing things down and the unusual suspects (those kids that never raise their hands) were eager to answer my follow-up questions. When I usually hear silence or snickering, I heard the moans and yelps of students vying to be called on. Freaked me out, frankly. And made me smile practically the whole day. I left my school feeling like I had a genuinely successful day…for the first time in a while. And all it took was something out of the ordinary. I should have figured this out a long time ago. But then I wouldn’t have all that “experience” to guide me. Now I just have to find a balance that won’t cost $4 a day and induce spouts of type 2 diabetes. Back to the drawing board.

- Jeff