Random happy thoughts

Yesterday at work, we had a neat little fair on the patio by the cafeteria. The weather was amazing: 80s, sunny, and beautiful. There was cotton candy, popcorn, cake, free stuff, and a “money tent.” The money tent was this cool plastic booth in which hundreds of little paper tickets were placed. The tickets bore the legend of “Sorry, try again,” or various prizes, ranging from t-shirts to a 37-inch flat-panel TV worth about two grand. When you stepped inside the booth, it was closed behind you and air shot in for four seconds, making the papers flutter in a whirlwind around the booth, and around you. The line was extremely long. I decided to give up my lunch hour to wait in line. I was hoping for the TV, but wasn’t counting on it. I just wanted to win something.

I won a $50 gift card.

I am so happy. I was flying the rest of the afternoon. I never win anything. And I had my choice of that, a $25 gift card, or a company-logo fan. (You can only keep one prize.) The ticket for the $25 gift card flew onto my mouth and stuck there. I wonder if that was a hint?

A free baseball cap, elastic lanyard clip, pen, and enough little freebies to share with my students (I asked) because I intended to have them work on Mastery Skills. They did, and got two more of them, so they got prizes, too. The holidays have put us behind schedule, big-time. We’re missing a total of four Sundays altogether, counting next week.

They’re a good class, my new one. They made it through September with zero negative points, and look to make it through October at least. I was realizing today that I am less likely to give these students negative points because their behavior is generally quite good, and when it gets bad, it’s mostly rowdiness. They can’t help it. They’re nine years old, and they’ve been in school all day, and they have to come to school for two more hours on Tuesday afternoons. I expect less control on those days, and plan lessons accordingly. We almost never do discussion-heavy topics on a Tuesday. Practical, hands-on learning only, and plenty of learning games. The lessons on Jewish philosophy and religion are always scheduled for Sundays.

You’d be amazed at what nine-year-olds come up with during these sessions. They surprise me every year.

I must be doing a decent job again this year, though. I hear through the parent grapevine that the kids are loving my class. I swear, all you have to do is buy a two-dollar toy and make a kid work to earn it, and you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. Okay, I do more than give them prizes, but it’s like being a magician. It’s all in the distraction. While we’re staring at his right hand, his left one is secreting something into his pocket or getting the colored handkerchief ready. With me, the kids think they’re playing a game when I am actually reinforcing the facts they’ve learned by quizzing them on their knowledge of Judaism, history, holidays, and Judaica, in a game we call “Jewpardy.” Because there is scorekeeping involved, it doesn’t feel like work to them.

And yes, I have taught yet another class about the phrase “Three-line holiday.” (They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!) And every year, without fail, one of them will say Yom Kippur is a three-line holiday because they tend to make it a knee-jerk reaction, as it’s true for a good number of holidays, and nine-year-olds are all about being able to tally another correct answer. “Really?” I ask. “What do we eat on Yom Kippur?”

Gets ’em every time.

“Oh.”

Time to go shopping for Sunday next. The kids have been accumulating points, and they’re going to be burning a hole in their pockets. I’ve already warned them that it’s going to be first-come, first-served, lottery basis as to who gets to choose what prize. Five years has taught me just about every which way a child can get upset during the prize awarding. Normally, I let the child who earned the total points first choose, and go in that order. But that’s not possible now. I only tally points on Sundays, and we will have missed four by the time we get back to a Sunday class.

Good thing I won that $50 gift card.

Naaah. I’m spending it on myself. I think I’ll finally get the Battlestar Galactica DVDs and see what all the fuss is.