The pressure was on.
With the March writing challenge in the books, it was time to award prizes. Last year, with hybrid instruction and its many complications, I took the sage advice of my friend Mary and had the winners fill out an online form indicating their choice of candy. Mary and I spent a couple of pleasant asynchronous Monday mornings basking in the sunshine and congratulating young writers, many of whom we had never met in person.
This year I was also inclined to streamline my previous wheel-spinning extravaganza, and so I sent a similar form to the 40 (YES! 40!) kids who had written 20 days or more in March, but old habits die hard. In addition to candy and snacks I was pretty sure I could get for a dollar, there was a "Surprise me!" option. I threw it in both as a gesture to kids who might not want candy and as a nod to the past, figuring I'd buy a few things from the dollar store and clearance bin and resurrect the wheel.
And I would have been fine with the plan until I overheard one student advising another on his choice of prizes. "Dude! You have to pick Surprise Me! You know it's going to be awesome!"
His classmate was not so convinced. "Okay," he decided after some deliberation. "I'm trusting you."
"It's Ms. S!" said his friend with a confident nod.
And at first? It went pretty well. I had the excitement of spinning the wheel, a variety of prizes, and a few pretty cool things that made that choice seem like a winner. But I did feel a little deflated when the same kid who had been my biggest booster took a look at the options and raised his hand.
"Is it too late to switch?"
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