Against my better teacher judgment, I agreed to get Silly String as a prize for the writing challenge last month. What's perhaps even more surprising is that I actually made the decision after a student in another class got in trouble for making a mess in the hallway with a can of the stuff. I was marginally involved with the incident, and the students in my class at the time were very, very intrigued with the actual Silly String. Many of them had never seen or heard of it before.
In my defense, I wanted to motivate them to write more, but since then, I've had some second thoughts about putting projectiles, even soft synthetic ones, into the hands of impulsive 12-year-olds, especially at the end of the school year. Visions of Silly String calamities ending with, You got it where?! filled my head, but I had given my word, so I put my money where my mouth was and purchased 12 cans.
Today was the day when the writing prizes were awarded, and I was delighted that there was so much writing to reward. I did put a few restrictions on the silly string, though.
"You have to put it right in your backpack, and you cannot even get it out until you are off campus!" I warned one student, in a serious voice. "Do you ride the bus?"
"Yes," he said.
"Then not even until you are off the bus!" I told him. "And don't spray it near anybody's face, either!"
"I won't," he promised earnestly.
Just then the phone rang. It was the assistant principal asking for him to come to the office.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! hooted his classmates when I delivered the message.
He stood up, confident that he wasn't in trouble. "I don't even have the Silly String, yet!" he laughed.
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