It happened innocently enough. Room 14 was completing our daily editing challenge: To find ten errors (spelling, punctuation, syntax, ect) in a passage. One of my little honeys completed his task and announced...confidently..."I found them ALL."
No, he didn't.
But I didn't say that. I looked at him with calculated interest. I had to admire his bravado.
The class typically is awarded a minute added onto their recess if they are able to collectively find eight errors. My editing Einstein then tossed the gauntlet when he boldly said, "What do we get when I find them all?" Not if...when.
I sighed. This was SO Erin's kid.
Wait.
This was ERIN'S kid!
I resisted the urge to rub my hands together in glee.
I tossed an extra ten recess minutes onto the table.
The room gasped.
"But what do you give me WHEN you DON'T find ten?" I asked.
The room immediately went silent. Not finding ten errors was inconceivable to them. Ah...the impetuous arrogance of youth.
"What do you want?" my aspiring editor asked, ready to bet a fiddle of gold against his soul.
One of my administrators has a built-in shenanigan-radar and apparently Room 14 was glowing red-hot. Tyler slipped into the back of the room as our agreement was just concluding.
"WHEN you do not successfully find all ten errors," I stated (as his classmates scoffed...so certain they were of their champion's abilities), "your mother, on Monday, will have to wear...BLACK!"
The room gasped.
Tyler stumbled back, catching himself against the wall before checking the school by-laws to see if I was violating the school's code-of-conduct. Legally...I was well within my boundaries. Morally...I was WAY out in left field...happily shagging fly balls and chatting up the crowd.
"Deal," my little guy said without hesitation, immediately selling out his mom. I couldn't have loved him more in this moment.
I dialed up Erin who apparently has ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to chat on the phone ("Make a note of that," I hissed at Tyler who apparently has ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to stand around in Room 14 to watch an 8-year-old locate spelling errors in a reading passage about Pablo Picasso.). I explained the challenge and she also did not hesitate. "I'm in!'
I admit to feeling a little worried about this family. Erin's half would have happily bet the trifecta of Titanic/Hindenburg/and the 2017 Cleveland Browns. Fortunately, Kenna and Kevin tend to exercise more self-control and common sense.
The kid found four.
I had no mercy.
The stakes were high that day in Room 14 and a hard lesson was learned. "I have several years of experience over you," I reassured my worthy opponent. "Not to brag, but, I am pretty skilled at finding 4th grade level editing mistakes." Down but certainly not out, he grinned at me, "Not to brag either, Mrs. Mosiman, but I'm a little bet-ter."
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