Prized

While he has faced accusations of laziness from his parents and his teachers, my student PZ has always been only selectively lazy.

He labored in the hot sun, running around and around the track during the break times of last summer’s extra school session, both because he thought he enjoyed it and because I’d offered him school money per lap. He writes detailed, funny stories whenever I assign them. And this past week he had earned the most points in my classroom contest.

The contest works like this: When students point out figurative language, organizational patterns, or text aids, they get a point (max two points per day from the book we’re reading, plus one from other class discussion). Every six points earns a ticket to enter in the prize raffle. The first person to 18 points receives five tickets, and that’s when the raffle happens. The students get to vote to decide if the names are drawn third place (prize: a Twizzler), second place (pick a Twizzler or Tootsie Pop), and finally first place (choose something from the prize box), or vice versa.

Basically, my students are unwittingly teaching each other, and I just stand back and tally.

Well, this week PZ was the first of all my students to reach 18 points. Prize fever was running high; it was the first-ever Mavis prize awardation.

The first place prize (drawn first) went to … someone else, who chose the roast beef bubble gum and was quickly swamped by his classmates with requests for sharage.

The second place prize went to … someone else. He chose a Tootsie Pop.

And the third place prize went to … PZ. He looked so sad I let him have two Twizzlers. He liked neither.

I learned later that he didn’t like the roast beef bubble gum, either. After being given a piece, he went to the bathroom, threw up, and went home early.

But guess what: That was only a few days ago, and he is already ranked among the top scorers in the current contest round.