Sometimes, a child would make the “shhhh” sound as they saw me approaching the magnet.
I would slam that magnet even harder on the S and in a tone somewhere between put-out and but not quite angry would ask, “I heard someone make a ‘shhhh’ sound though as I was walking to the board. Who was that?”
Somebody would tentatively raise their hand thinking they might have done something wrong. I would not smile at them when I noticed them.
I would say, “What is your name?”
“Bobby.”
“Well, Bobby, get up here right now”
The class is supremely quiet at this point.
I would be saying all of this on mic without smiling with a stern voice. As Bobby would come up I would address him.
“Do you know why I called you up here?” Bobby would usually respond in the negative.
Then I would say, “The reason I called you up here is because you made the ‘shhh’ sound which alerted the class that I was walking to the board You knew I was going to go to stop time. You were being proactive. You are helping me. You were letting your classmates know that they better get ready to stop talking.’
I am still not smiling. I am looking even more intently at Bobby now.
“That was excellent.” Again, no smile.
I would reach into my pocket and pull out guitar pick, one with my face on it. I would then ask Bobby the question I asked thousands of proactive students.
“May I give you this Mr. Holmes guitar pick, for you to keep, for being such a proactive student?”
I would slam that magnet even harder on the S and in a tone somewhere between put-out and but not quite angry would ask, “I heard someone make a ‘shhhh’ sound though as I was walking to the board. Who was that?”
Somebody would tentatively raise their hand thinking they might have done something wrong. I would not smile at them when I noticed them.
I would say, “What is your name?”
“Bobby.”
“Well, Bobby, get up here right now”
The class is supremely quiet at this point.
I would be saying all of this on mic without smiling with a stern voice. As Bobby would come up I would address him.
“Do you know why I called you up here?” Bobby would usually respond in the negative.
Then I would say, “The reason I called you up here is because you made the ‘shhh’ sound which alerted the class that I was walking to the board You knew I was going to go to stop time. You were being proactive. You are helping me. You were letting your classmates know that they better get ready to stop talking.’
I am still not smiling. I am looking even more intently at Bobby now.
“That was excellent.” Again, no smile.
I would reach into my pocket and pull out guitar pick, one with my face on it. I would then ask Bobby the question I asked thousands of proactive students.
“May I give you this Mr. Holmes guitar pick, for you to keep, for being such a proactive student?”
I am still not smiling at all, still being dead serious. They would usually nod their head “yes”.
I would give them the pick but I would hold onto it until they realized they needed to say “thank you” for me to release it, maintaining eye contact with them all the time.
Once they would say thank you, I would pointed say, “No, thank you.”
Then I would turn to the class, show the faintest trace of a smile and say, “Put your hands together and give Bobby a big hand” and I would start clapping.
I would jump up and run to the board like a game show host with my microphone as they were clapping , slam that magnet and announce” You have Gooooo time!!”
The room would explode in excited conversation and they would see my first big smile of the day. I would leave the mic on my piano, go over to Bobby, engage in some fun conversation with him and his friends, and tell him he would be able to use that guitar pick when we learned how to play guitar.
I did this hundreds of times and it never failed.
Next, I would explain to them what the 10 in the box was all about.
That will be in “The Golden Hour – the 10”
I would give them the pick but I would hold onto it until they realized they needed to say “thank you” for me to release it, maintaining eye contact with them all the time.
Once they would say thank you, I would pointed say, “No, thank you.”
Then I would turn to the class, show the faintest trace of a smile and say, “Put your hands together and give Bobby a big hand” and I would start clapping.
I would jump up and run to the board like a game show host with my microphone as they were clapping , slam that magnet and announce” You have Gooooo time!!”
The room would explode in excited conversation and they would see my first big smile of the day. I would leave the mic on my piano, go over to Bobby, engage in some fun conversation with him and his friends, and tell him he would be able to use that guitar pick when we learned how to play guitar.
I did this hundreds of times and it never failed.
Next, I would explain to them what the 10 in the box was all about.
That will be in “The Golden Hour – the 10”
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