20SB Blog Swap 5 – “Well, that was Easy!”

Hey blogosphere! It’s the 20SB Blog Swap Day! This is Phampants here. I’m partnered up with Shop Girl who happens to be a teacher like myself. So for this swap day, we’re going to treat you with our awesome stories about being a teacher. First I’m going to share you one of my favorite stories during my teaching days. Once you finish reading mine, go check out Shop Girl’s post on my blog.

The first class I ever taught was seniors. Let’s just say this; there was basically no age difference between them and me. They saw me as one of them; and so, they expected me to be a pushover because…well, I was a young teacher. What they forgot to factor in was my youth works the other way too. I’m more in tuned of how the [scary] teenage minds work.

The class I taught required my students to volunteer 1 hour each day, during the school day, around the neighborhood. Now I told them that just because they’re off campus, it doesn’t mean that they’re allowed to use their cell phones because it was still during school hours. Well, I’m sure you can guess where this is going.

So the kids thought that they’d be slick and just happen to carry their phones on them because “it’s in their jackets” that they grabbed from their lockers. I knew better. So one day, I asked my colleagues how many of my kids would have cell phones on them. We all took bets and concluded that out of a class of 18 seniors, I’d probably be able to confiscate 3 phones. I had 1 hour to visit 4 sites. The bet was on!

I arrived at the first volunteer site and found one of my students sitting at the receptionist desk. I walked up to him and said, “Hey Rob*, do you have your cell on you? I need to make a quick call.”

Sure enough, he takes it out of his pocket and willingly handed it to me without question or hesitation.

I looked at him and said, “Thank you!”

He just stared at me after realizing what just happened.

I smiled and said, “Well, that was easy!”

I headed out to the next site with my claimed prize. Poor Rob just sat there at the receptionist desk still in shock of what happened. He knew I got him and I got him well. Best part, he could not even text his friends to warn them what I was doing. Oh it was sweet, but what happened next was sweeter.

At the next site, I spotted my next victim, I mean student. He was in charge of watching a children play on the playground, making sure that they don’t run away or get hurt. His back was to me and haven’t seen me yet. I was standing against the school yard fence and pondered if Rob had his phone number. Sure enough he did.

I placed the call.

Ring…

Ring…

Ring..

“Hello?”

“Hey Randall*! Could you please turn around and give me your cell phone?”

He turned around and I saw the color drop from his face. I smiled and waved for him to come over. He walked over and handed me his phone without any quarrel. He just shook his head and looked at me with disgust. Yeah, it was a low blow but even he admitted that what I did was clever. He did not expect it at all. I got him fair and square.

I decided to let the other two kids working at the school yard to hear what happened from Randall so that they know they should heed my warnings. I head off to the third site with only 20 minutes left in my hour. I had to find a third cell phone lest I lose the bet.

At the third site, I found hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil all working in the food pantry. I couldn’t help but smirk. They have no idea what was coming.

“So anyone have their cell phones on them?” I asked.

“Nooo…” they all replied.

“Are you sure?” As I pulled out both Rob’s and Randall’s phone.

They looked at the phones and then looked at me. If I could taken a picture of myself right then, I would have been pulling of the halo and angel glow right there as I innocently smiled at them.

One, two, three cell phones fell to the table.

I scooped up the spoils, threw them into my pockets and left. There were still fifteen minutes left and I didn’t have to visit my fourth site where the seniors were volunteering. I already got more than I needed, so I headed back to school. Had I know it was this easy; I would have made a larger wager.

I arrived back in the faculty lounge and walked over to my colleague’s desk.

“Did you get any?” he asked me.

“It was way too easy,” I said as I took each cell phone of my pocket, one by one.

There were wows and laughs in the faculty lounge as I told my colleagues of what I did. They all collected cell phones before, but no one had collected five in one day. I set the new record of cell phones collected.

As for my students, I gave the phones back to them at the end of the day, free of charge. They all learned their lesson there on after.

“This post is a part of 20SB’s Blog Swap, and has been graciously sponsored by Bouncer, the latest in cellular and Internet-based privacy services.”