The was had begun. None of us thought it would get this out of control. It started as a small scrimmage, far from where we were. There really wasn’t much to worry about. We thought…..

Our school is having a change drive. Every teacher was given a plastic jug for students to put change in. Everything silver counts for the teacher. Every penny deducts from the silver total. Sounds fun, right? What does the winner get? They get to kiss a pig. Yeah, that’s quite the prize, isn’t it? Some teachers are actually bribing their students to NOT bring in silver change. That just didn’t seem right to me. The money is for our school, for our classrooms….it’s all good! I told my kids to bring it on! If by some miracle I actually won, I would get a T-Shirt that said, “I kissed a pig and I liked it.” Not my choice for a first date attire, but still pretty cool since there is only one….Besides all that, I am discovering that I am a bit competitive. Just a bit. Not as much as some….

When we counted our change yesterday, our class had raised about $47 and some change. I thought that was pretty good. I was able to hold my head up and throw some trash talk around at car line. But today, the game changed. One of my students presented me with a check for $250 to put into our jar. I’m pretty sure it is because his mom doesn’t like me and wants to see me kiss a pig. Gee, thanks….But, honestly, the joke is lost on me because I’m still a team player! I’ll kiss a pig, if I win. 

The war started when the rumors about my check hit the school. Someone there likes to talk. It might have been the teacher that told everyone in the break room to “hit Carlson!” or it might have been the student that brought the check who went down the hall peeking into classroom to brag about his big donation, or it might have just been the winds of war changing. Whatever it was, for about half an hour I had kids lining up in the hallway outside my room with bags of pennies. I am not sure where they came from (the pennies), but I had over $16 in pennies donated to my jar. It made teaching pretty impossible for a while.

Fun as it all was, I needed to teach. That’s what I’m there for. I decided to put a “Testing, do not disturb” sign on our door. It wasn’t really a lie, we were taking practice AIMS like tests today…… 

The funny thing is, as much as it is a pain, it is really lots of fun. I’m someone that likes to know everyone on campus. I was afraid that being a teacher in just one room, instead of an aide that got to see everyone, would be boring. Looks like I found a way around it. I had kids from all grades sneaking off to my room during lunch to bring me money. I may end up having to kiss a pig, but, I’ll still be the winner. So Neener neener!

Cause I said so.

Photo credit: http://www.adventuretime.wikia.com