the greatest lie i ever told

this week was the dreaded ACTAAP...the arkansas benchmark test...the monster that occupies 3rd-8th grade teachers' dreams from august to mid-april.  this was my 6th year administering this assessment and it never gets easier or more fun- unless walking around for four hours four (or five) days a week sans iphone is your cup of tea...  


come monday morning, my class had a serious case of ants in their pants.  that first day of testing was a nightmare, with students failing to use the silent signals i had spent all year teaching.  


"MY PENCIL BROKE!" 
"I'M HAVING ALLERGIES!"  
"DO I USE THIS SPACE AS SCRATCH PAPER!?!"


even with gentle reminders, these kids just weren't getting it.  i had to come up with something to steer their focus back to the task at hand.  unfortunately, my great epiphany did not appear until 8:19 tuesday morning, a mere 11 minutes before testing officially commenced.  i suddenly felt the need to moisturize my hands, so i turned to my favorite lotion, which had been a gift from a student this christmas.  as i squeezed a dime-sized dollop onto my palm and slathered it on, i was instantly enveloped in pomegranate-infused calm.  that's when it hit me!


i immediately went to carson, the coolest and cutest boy in my class and whispered, 


"hey, dude, i have some magical testing lotion for you.  it'll calm your nerves and help you not leave any answers blank.  tell everyone at your table."


he eagerly nodded, held out his hands, and leaned over to his elbow buddy to give her my message.


i made my way to each table and planted the secret to success in the ear of the most influential student in the group. pretty soon, everyone wanted just a tiny bit of this miracle elixir.  by the next day, 3rd graders stopped by my classroom because miss ellis' magical testing lotion had been the talk of the turf at recess.


i'm not going to say testing was perfect.  it never is.  one or two kids didn't finish a couple of multiple choice sections and a couple others decided to use their pencils as drumsticks.  what i remembered this week is that sometimes we all need a little encouragement to keep us going or even to get us started on a daunting task.  though a bit of hand lotion may seem trivial to an adult, it certainly reenergized 20 little test-takers and made their teacher smile 3 out of 4 test days!  considering the success of this experiment, i wonder if bath & body works would repackage "be enchanted" with my picture on it?