Silent Ball

The teachers we had at Willard were a clever, hard working bunch. Though the prize for sharpest tool in the shed certainly belongs, in my opinion, to the person who invented silent ball. Truth be told it likely didn't originate at Willard so it didn't really take a genius to import it into our classrooms. It was the saving grace for many a teacher's sanity on a cold or rainy day when we couldn't go outside to blow off some steam in the schoolyard or the gym. If you recall, everyone sat on their desk tops and were not allowed to move off them or say a word while a ball made of yarn was passed or thrown around the room. A bad throw or a dropped pass and you had to sit in your chair. This went on until one person was left and the teacher had been given a half hour respite of the usual din which emanated from normal elementary school classrooms. Looking back it was a counter intuitive act as the game of keeping silent and staying in one place actually burned up some of the stores of energy we had in abundance. The game was largely self-governing as a spoken word meant you were out and the teacher didn't need to be judge and jury, as one's peers in the games kept everything in line. Yes, it's easy now to see how a simple yarn ball could have such a powerful calming influence on a room of growing children. Though at the time we weren't on to the true story of how teachers could need quiet and a moment to reflect on their next lesson, or might simply have a headache and a few minutes of silence was all they were asking for to see them through the day.