There has been a vanishing of a small bouncy ball which has caused total uncertainty within the classroom, leaving students without any clue as to who gets called on next. Mr. Burke offered a $1,000 reward for the ball’s return, provoking students to scramble to recover the now most valuable object at the school.
After being used as Burke’s usual method of keeping students engaged to answer questions, the ball made a sudden disappearance. Although the ball is small and honestly "inexpensive," the connection that it has made to Burke’s classroom environment is unusually irreplaceable. This $1,000 reward has turned his classroom into a daily examination, for students searching underneath desks and behind doors for entire class periods each day.
“I have lost many school supplies throughout my career, papers–pencils–notebooks," said Mr. Burke, "but losing the ball has been my greatest fear. It was different. It was a part of my routine."
Mr. Burke is well known for his method of calling on students in his classes by using a bouncy ball to call on students. This method is calm and recognizable: A student raises his hand, and Burke calls their name and tosses his ball at him.
"I always liked being able to catch the ball," said senior Danny Leyden. "It made me feel like a star wide receiver. Now that it is gone, I cannot pay attention in class for more than three minutes.”
The vanity has led to many different perspectives. Some students focused so heavily on retrieving the ball that they can no longer function in a classroom environment, while others are desperately trying to get familiar with the disappearance of Mr. Burke’s system.
“I didn’t do the work he assigned us because I just assumed that the ball was still gone,” senior Tayib Hussein admitted.
This has created curiosity about whether Burke will construct a new way to call on students. As time progresses, this search has become increasingly serious by the day, even with the ordinariness of the object. Students began accusing others of swiping the ball and refusing to speak out about it, and others have begun to grow grey hairs in search of the ball. When Burke tried calling on a student without the ball, the student reportedly looked around the classroom to decide if Burke was actually calling on him.
"I had no idea that I was answering a question," said Nick Gall. "I did raise my hand, but without the ball, it was terrifying because there wasn’t a warning.”
As of this publication, the ball remains unfound, and students are not sure if Mr. Burke will call on them in class.