Algebra 1. Quiz day.
I passed out the quizzes, and the students settled to silence. I took my first look at the group to make sure no one was attempting to cheat.
Then the thunder boomed.
And the rain beat down so hard we could really hear it.
And the class lost it.
"That sounds like hail."
"Can we look outside?"
"I'm scared."
"This rickety room is going to break apart."
I assured the class that we weren't going to lose the roof. (It was a fairly old bungalow, but I didn't see any leaks.) I explained that opening the door would only let the water in (I learned this one the hard way). And I promised them that they could look outside...as soon as everyone finished the quiz.
"But by that time, it'll be over and the sun will be out."
One girl said that she was going to really take her time so that we didn't have time to look outside. She didn't want to.
Somehow, the students managed to get back to silence. The rain continued to fall heavily. (Turned out it was hail. I learned this later.) We had a couple more booms of thunder (only once saw a flash of lightning through the blocked out windows), and then we could no longer hear any precipitation.
By the time everyone had finished the quiz, the rain had stopped. I think I saw sunlight.
Friday, February 15, 2013
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What a random weather day. I totally would have wanted to look out at the hail. Storms are awesome.
ReplyDeleteHey there - I am visiting from the A to Z Challenge blog - I really like your background and I am not even a knitter person. I am however a guidance counselor/admin in a NorCal public middle school - hats off to the substitute teacher. You folks get my full respect and kids at my school know that the sub deserves to be teated well. Looking forward to your A to Z posts.
ReplyDeleteSo I visited yesterday and meant to comment but then things got all distract-y.
ReplyDeleteRE: that girl who wouldn't finish so everyone else couldn't look? WHAT IS WITH THAT? So she didn't want to look, fine, but she could've finished to let everyone else look. Sorry, I know I shouldn't get down on kids but that's a total diva, not only making the storm about her personal reaction to it but also making the storm about everyone else having to share in her personal reaction to it.
Just based on that little snippet of her personality I bet she is pretty much an awful person.
As it turns out, she was not the last to finish, not by a long shot. I've learned to let these students spout off. If I were to challenge her on this, she would stubbornly sit and not finish the quiz. If I pretend I don't hear, then she finishes, I take her quiz, and then later she remembers she was supposed to take her time.
DeleteIf you think she's an awful person, you wouldn't want to hear some of the other types I run across...
I want one of those pillow things to hold my ipad so I can read in bed. You should get on that.
ReplyDelete