Monday. Chemistry.
They had a study guide for their final. They could use their book and their notes. They were talking but working.
It was a pleasant day. Chilly. (High of about 67 degrees. Hey, that's chilly for SoCal.) Sunny.
It was a find-something-to-keep-me-busy day. I read a submission to my writing group (finished the whole thing).
I was sitting back, watching them work...
Then the lights went out.
There was some confusion, but these were tenth and eleventh graders, so they knew what had happened. They lights blinked on, then went out again. Then the complaints began.
They couldn't work because it was dark.
The door was open. It was a bright, sunny day. While half the windows were blocked, I could see well enough at the front of the room which was the darkest spot. Most of them had a bit more light.
Of course, that was when someone requested the air conditioner. (It was comfortable enough. They really didn't need it.)
The complaints petered out. They continued to work.
It was lucky the assignment was straight up book work. Electricity unnecessary.
But, as the period drew to a close, I realized there was another issue. No electricity, no bells.
However, I know the bell schedule.
At 12:06 I dismissed them. I was not the only one. I saw the students outside, all hustling to class. At about 12:12, I started the next period, and I had no stragglers.
Sometime in the middle of that period, the power came back on.
After school, as we subs were checking out, another sub asked if we had had Lord of the Flies. Nope. But apparently I had lucked out with my group.
(The power outage took out the whole neighborhood around the school. I never did learn what caused it.)
Good to know you all can function without power!
ReplyDeleteFirst world problems, eh?
DeleteSubs see and endure it all.
ReplyDeleteYep, we do :)
Deletenice, students can finish work without electricity.
ReplyDeletehave a great day
But they will whine about it.
DeleteGood for you on knowing the schedule. It's the little things (like knowing the schedule) that you don't think about until you have to. I probably would have had to have asked a teacher or looked it up on my phone.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't too cold, it could have been a nice day to go do work outside. :) Then again, keeping up with 20 kids outside (and keeping them on task) could have potentially been worse than what you were already dealing with with the power out.
20 kids? LOLOLOLOL. More like 36.
DeleteThey'll take any excuse to try to get out of doing work! :)
ReplyDeletePower outages really take the fun out of life, or classrooms. Glad this was chemistry, and only higher functioning students take that.
ReplyDeleteYup. I imagine something like earth science actually going all Lord of the Flies...
Deleteyou had a good class. I can imagine some other classes....
ReplyDeleteI can too. I totally lucked out.
DeleteIt takes so little to be notable in the monotony of a classroom.
ReplyDeleteThis is true.
DeleteGlad your class was reasonably well behaved after some preliminary grumbling! At that age you feel obliged to try it on!
ReplyDeleteSo true.
DeleteI'm impressed they were so easygoing. No doubt your calm presence is a boon. :) Be well!
ReplyDeleteIt was more them than me.
DeleteIt's good you were able to keep track of the bell schedule even without power. Nice that the kids didn't get disruptive because the lights went out!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I lucked out with that group.
DeleteLord of the Flies, hahaha
ReplyDelete