Underscheduled

The school I'm currently working at has no bells. Each class has its own schedule. The schedule in the class I'm in is fairly regular, but I don't have to worry about keeping the students on track. The students do that. 

After the first week or so, I stopped worrying about keeping track of when lunch ended or when current events time began. Antoine and Flash would tell me. 

Lunch is over at 1:30 PM. At 1:30 on the dot, the announcement starts. "It's 1:30!" That would be Antoine. Then Flash would repeat, "It's 1:30," and the rest of the class would just get up and come into the classroom. No muss, no fuss. 

Antoine or Flash would stand at the door. Once the class was inside, they'd close it. (We would sometimes have to call to the girls as Leanna and Brittany would not necessarily be listening for the call to come in.) 

They did this for the end of all breaks. They did this for the things that started at specific times. There was a time when I accidentally dismissed them for a break late, so I made sure to tell the boys that I was extending their break and it would end at 10:55 instead of 10:45. Because the one time I didn't tell them I was giving them extra time, they called the whole class in at the regular time. 

It's one less thing for me to expend thought on. 

But last week Antoine was out. And on Tuesday Flash was out. Suddenly, I had to pay attention to the time. 

The end of lunch and such has been different with the absence of Antoine. Flash does the job, but it's lost part of its echo. The announcement is different. 

But still, I don't really have to pay attention to the ends of breaks and such. (Although, I do need to pay attention. I left a little late to hit the restroom, and on my way back, I discovered the whole class had taken themselves back into class. I was late. Oops.) 

It's nice to have someone else keep us on schedule.