Thursday. Fourth period.
As is usual, I was asked to cover another teacher on the conference period. It was an easy enough assignment, as I was covering the special ed co-teacher for a class I had covered before. With the general ed teacher there, all I had to do was sit at the teacher's desk.
(Well, my job technically is to assist the students. But, the general ed teacher was giving direct instruction. As the class was well-behaved, meaning I didn't need to jump in to help with classroom control, I could just chill and watch the lesson.)
And then the special ed teacher returned.
Normally, this is happy news. I get to go back to an empty classroom and take a break. Alas, "my" classroom wasn't empty.
(It's a long story as to the whys and wherefores. Suffice it to say that another teacher uses that classroom during the conference period. I didn't want to walk in to disturb them.)
Where to go? I had a little over a half hour until the end of the period. The teacher's lounge was on the other side of campus. (Very long walk.)
I decided that I'd sit outside. (Well, first I had to wait until the end of lunch for the half of the students who were on lunch at that time. But once they had gone into their fourth periods, then the campus was peaceful.)
I don't know if you've heard about all the rain we've been getting. Things have been a mess. And it's been pretty cold for us. But this Thursday was actually a nice day. Dry. And fairly warm.
Even while in class, the campus is generally busy. Security drove by in their golf carts. Students were going to and from places. But it was fairly quiet.
But then a student stopped by the bench I had claimed. He had been in my third period. He asked if he had left something in the classroom, a small box. He had. I told him the classroom was open with a class in there, so he could go and retrieve it.
I saw him a bit later walking by with the small box.
It was nice to get a bit of sun. We're due another storm the following weekend, and the weather app on my phone shows rain for the next week or so. (We'll see. The app always predicts more rain than materializes.)
Sounds like a huge campus! I'm honestly surprised his box was still there.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on what you're used to. Compared to my college, it's not that huge.
Delete"Warm and dry". Meanwhile, the rest of the country is buried under snow (or in my case rain).
ReplyDeleteMy singular punishment in school resulted from retrieving a forgotten book I thought might end up stolen. Mrs. Gaines, my math teacher, didn't care. But the sub watching over our lunch hour had a stick up her a$$. I'm glad you are so flexible in dealing with kids.
ReplyDeleteHe had already been let out of class. I have kiddos come into class to retrieve things they've left behind many times, so I figured the teacher in the room wouldn't mind.
DeleteI wondered how things are where you are, with the atmospheric river event after event. We've had plenty here too, way too much, and another torrential day Saturday coming up.
ReplyDeleteWe had a couple nice days, and then Saturday and Sunday were a mess. It's nice now. We'll see how long until the next rainstorm.
DeleteI am amazed that box was still there. Also amazed that it wasn't raining. We've been following the news reports out of your state so happy you were assigned a day without rain. Meanwhile, we are way, way behind in snowfall on the other side of the country. It actually rained all day today and hovered around 38-40 degrees.
ReplyDeleteHe sat in a seat near the back of the room, so it's possible no one sat there in the next period. Also, things left in classrooms tend to remain until the kiddo retrieves it. If it had been outside, no way.
DeleteThe walk to the lounge was a very long walk. My portable classroom was at the end of a row. As a math lesson, my 4th gr . measured it. The length of 2 foot ball fields!
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting math lesson. I bet the kiddos enjoyed it.
DeleteSounds like a pleasant way to spend a few minutes
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice half hour.
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