Worst Class Period Ever

Thursday, third period.

Technically, the class was world geography, but the subject makes no difference. It was Great California ShakeOut Day, which I knew in advance (they talked about it on the news and I think I saw a school email about it), so it didn't take me by surprise as it has in other years. 

When I checked in that morning, the secretary mentioned the drill, and I nodded. I knew. Then she mentioned something about an assembly that I didn't need to worry about...

Only, I did. It turned out that Mr. L's third period class is freshmen. (In previous years he taught juniors and seniors. I did not know he had switched to freshmen.) And the freshmen were to go to the assembly third period...

...after the earthquake evacuation drill...

I mean, on the bright side, that meant that technically I didn't have to teach third period. 

Small victory. Especially considering that Mr. L's classes are traditionally not a problem. (He's very, very strict. My biggest issue generally in covering his classes is what to do to stay awake while they're diligently working on whatever busy work assignment he gave them--on this day it was researching six separate holidays celebrated in other countries.) 

We had two minutes in class before it was time for the drill. They ducked and covered. With minimal pushback. Then we evacuated. (Mr. L had helpfully drawn a map on the board so the kiddos knew where we were to meet outside.)

We had heat last week, so they complained of the hot sun. I pointed out that it was only 10 in the morning, and it would be hotter later. (They must complain while we wait to be dismissed from the drill. If it wasn't the heat, they'd find something else.)

When the all-clear bell rang, we headed directly for the gym. (The gym was closer to us than the classroom, so I had told them to go there rather than back to class.) 

And then it was time for the assembly. Yay?

(I do not like assemblies.)

I mean, as far as assemblies go, this one was fine. Rather than the usual sports thing with dancing and weird games (which I got to do the very next day at a different site for their Homecoming), they had a motivational speaker. And he was cool. 

But the benches in the gym are hard. And I'm technically on duty, making sure the kiddos are behaving. In a situation where they are more likely to goof off. 

Sigh.

At least he took until the bell, so when the assembly finished, it was time to go to the next period.

And I was quite happy to sit back and watch period five do busy work in the comfort of the classroom.

All Accounted For

I was informed that it was the Great California ShakeOut day when I arrived at school on Thursday. I immediately flashed to last year's drill. At least this year I actually had an in-person class to conduct it with. 

As I had no wheelchair-bound students in this group, we were all able to get under the desks for the required minute. And then we evacuated to the parking lot, which wasn't too far from the classroom. (Being at a very small school helps.) 

For the first time, I didn't bother to bring out the class roster with me. We are required to take roll to make sure all our students are accounted for. As I had five students to keep track of, I figured I could easily do that in my head. 

We got to our area, and I ran through the class roster. All five students were there. 

That's when the school's secretary came up to me requesting the class roster. 

Um... Every other school does not specifically ask for a roster. At the larger schools, they have us hold up a green card to indicate we have all our kiddos. (Or a red card if we do not.) So, it didn't occur to me to bring it out. 

I mean, I could articulate that every student was there (and list them by name). And ultimately that was accepted. (They didn't tell me that I'd need to turn in a paper.) 

Just when I thought I'd get through a drill unscathed...

A Very Different Evacuation

I really, really hate emergency drills. But we're doing the distance learning thing with no kiddos, so we're exempt now, right? Uh. . . 

Every year, California does its Great California ShakeOut. The district I work for always does it. And last Thursday was the day. 

Usually, I know it's coming. But this year is so different. I didn't even realize it was the day until the assistant principal came over the speaker system beginning with, "Attention all teachers who are on campus. . ." 

I happened to be co-teaching on this day, so I let the other teacher know something was going on. As she was working from home, she kept going while I evacuated with the rest of the staff on campus. 

I wasn't the only one in my immediate vicinity, it turned out. Three other teachers exited classrooms in that wing. One got five steps away from her classroom, noticed that we were all wearing masks, realized she wasn't wearing hers, and turned around to go back and get it. (I think we've all done this once or twice this year.) 

When we got out to the evacuation staging area (outdoors, in the PE area), I heard more than one teacher say the very thing I was thinking. "I didn't realize there were this many people on campus." 

I'd guess there were about fifty of us. Now, compared to a student population of 3000ish plus 170ish teachers plus instructional aides plus security staff plus administration, that's really nothing. But considering how empty the place feels, it's really a lot of people who are actually around.

We hung out until we got the all clear. When I got back to the room, the class was still going. (I left the meet on.) It's amazing how long it did not take when we did not have the whole campus population to deal with.

Double Drill Day

California holds a state-wide earthquake drill every October. (You know how much I love those drills.) Of course the schools participate.

The drill was scheduled for 10:18 AM, which put it about five minutes into third period (after they adjusted the bell schedule for the day. On a normal day, the students are out of class at "snack" at that time).

Right after getting to school that morning, I found the evacuation folder, so I was good to go. Not looking forward to it, but good to go.

We were about halfway into first period (so, roughly 8:30) when the fire alarm rang. Seriously?

But this is not the school where we ignore those bells, so we had to evacuate. Ugh.

Alas, the students weren't evacuating. They were cleaning up.

The ceramics class has some strict instructions as to cleaning up. They put away their projects into cubby holes. Then they have to wipe down their tables and sweep up underneath. They even dry off the tables after wiping them down.

They were halfway into this process when I realized they weren't leaving. Those bells don't ask us to evacuate unless something has gone wrong, so I urged them, just leave it and go. If it was a minor thing, we'd be back and they'd have time to clean up. If it was something bad, it was best to get out as quickly as possible.

By the time I got them out and we were halfway to the staging area, the bells rang to release us back to class.

They still had twenty or so minutes of class. Did they get back to their projects? Of course not. Nope, they were halfway cleaned up, so they finished and sat. Sigh.

Then we got to do it all again two periods later. But in this case, they didn't start their projects as we knew we'd be evacuating. (They worked after we got back.)

Any other day that first evacuation would have been enough. But at least I got a good walk in that day.

Silly Fire Drill

I used to have a MySpace account. I started my blog there. But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here. I have since closed the MySpace account. I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here.  

I've resisted reposting this for a while. It's my first ever post. But today, for some reason, I feel like I should share. Please be kind. This was originally posted on May 23, 2006.  

Fire alarm? Great!

I hate fire alarms. I have to try to figure out where "my" class is and what they all looked like. After two minutes of taking roll, I usually have no hope of recalling more than perhaps three faces. And taking roll outside? Disaster.

Luckily, today's was different.

I had this same group yesterday. Usually I avoid the assignments that place me with the same class for more than a day at a time. History has given me many reasons for this. However, I was offered a three-day assignment, I needed to work, and it's been a while, so I figured, why not?

Today was day two. And the assignment got extended one extra day. Sigh.

But I was talking about the fire alarm.

They had a movie. Yes, it was in the lesson plan. You think I'm the kind of sub who shows movies and ignores the lesson plan? I'll ignore that. I follow lesson plans. So, I tried to put on the movie.

I'm not stupid about technology. Really, I'm not. Still, I had issues. I think I know what happened, and it wasn't my fault. Anyway, while a kind student was fixing the connections, the fire alarm started its waa-waa-waa-waa, and that means evacuate.

So, we walked out, got outside the gates, and waited. My entire class was there. All three of them.

Yes, I said three.

It's a class of six from the teacher's "extra" period. Three were absent. And except for the class of dream children from a couple years back, this was the easiest evacuation I've ever been in.

I don't know if it's me, but fire drills have gotten easier since this time. So has my writing. Practice may not make perfect, but it sure does make it better.  

Surprise Drill

"Next period, we're going to have an earthquake evacuation drill."

Uh oh.

It was the morning announcements. The principal had a lot to say this morning, and he closed with that doozy.

Drills are usually planned. In advance. Days. Everybody knows about them ahead of time. This one was sprung on all of us. But we're adaptable.

So, that class came in. I mentioned the drill, but most of them were surprised (they had not been listening to the morning announcements). I quickly took roll, and then it was drill time.

I should mention that I had health classes today. Freshmen.

I explained to the class that we were having an earthquake, and they should duck and cover. Most of them did. A few boys, however, decided to play up the earthquake angle. One of them ran back and forth, acting like he was afraid of the ground shaking. Two others just did the scared face thing.

So, not only did I have to go after the kiddos who weren't ducking and covering, now I had to try to calm idiot boys who wanted to get as much play in as they could. I was not amused.

Luckily, the evacuation part of the drill was fine. Then we got back to class, and I had to get them back in classroom mode. They were having none of it. The same boys tried the play-around angle.

We did battle. I don't know if I won or lost, but we did get through the important stuff that was on the lesson plan.

I don't know why they thought they could get away with this stuff. It's not like I didn't know their names. Plus, I had a good seating chart to refresh my memory. I would not want to be them on Monday.