No Lights = No Fun

Editor's Note: This story was written last Friday, but due to reasons you'll soon understand is only now being published.

This morning I was really excited about the day. It's Friday and I'm headed to New Orleans right after school, so there's no way it was going to be a bad day. Then the lights went out in homeroom.

The power company is installing a traffic signal in front of our building to accomodate the new elementary school going up across the street. Somehow, they cut the wrong line and the power was out for about half an hour. We thought we had it restored, but due to it being an extremely windy day today (not typical) the lights have continued to flicker throughout the remainder of the day.

A classroom of 11 year-olds is crazy enough without surprises, but take away the lights then turn them back on and take them away and turn them back on and take them away again... well, it just creates chaos. We were in lockdown mode through lunch, which we had to eat in our classrooms by the way. The only thing that got me through that little treat was the Chick-fil-A milkshake one of the teacher's had her husband bring us. Thank God for cookies and cream!

Right now, my students are reading silently as part of DEAR-time (Drop Everything And Read), a half-hour we devote to reading each day. This is the first point today where I've been able to catch a breath and mentally regroup. Because of all the chaos, we haven't had a break all day (which is technically illegal) and I'm stretching this silent reading out as long as I possibly can.