A zap and a boom aren’t a normal part of my Monday morning routine, but yesterday morning they were! Lucky for me, the resulting sudden power outage occurred as I was heading out the door to work.
Unfortunately (or is that fortunately? 🙂 ), that zap and boom followed me right into work. A few minutes after I arrived, there was a power outage at the office. Talk about bringing a humming office to a screeching stop! Sure there are plenty of things we can do without electricity (as long as you’re working near a window); however, the safety dudes said, “No way!” So, in less than 30 minutes, we were ushered out of the building, temporarily.
Now the office is back in full hum: keys clicking, printers purring, telephones ringing. I remember losing power a time or two when I was teaching, yet I don’t recall the outcome. (Perhaps I’ve blocked those memories?) What do y’all do when the power goes out during school? I’m sure first-year teachers will want to hear this!
Thanks for sharing!
Diane
We play the brain drain game. I have a can that I put in problems as I teach a lesson (all subjects). I randomly pull a card from the can and ask the question. I have students either compete in teams or I have students raise 1,2,3, or 4 fingers depending on what they think the answer is. It’s a quick assessment and it doesn’t allow them to forget what we have learned all year. Plus, they are always begging to play brain drain because it’s fun!
I have always had windows and it hasn’t been a problem during the day. When I was in the old building in a very small town, we had the electricity go out in the whole area during the nightly parent-teacher conf. I had a little girl outside my door and quickly got my one and only flashlight to her and we finished in the mostly dark and slowly crept out of the building.
Thank goodness my classroom has a window! If it didn’t, the pre-k students would be terrified.
I do keep a flashlight on hand, but I haven’t had to use it. The window lets in enough light so that the students can still see what they are doing when the power is off. They just keep on going with their work.
Because of the extreme heat here in Texas, we did receive an e-mail yesterday from administration that we could be without electricity off & on throughout the coming weeks.
On the first day of school last year (which was also my first day at this school)the power went out as the the students arrived. We stood in the dark for what felt like hours. All of the “getting-to-know-you” activities were put on hold. Most students handle the situation well and all I could do was laugh. It was one thing I did not prepare for.
I have windows the length of my east wall, and technology use with my kindergartners is minimal, so I continue with my lesson. If I’m using my overhead or computer projector, I say, “Meet me on the rug!” and we read a story or go on to math a bit early, or I make the kids REALLY happy and say, “Free time!”
I have a row of windows along the back wall so it isn’t too bad. And I take advantage of this opportunity to read A Dark Dark Tale or The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Or we could do some puzzles. This has happened to me so I am speaking from experience.
Most recently when we had a power outage, we used the time for singing, I always teach a lot of songs, and reviewing poems.
The kids will feed off of you, so if you take it as an adventure, they will too.
I once taught in a classroom that had to be divided to provide additional space for other staff. Well, the light switches were on the other side of the new walls. So…they would forget we were “back there” in the other section of the room and turn out the lights. They usually turned them right back on after they heard our screams. Ha! LOL! I almost forgot about that!! Ha!