Counting

Life in the Portable Classroom:

The power went out yesterday just after the students left and this morning some electricians came in and fixed it up just in time for us to have class. But it was about 90 degrees in there since the AC had been off all night. We only had to survive for an hour and then the kids could go in the main building to music class.

But, in order to access the electrical panel to see why I didn't have any power, the electricians had to move my file cabinets. They were illegally set up right under the electrial box all year. I didn't know this was a safety violation until a week ago and I just hadn't taken time to unload them and move them. (They didn't actually block the electical panel door, but no one could stand there and do anything with the system since the file cabinets were there..)

So now the file cabinets are standing in the middle of the room, placed there by big men who didn't need to unload them first to move them. I can't budge them until they are empty. And anything that had previously been on top of them or near them on the floor is piled up randomly in a corner. These are all the items that I had piled near them on the floor to safeguard them from prying students, kleptomaniac students, greedy, nosey students.

I will eventually unload all the files and put them in boxes (or the trash) when I move out, but I still need to teach for a few days, and as sure as I take out or discard something, I'm going to be reaching for it so I hate to take it all away just now. Probably I'll unload some of the things from a couple of drawers that I'm somewhat confident I won't need, or I could unload them and keep the filled boxes in the room for a few more days...just till the curriculum is finished.

But the only real way to survive the last week of school is keep everyone busy, busy, busy.

Just one more drip from the Chinese Water Torture that this school year has been for a long time now.

6.5 days...