Lessons 2 and 3

Don't have time to post too many details, but I taught two lessons this morning.

When writing the lesson plans, I was forced to cram about 1 hour 30 minutes worth of material into 1 hour. Everything was planned down to the minute - no time to spare.

Then, there was a strange smell of natural gas leaking from the bathrooms, so of course our transition from PE to bathrooms to classroom took FOREVER because the kids had to "investigate."

There goes 5 minutes.

As I'm finishing up my first lesson and internally brushing my shoulders off for a job well done, the principal comes over the PA system announcing "Earthquake Drill, Earthquake Drill, Earthquake Drill". Sheer chaos follows. Students scramble under their desks, giggle, kick, yell - it's nuts.

But that's not all. The Earthquake Drill was then followed by a FIRE DRILL. This means every student in the ENTIRE SCHOOL must file outside and wait for the all clear. But just to change it up a bit (and make my blood pressure rise even more), the custodians decided to block a few of the exits, forcing teachers to re-route students out of the building.

Say goodbye to another 15 minutes.

I did not get to teach everything I wanted to today. To call my lessons a "disaster" would actually be an extreme understatement.

At least it wasn't my fault...