Some days it just doesn't seem worth coming in...

So, yeah. Already knew that it was going to be hectic. It's the Friday before spring break, we've had graduation tests all week, there's a pep rally to celebrate the testing being over, there's a volleyball tournament, and it's free hat day (usually students have to purchase a sticker saying that they can wear hats).

BUT. Despite all that (and in part because of it, since I lost instructional time to the graduation test), I still had plans to work with my students today. First block went pretty well - it was Journalism, and they got interviews and typed rough drafts for newspaper articles.

And then the business manager came on over the PA system and told us all to evacuate the building.

*sigh*

Turns out there was a gas leak in one of the science labs. So we were outside (it was GORGEOUS, though a bit too warm and bright to be absolutely perfect weather) and I'm grinding my teeth at MORE lost instructional time. We lost almost half of our second block, which meant I had to rush through my introduction to our Caesar unit. I'll probably need to revisit it after break. We didn't get to do any work on the sonnets at all, nor did we get to have SSR time.

I have third block planning, and another teacher on planning remarked how lucky we were to have an uninterrupted plan period... but I'm not sure. I'd almost rather have a shorter plan if I could have full instructional time. (Almost.)

Fourth block (another Journalism class) started with the pep rally for the juniors who'd taken the graduation test, so about a third of my students were gone. They ended up coming back earlier than I'd anticipated, but we're only allowed to interview students in other classes during either the first ten or last ten minutes of class, so we had wasted time there, too. Fortunately, the other students were able to work on their rough drafts.

It's frustrating, because I'm caught up with my grading... if I'd thought this through more carefully, I could've assigned some writing because right now I have PLENTY of time to give detailed feedback. Then again, they wouldn't be getting it back for another week... I guess it would've been a good time to have had them turn in a rough draft. Which, well, I did do for my Journalism classes. Just not English.

Chalk it up to experience. Make a note for next year.

*sigh*

Image thanks to ST: TNG :)