How to teach in a power outage

#rd hour was going great. Almost half of my kids did their homework (it's a rough class) and everyone was working away on their peer edits--making sure their classmates bumped up their grades a bit.

I walked back to my desk to see what I could from the back of the room and grab something or other and
BAM
blackout.

not really BAM per say, it was more of a bewooowwwwmmmm- silence. Absolute chaos ensued.

My classroom was mostly just mildly surprised and everyone was a tad confused- but the 6th grader down the hall were yelling, screaming in pure terror! Oh did I mention that they actually have WINDOWS in those classrooms? So here are my precious 9th graders, calmly taking out cell phone to light the way, opening doors and staying seated just waiting until I figure out what's going on.

Little do they know, the dark is what I'm most afraid of. Terrified really. I can't stand it.

SO we trudge out to the hallway where there's a bit more light, but it's super loud and freeeeing because the heat is electric and they just get right back to work. Love them.

Anyway, we get ushered into another teacher's room and keep working. Eventually the kids are let out to go get lunch in the pitch dark lunch room (I refused to help until my need for a fork forced me in) and then they're told to return to their 3rd hour classroom. Back they come to me and we just sit and eat lunch and they ask me questions after question.

What's your husband's name?
major?
age?
where'd you get married?
Why?
What kind of music do you like?
What is the longest time you've spent doing the same thing at one time? ( writing an outline, 8 hours)


It was exhausting but fun! I loved being able to tell them about my life and to be a real person just stuck in a blackout with them! But my favorite part was when they all asked
"well can't we just stay with you 4th hour and talk, someone can cover your class and who care if we go to ours?"

love them.

still had to go to class :/

luckily for me 4th hour was held in the library and by 2:20 we had a total of 5 people left after the mass parental concern took most kids home.


Moral of the story? Sometimes it snow. And when it snows, sometimes people run into electrical poles and blow a school's power for a day. It rocks.
I love being a teacher.