Of course, before the drill, I had to sit the kids down and have a talk about appropriate behavior, what do not/not do, and why. This lent itself to a very, um, well, let's call it a very lively and animated conversation(s). You know- the ones where they all start talking. At the same time. And they all know everything. And they're all talking gibberish and nonsense. Here are a few gems I was able to pick out the chaotic conversation:
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! We have to lock down in case someone comes to our school to steal something!!!! Like our lunch from the cafeteria!!!!" (Um, friend, I'm pretty sure no one will be stealing those...gross!)
"We need to lock down if there are police helicopters swarming around to catch bad guys and bank robbers!!!"
"Oh! I know exactly why we need to lock down!!!! It's 'cuz of nuclear war." !?!?!?!!? What !?!?!?!
We all survived the lockdown, and after I quieted them down, hopefully they learned why we need to practice locking down...(and it didn't (really) include any of the reasons above."
This whole ordeal reminded me of my very first earthquake
I was all prepared for that earthquake drill. My kids knew when the alarm rang, we would get under our desks, crouch up like rollie pollies, cover over heads, and be COMPLETELY still and COMPLETELY silent. Piece of cake.
So, the alarm went off and we did exactly what we talked about. Even I, being the exemplary role model for these growing young minds, got under my desk. We were still. We were quiet. We were crouched up like little rollie pollies.
5 minutes later (Me thinking...this is a long earthquake drill, but whatever...)
Enter principal (AKA- the person who would determine if I would have a job next year or not...)
Principal: "Um, Miss B."
Me (crouching under my desk): Yes Mr. MacIlwee (with a smile, thinking for SURE he is going to compliment me on my quiet, calm students under their desks...)
Principal: This is a fire drill. We should all be outside on the field lined up. We were worried about you.
YIKES!!!!
HOW embarrassing!!!!
Believe it or not, I survived the embarrassment, and I am happy to say I did get a job the next year. And every "earthquake drill" after that (even to this day), I checked with everyone classroom within a 50 yard vicinity to MAKE SURE it really is an earthquake drill!!!!!
Well, Sunday night I felt like this going to bed knowing wouldn't have to get up early on Monday:
Tonight, I'm feeling more like this:
Oh, and do you have any funny lock down/fire/earthquake drill stories to share!?!?! Or any embarrassing teaching stories??? :-) It will make me feel better because reliving that "earthquake drill" embarrassment was not easy. PLEASE share!!! :)
oh my!! ahhhh!! lol...at least you were asked to come back :)
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago the Principal announces that we will be having an assembly that day, no mention of what it will be about....scheduled during my prep time so prep teacher takes my class. I see police officers and someone says it is about 'school safety'. So prep teacher brings class back at end of assembly, I ask my guys what assembly was about, they tell me lockdown. We chat for a moment, they are of course full of stories, just like yours....they start saying what they will do in a lockdown...I assure them that certainly there will be more info, guidelines etc. when a voice comes over the PA, 'this is a lockdown'. My kids scatter, one of them turns out the lights, I just crouch down on floor, not sure what the heck is going on....after, I get a visit from a friendly officer to point out what I did not do correctly during the lockdown....NO FOREWARNING, NO GUIDELINES EVER GIVEN TO STAFF, NO PREVIOUS DISCUSSION....what a day, I was proud of my guys for handling it so well, they were as quiet as mice. Thanks to my prep teacher for the heads up when she brought them back :) Found out later it was announced at the assembly we would be having drill immediately following. I have lots more embarrassing stories but that is the most recent :)
ReplyDeleteHaha- this seriously made me laugh out loud. One of my most embarrassing teacher moments happened this year. We had an honor roll assembly that I completely forgot about. An administrator called me earlier that day asking about my honor roll students since I failed to send in the list. I gave it to him and thought nothing of it. Soon I got another phone call asking where I was. Turns out they called my name to present my awards and then they realized I wasn't there. Whoops! I had just introduced the bossy e rule to my kiddos so we were getting pretty into it, that was my excuse. Hopefully neither of us will make any silly more mistakes this year. : )
ReplyDeleteAs a sub, fire drills are part of my norm. I just have to always figure out where I have to line up. Well one time, at the largest school I sub for, we lined up in a totally wrong spot. When I got frowned at, I smiled and replied, "Hey at least I got the kids out and they wouldn't burn up!" Which I did get a smile back.
ReplyDeleteOr how about the time I had a fire drill and turns out a kid in my classroom pulled it! I was mortified when I saw the principal outside my room, needing to 'have a talk'.
Journey of a Substitute Teacher