OK, I just typed this whole long speal about my last week with electrical problems and such in my classroom and it got erased because the blogger says I am not logged on when I clearly had to log on to get here. Well, I shall attempt to write it again...

Anyway, last week at work started with a 3-day weekend and that usually means that the students are really hyper or really tapped out (and yes, I am an English teacher that uses a lot of "really"s and I know that that is really really not an acceptable, and quite redundant sounding word to use). The day began like any other day. The students came in and sat down and soon got to work. Now, my first period class was working on finishing their papers they had started on the computers the previous class day. However, in the middle of the period, the computers up and turned off on them. I looked over at my computer, and sure enough, it too had gone haywire. We were soon back up again and started to work. However, the surges of electricity came again and again and we had to find something else to do instead.

When the next period came in, I was quite pleasantly surprised that they all sat down quietly and were ready way before the bell had rung. Very nice surprise. However, that was the last nice thing that happened all week. The electricity continued its reign of terror. I asked one of my students to ask our neighbor if he had any problems and he had not. I sent the same student to the front office to tell them of my problem because my phone did not work (and had not for several days). Someone came by and checked it over and said that they would come back the next day with an electrician to look it over.

The next day rolls around and no one really comes by till the end of the day. They do not do anything and would come back the next day. Now, by this time, all my classes were weird out by the electrical surges, but they lived through it and actually proceeded quite well with the lesson despite all of it.

The 3rd day comes around and the electrician says that it is the compressor in the air conditioning. They also tighten a bolt on one of the breakers and said that everything should be ok because they could not discover what could be wrong with it to cause all that. To my surprise, my computer turns on at the end of the day and I work on it for less than 1/2 an hour and go home.

Now, Friday comes along and I come in at 5:30 in the morning because my mentor and I have no other recourse due to our busy schedules to meet and discuss BTSA(the beginning teacher association) stuff. Now, when I get back into my classroom, I find that my computer has completely tweaked out and will not want to turn on correctly. I brush this aside as class starts. Thank god this class was going to the library.

However, when I get back to class, I discover that a HVAC electrician is inspecting it. He says that the same circuit that was tightened the day before was fried and that was why we were getting loss of power and surges. He said he turned it off (although that does not explain the further small surges the rest of the day) and would get someone to fix it ASAP. Now, at the time that I talk to him was supposed to be the time I was prepping for my next period for which I was going to be observed by the vice principal. Now, I am not as prepared as class starts, the electricity is still going haywire, my students are confused still because of the electrical problem, and I have been up since 4 in the morning. That was a little nerve-wracking. Anyway, the day went on and I was observed and the class did really well. A lot of them caught up with other classes that had more time (it was a rally schedule so the periods this day were shortened by 20 minutes each).

Alas, that is my week's story. Boring as it may sound to some, but quite exciting to us who saw arcing electricity in the lights above...