A fond memory from my 3rd year placement in July 2009 :)
I have a new-found joy in life. It's called the fire drill.
Whilst I understand the importance of employing safety precautions such as fire drills, I am convinced that its main purpose is to give teachers a laugh.
I thoroughly enjoyed today's fire drill. It was my second highlight of the day. My first highlight was when one of my little ones turned to me and said "You're my best teacher Miss Laird". It really did make my heart melt. Anywho... today's fire drill had been scheduled for 1pm. The teachers had been forewarned, however the children remained oblivious. At exactly 1pm, a man with a hand-held siren and ear muffs hurried through the school, alerting the staff and students of the impending 'fire'. This man was enjoying his role far too much; the huge smile on his face hindered the seriousness of the event a little. However his evident amusement seemed to bypass my grade ones and the majority began to panic. Not able to help myself, I put on my serious voice, told my grade ones that what they were hearing was the fire alarm, and instructed them to drop what they were doing and line up outside immediately. Never before have I seen my kids move so quickly. The girls grabbed each others hands and the boys charged to the front of the line. I grabbed the roll and marched my class to the oval. We had barely left the classroom when Ollie yelled "I smell smoke!!" while pointing at a particularly dark and ominous looking cloud. Half of my kids walked the length of the oval pinching their noses and breathing through their mouths, to protect themselves from the 'smoke'. When we arrived at the centre of the oval, the kid's imaginations ran riot....
"There really is a fire, I really can smell smoke!!"
"This is really serious, someone might die you know."
"All of our parents might die!"
"Who will look after us if our parents die??"
"Who will drive us to school if our parents die??"
"We can drive ourselves to school and go CRAZY all over the place!"
"Nnoooo we can all walk to school...."
"I saw a man with a gun! There's a man walking around with a gun!" - (It was a cap gun to get the school's attention on the oval. Serious stuff for a 6 year old...)
By this point some of the girls were getting a little bit frantic and clinging to each other as if the end of the world was near. Thankfully the Principle quickly reassured the school that it was only a drill, and that they could return to class. Walking back to class, Ollie was still pointing at the dark looking cloud and trying to convince me that he could smell smoke. I couldn't keep the smile from my lips.
I'm sure that some teachers would argue that fire drills are highly disruptive, however I think that the disruption is worth it. Who doesn't love a bit of drama now and then? My kids settled back to work incredibly quickly after the fire drill; feeling safe and happy with the mundane routine of class work, so I wasn't worried.
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I laughed so hard whilst reading this. I guess as adults, we handle drama's such as fire drills with a bit mroe ease then little ones do. Clearly a few of the little ones at this school were highly stressed out by this situation. But I'm sure as a by stander this would have been quite funny to listen to.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they settled back into class through - poor little dears.
Sam :)
Hi Carly,
ReplyDeleteThis was so funny and no wonder you posted it on here, it would have had me in fits of laughter at the time. I remember in my first year placement I had grade 2 and my class cracke dme up everyday. In particular a group of the boys came up and asked me on my third day " why do you wear your hair different every day miss?" I gave a little giggle and smiled, softly commenting that "I like to try out different ways to see which one I like best". Another boy responded "My mum does that with her friends. On Monday morning Dave was in the kitchen and then yesterday John stayed over. Mummy can't decided which friend she likes best either". Oh the poor little soul, I could have laughed, cried and laughed some more! And being in first year I just changed the subject and shuffled the kids off to play. But the grin on my face for the rest of the day was a dead giveaway that something had made my day :) I love all the funny things they say, it makes our lives as teachers all the more enjoyable.
Thanks Carly, for your post which reminded me about my hahaha moment.
Sheena
Dear Carly
ReplyDeleteThat is like one of the funniest stories i've heard! I read it to my sister Elle and she laughed so hard she was a little teary. She loved it so much that she is constantly quoting the line "I saw a man with a gun! There's a man walking around with a gun!" he he he classic. We are always sharing placement stories hers from the birth unit or mental health wards and mine from the funny world of children. Laughter and tears. I love that you've blogged these stories we need inspiration and motivation to really get into our studies and become the most prepared we can for the little lives we'll soon have in our classrooms. I'll be sure to keep checking your blog out! Superb idea Carly:-)
Hello Beautiful Carly!
ReplyDeleteI was sitting in the silent zone of the library when I read this and I couldn’t help laughing out loud; in retrospect, how embarrassing! Have you considered a career as an author, or comedian? :)
WebBlogging is such a great idea to record stories and reflections like this, isn’t it? On one of those ‘not so pleasant’ days, I think it would be a great idea to have an online space where you could either read previous entries such as this one to cheer you up, or post a message about what happened simply to debrief.
Thank you for cheering up my day though Miss Laird!
Kimberley.