My classroom is in the original part of the building (built in 1966 if that gives you any idea as to the age). What this means is that I have absolutely no control over the temperature of my classroom. This just drives my kids nuts because they are usually complaining about how cold it is, and are dismayed when I simply tell them to put on a sweater. I then explain that we are at the mercy of the air, usually cold, that comes up out of the vents in the floor. On days when it's particularly cold in my room (and this can be in the winter when the heat is on), the kids will pile their books on the air vents in the hopes to keep it a bit warmer.
Until Friday.
On Friday when I got to my room I noticed it was unusually warm. Really unusually warm. I did an email to The Enforcer and the Head Custodian and then pretty much melted through the day. It was brutally hot outside so I more or less attributed it to that. The kids were grumpy, and I was grumpy, but hey, we only have about ten days left so EVERYONE is grumpy.
This morning, however, was a different story.
I noticed when I went to open my door that it felt, well, warm. Warm like the outside of an oven door feels. This was not good.
And then I opened the door.
And was nearly blasted off my feet by the hot air that blew out. It was, really, amazing how hot it was. It truly felt like it does when you open an oven door. The air was freezing cold in the hall way, but my room felt, literally, like an oven. The Bantam Rooster popped his head in and immediately stepped back.
"What's wrong with your room?" he asked. "It's like an oven in here."
"Wish I knew," I told him. "But for some reason the air conditioner is putting out hot air, in my room only."
The Head Custodian showed up and took a step back when he stepped into the room. "Wow, this is the worst I've seen in a long time," he said. We checked both rooms on either side of me and they were nice and cool. The hallway was cool. My room, on the other hand, was perfect for roasting a turkey. Or a teacher.
My homeroom kids walked in an immediately started complaining. I told them we'd put in a work order, they'd have to just be patient, and we'd deal with it. I actually decided if I needed to, I could put the kids on the floor in the hallway and they could work on their projects (Element Superhero Comics) and if they acted up, I'd put them back in the room. However, as luck would have it, we had 8th grade field day today so our kids didn't get their first and second period electives - the elective teachers were running field day. So, we had reserved the theater and decided to show a movie for the entire 7th grade so they could still have some fun time today, and we could share the duties of watching them and getting some planning. What that meant was that my room cooled off a bit with the door open for about two hours and by the time 3rd rolled around it was tolerable. Not great, but bearable.
We made it through today without too much whining about the heat. I also told my janitor to leave the door open so the heat didn't build up overnight. Hopefully that will help. In the meantime I hope someone figures out what's wrong. With only 10 1/2 days left, I really don't want to spend them melting.
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3 comments:
Wow, that sounds dangerously hot! Good thing it wasn't summer time... people would be passing out!
That sounds awful!
My school is 95 years old and we have similar problems. My windows don't shut all the way, so I duct tape them shut. But in the winter, I'll still sometimes come to school to find two of my windows wide open and the temperature in my room will be a toasty 42. It's fabulous!
Marvelous Multiagers!
My first year of teaching was at a high school where, in mid-August, the air conditioner would run in my classroom in the morning when it was in the low 60s outside, but then the heater would come on in the afternoon when the temps were pushing 100.
Malfunctioning heat and cold in a school is almost a cliche'. Why can't they ever seem to get it right?
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