Popping Out

First and second periods were ELD (English language development; read: English language learners). The teacher left me a page's worth of lesson plans for them.

Third through fifth periods were freshman English. Ms. B, the teacher, left me two lines of instructions:

• You have a co-teacher, Ms. K. She will run the class.
• Pass back papers. Update portfolios. 

I was not concerned. Ms. K knows her stuff. 

During second period, Ms. K rushed in. She needed to get the computer set up for the rest of the day, but she only had a short time as she was on her way out to see her son get an award at his school. 

Second period was her prep. She intended to get back in time for third period. 

Of course, there was a technical glitch and Ms. K couldn't find the program she needed on Ms. B's computer. As I am in many different classrooms, I have learned to find most of the commonly used programs in several different computer configurations. I told Ms. K I'd find it so she could go. (It took me less than five minutes after she left to get that set up. My second period was working quietly, so I had the time.)

I was a little concerned. If Ms. K wasn't back for third, I was kind of screwed. I had no idea what they were working on. The lesson plan was rather cryptic.

I put it out of my head. If Ms. K thought she'd be back in time...

She was. For once, the estimated time was correct. Ms. K's son's teacher told Ms. K they'd be done by 9:30. Ms. K told me later that at 9:30 she was going through a Starbucks drive thru. (Second period ended at 9:40. Then there's a snack break before third period.)

As it turns out, the lesson plan was accurate. They passed back a stack of papers to all the students. The kiddos put them in order in their portfolios. And then we collected the updated portfolios back.

But where the papers were, the order those assignments needed to be in, and having the classes do this quietly were things that Ms. K definitely needed to be there for.

Do you leave back up plans, just in case? Can you solve minor technical issues?

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