So today in first period we had a really strong gas smell. Not headache causing craziness, just enough to cause confusion. The whole language wing of the school smelled like a broken Bunsen burner. We kept teaching, but another teacher came in and asked if we smelled it too, while a student who showed up late mentioned that they were talking about it in the office. It was enough where I half expected the school to send us outside, but they never did. Later I found out that it was just our section of the school; a girl I know who also is doing her field there said they couldn't smell anything. So we just opened the windows and moved on (after figuring out if it helped more to keep the door open or shut. Turns out it didn't really matter).
It wasn't too bad though, other than the obvious annoyance of the smell. Jokes were cracked and the kids seemed in good spirits.
The calm lasted about 10 minutes.
Then the whining started, along with the complaints of headaches, not being able to stand it anymore, and, my personal favorite, the Oh My Gosh If We Don't Get Out Of Here We're All Going To Die. These were funny for about 3 seconds, but they got old really quickly. It really wasn't that bad. I wanted to tell the little sweethearts that no, you're not going to die, if you were we'd probably have left already. But we just shushed them and moved on with our activity, which included some partner competition which magically seemed to make the headaches go away.
Since it wasn't a huge crisis, it wasn't terrible and it was a good experience to have. However, I started wondering about what I would have done had I been there alone, along with thinking about all the other possible situations no one prepares you for. My co-op contributed some stories of her own, so at least if I get a situation about highlighter attacks or tampon throwing (I kid you not), I'll know how someone else handled it.
But still, I'm a little anxious to see what they throw at me in the future...
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