A Painful Morning

Some mornings are good, some are hectic... this morning was painful!

Every three years teachers "get" to be evaluated. Every three years I think about quitting. I usually stress about evaluations for a few weeks. With all of my homework this year, I put off stressing about my evaluation until the day before. The only thing I am teaching is kindergarten computers. I really don't do too much teaching with that- I just put the program I want them to do on my website and let them do that for about 20 minutes. When a 4th grade teacher asked me to teacher her students PowerPoint, I figured it would be a good thing to teach while being evaluated.

I had everything set up yesterday, I made a hand out, I created a PowerPoint. I brought my projector. Things were looking good.... until 8:00 this morning.

8:00 I started my car to warm it up while cleaning the bathroom downstairs (my cats are still being trained to use the toilet)
My first thought was, "dang it Joe! can't you take a shower without getting water all over the bathroom!" As I started to mop up the floor, I realized the ceiling was dripping with water and the light fixture was completely filled with water. I moved it a little and a bunch of water poured down the front of my shirt and skirt. At least my hair wasn't wet -- I did not have time to change, so, I went to school wet. I called Marty and let him take care of the problem (which turned out to be a broken pipe in the kitchen).
8:31.. Only one minute late to work.. I could still pull this off.
8:32... I notice a 4th grade class in the computer lab. So much for getting a few things ready before the kindergarten kids came!
9:15..I send the kindergarten students back to their class and start the 6th graders on their test. I decided to check on a vacant computer to see if I needed to do anything with the PowerPoint program.
9:45.... I realize that the computers in my lab have the 2004 version of PowerPoint. I had everything ready for the 2008 version. (There is a huge difference)
10:00.. I quickly make a new PowerPoint using the 2004 version, make a new handout that goes along with the 2004 version, and adjusted all of the computers so that there would be no confusion.
10:30.... I am running off my new handout when the machine says that the ink cartridge needs to be replaced... I decided to use another machine instead. At this point, I started laughing! It really was funny and laughing was better than getting frustrated.
1040.....I set up my projector and hook it up to my computer. I was surprised that I did not have any problems.
11:00... the principal comes in along with the class and I teach 30 students how to create a PowerPoint.
11:30 surprisingly the presentation went well! I was really pleased. The students were quiet, they followed directions and no one tripped on the projector cord ( I was expecting that to happen)

After my painful morning, I have decided that I am grateful for a few things...
1. I am glad I found the leak in the ceiling and that the pipe is fixed... I am also grateful that Sarah and Rachael were home to shut the water off ..... Marty was able to call one of our friends that is a plumber and he was able could come over quickly.
2. I am grateful that I checked the school computers. It would have been a disaster to find out that the students were using a different version than I was.
3. I am truly grateful that I don't have to have evaluations for another 3 years!