When the lights go out, do you need to talk louder in order to be heard clearly? Well, according to about 700 elementary students, the answer is a resounding
YES! This morning was scheduled to be the awards convocation for my children's elementary school (they hold an awards convo at the end of each 9-weeks grading period to honor the kids who made A/B Honor Roll as well as a few other awards). DH & I went over to watch the convo this morning as both DS & DD made the A/B Honor Roll this 9-weeks. About 15 minutes before the convo starts, they start bringing the kids into the gym to get seated (the kids sit on the floor, the teachers wheel their chairs in to sit on, and they have folding chairs set up for the parents to sit on). This usually happens in a fairly orderly, yet somewhat noisy, fashion as the kids get situated. I've always been fairly impressed with how well the kids behave and how quiet they usually are throughout the entire convo each time I've attended over the past 5+ years that DS has attended this school. Well, this morning showed a different side to these children when something unexpected happened just as the last kids were being seated. What happened?
The electricity went out! And yes, this made the gym (with no windows to the exterior of the building) virtually pitch-black.
Immediately, kids screamed.....700 of them! The teachers were able to get them quiet amazingly quickly by doing a clapping rhythm they do at the beginning of every convo that indicates it's time to be quiet (the teachers/faculty start the clapping and the kids all join in until everyone is doing the same rhythm). Once it had been announced by the vice principal (the principal was not at school today) that the electricity had gone out and that the students needed to stay put until they figured out what they were going to do about the convo,
that's when it got
LOUD. Before, when the kids had been talking, it had been a dull roar. At this point, it became painfully loud. I had to chuckle when DH commented that the kids "seized the opportunity to disregard all personal responsibility for orderly conduct as soon as the lights went out." Although I was unable to see how DD's class was behaving as they were seated clear across the gym from us and it was completely dark, DS's class was seated directly next to us. I pointed out to DH that DS's class, in contrast to the vast majority, was sitting politely, quietly, and very well-behaved. So kudos to Mrs. B for teaching her class well enough that they were behaving properly even with the lights out!
So what happened with the rest of the awards convo, you may be wondering? Well, after contacting the electric company and being told that the electricity wouldn't come back on for about another 1 1/2 hours, they dismissed the classes (which went off well, considering it was done in the dark!) back to their classrooms and told the parents that the convo will be rescheduled for another day. Of course, no sooner had all the kids returned to their classrooms and most of the parents left the school building.......then the electricity came back on! Hopefully the rescheduled convo will go much more smoothly than today's attempt. Nothing like a little excitement to start off a Monday morning.....life is never dull!
I must say that the staff at the school is getting lots of practice at improvising and dealing with problematic circumstances that arise that are beyond their control. When DH & I arrived at the school we discovered that the set-up for the convo was much different than usual. Usually they have everyone seated in the gym/cafeteria combo with huge folding doors opened up to be able to accommodate everyone. Everyone is then seated facing the stage that's at one end of the room, which is where the kids go up to receive their awards. Well, yesterday was different in that one of the doors was stuck in the closed position. This meant that no matter how they seated everyone the stage would not be visible to at least half of the audience (the whole room is packed full by the time all of the parents, staff, and students are all seated in there). So they improvised. They had everyone seated so they faced sideways to the usual way (so there were people on both sides of the closed folding door...but at least this way it was effectively at the back of the audience rather than in the middle of the audience) and had the kids who were receiving awards walk to the new relative "front" of the room to receive their awards rather than up onto the stage. Although this made it more difficult to see the kids receiving their awards, it was better than having to reschedule the awards convo yet again (and waiting to see what could go wrong a third time!). And thanks to a good telephoto lens on my camera, I should have some good shots of DS & DD as they received their awards. Oh, and they not only received the A/B Honor Roll Award. Another award given at the end of each grading period is the 
given to 2 kids in each class (and the general rule is that a child can only receive it once each school year) who show good citizenship, have good attitudes in and out of the classroom, are good examples to other students, are helpful to others, and such. Both DS and DD received the Principal's Award! I am so proud of both of them! They have both worked very hard this school year so far and done very well, both with their schoolwork and doing well in the social and behavior aspects of school. Now hopefully they will both keep up the great work they have been doing so far and will make the honor roll again for the next grading period. And I'm sure the staff at the school is hoping that the next awards convo goes much more smoothly than this one did!
