Teaching In Weather Extremes

In my first years of teaching, I was in a rural town where, although it got cold, it didn't snow... until it did. It was a cold morning and I peered outside the window and saw the covering of white down the driveway and up the mountain. It was so pretty! I grabbed my coat, gloves, boots, beanie, scarf etc and drove to work. The teachers met in the staffroom for the morning debrief and as we headed to our classrooms, we ducked snowballs and resisted the temptations to throw snow back. 

As the students lined up to go in class, I hastily made up a few rules:

"No snow in the classroom"

"Don't throw snow at someone younger than you" etc

One child asked, "So what about the big kids? Are we allowed to throw snow at them?" I looked at the child and mischievously smiled, "Sure. But if you do, they'll throw one back at you." I might have added, "Don't come crying to me when they throw one back at you" but that was so long ago and sounds quite insensitive now. Perhaps.

The snow had mostly melted by recess time and all that was left was slush. Later that night, my brother, his wife and their young son came to visit so they could play in the snow. When they stood under the clothesline, I could not resist the urge to shake the clothesline and watch snow fall on them. My nephew was not sure what to make of snow. 

Twenty or so years later, I was teaching in the US and during winter, snow was not such a novelty. I had to drive carefully to work, avoid black ice and if a driver slid off the road, they could be fined for reckless driving. If the snow was particularly bad, it was a 'snow day' and school was closed but otherwise, we put our coats and gloves on to do duty where students played in the yard.

Towards the end of winter, when Spring had allegedly begun according to the date, one of my colleagues wore flip-flops to school. We were standing out in the yard, in the snow and I asked why she was wearing them. She giggled and said she was being hopeful. "It's Spring so it's time for the warmer weather. I'm being optimistic!" she declared.

At the opposite end of the cold, was when I lived in North Queensland. The air conditioner was on almost every day of the year, hats were compulsory all year round and the students kept their lunches in the classroom fridges so that it wouldn't go off. They brought frozen drinks to school in the morning which melted by lunchtime.

I feel very privileged to have taught in different places, with different climates and different lifestyles. Sometimes I had to improvise and put in place unexpected rules/codes of behaviour and sometimes it was fun to spontaneously enjoy an activity that made the most of the unusual weather. As a teacher you get to make choices that may enhance your students' learning and provide them with unique learning experiences. Embrace those moments!