Sick day -be my own reliever .

Today the rain turned to a torrential downpour...today was a particularly demanding day.
Wednesday morning professional learning starts at 7.55am AND I missed it due to an intense migraine. I haven't woken up to one of those this entire term. 'Just take the day off ' my inner critic said. ' Nah...take it easy, move slowly and get to period 1, they need you, it's formal writing hand in day. It's a quiet class. You'll be fine as the day progresses" i reasoned.
Well I took it easy, navigated through the puddles, made it to period 1 and was pleasantly surprised with the submission rate. Yay. Holiday reading ! It was also teacher appreciation day...the prefects had arranged a colourful morning tea. I missed that too. One other student handed me a beautifully written note and a chocolate to  say thank you for being a great English teacher.
I'm fortunate to only live a few minutes up the road. My non contact time was meant for one set of assessment marking (before the holidays) but nausea waves made the choice for me. Notify office staff, Sign out, Home, migraine medication...set alarm, into bed!
2 hours later i was back at school a whole lot more coherent. On any other day i would have taken sick leave. Organizing the relief work takes a a chunk of time- a prized commodity these days. It was the start of period 4. Now was the time to pull out my own relief ( emergency ) lesson. Rearrange desks to rows quickly- a change from grouped tables. The students were settled. No devices needed.
It was raining. The class was fabulous.

This reading relief lesson is a hit with the year 10's but i only use it once a term.

1. Provide suitable reading material for each student.You must surely have a class set of great hard copies somewhere.  Today I used the New Zealand Herald 150 years of great New Zealanders publications from 2013. I knew they would come in handy when I begged 30 different people for their copies of this special edition some years back. 

2. Students read the paper for 10 minutes. The large broadsheet is a bit of a novelty for some of them who don't often read the physical newspaper. 

3. Choose one article and write a reflection on the event or achievement. 

4. Get two scribes to write some prompt words up on the board. (Historical archives, impressed, bravery, impact on society at the time, my understanding,) 

***

by the 5th period the rain was becoming torrential...

Wow, a little stream had become a raging torrent and it drew the attention of the next class. 

So my tip to myself on a day when I wake up feeling under the weather is have a great back up lesson- be your own reliever.