I believe that hurrication is, in fact, the technical term for the unexpected vacation caused by a hurricane.  It is not to be confused with the similarly popular staycation, though my current break from school could be labeled as either.

Ike, of course, ripped up most of Houston, so everything has been cancelled since school let out on Thursday.  No tutorials, no Open House, no school, no pep rally, no football games, nothing.  We might go back on Thursday, but it’s anyone’s guess at this point.  I happen to be one of the lucky few who has power and water pressure (the water is of questionable quality, but at least I have electricity to boil it).  I also have food and bottled water, so I have no need to seek refuge elsewhere.

Though I am worried about my kids and their families, their location on the west side of Houston means that they were probably spared serious damage.  I’m really hoping that’s correct.  If it’s not…well, we’ll do what we can with what we have.

Thursday was a little crazy, since everyone knew that the hurricane was coming.  All day, rumours were flying around about school being canceled and Ike intensifying–every class had questions about it:

“Ok, class, don’t forget about our test tomorr–”
“But Miss!  There’s no school tomorrow!”
“We don’t know that yet.  The principal hasn’t canceled school yet.”
“But I heard from an AP!”
“The principal will make the official announcement at the end of the day.  Regardless, the next day that we have school, whether it’s tomorrow–”
“But school’s canceled tomorrow!!!!”
“–whether it’s tomorrow, or Monday, or Tuesday, or whenever, there will be a test.”
“But Miss!!  You can’t do that!”
“Whenever you come back to school, you will have a test.  We need to take the time that we have now–”
“But there’s a HURRICANE COMING!!”
“–take the time that we have now to prepare for that test.”

On Friday, I had planned to test or quiz all of my classes.  We’ll see how that goes whenever we get back.  I also had all sorts of grandiose plans for tutorials and detentions after school on Thursday, as well as the Open House, but all of that got washed away (pardon the pun).

Now that I have all this time off (with electricity, to boot!), the TFA thing to do would be to catch up on:

1. Grading
2. Tracking
3. Reflecting on my teaching (and related TAL actions)
4. Planning ahead for the next unit
5. Creating dynamic powerpoints
6. Reading for my certification class

But…somehow relaxing and shopping (at the Galleria, the city’s great refuge from the heat and darkness) seem much more appealing.