Weather Days Off

I am sitting at my computer enjoying (?) the second weather day off this week. We aren't off because of snow, we have very little. We are off because of weather; it's really cold here. I don't mind going to school in the cold. At least my room is heated. On the other hand, I hate my room at the beginning and the end of the school year because I have no air conditioning. Put 30 students in the room and it gets unbearably hot. Those are the days off I wish we had. The students don't concentrate and constantly complain about the heat. This may sound like complaining because, well, it is.
We didn't have air conditioning in our school when I was a kid and we routinely had 40-45 kids in a class. I don't remember worrying too much about the heat, although I am sure it wasn't comfortable. It amazes me how much of a pansy I have become about the weather since I retired from the police department. When you largely work outside, you adjust to the weather conditions and do your job because you have to.
I don't know the answer to the problem of the weather on the classroom. All I know is that I envy schools that have air conditioning. A school where I coach soccer, different from where I teach, has air conditioning and the players complain that they freeze in class. I quickly point out my sweat-stained clothing from school to them. Chastened they sheepishly say that at least they can wear hoodies in class. The school system put a ceiling fan in the room which serves to move the hot air around. It doesn't cool anything down, but it was a good try. Enough whining! I am sure there are some districts that are much worse off than we are. I will, however, match midwestern heat, with its pervasive humidity, with any in the nation.
I"m going do some work for school tomorrow. The students were supposed to go to the computer lab today to work on a World War II project. These days off will force my student teacher to be adjustable and adaptable. As we all know thats what makes us survivors. It will be a good lesson for her. All her careful planning is up in smoke and she has to rework her unit lesson plan. A painful lesson indeed.