Technology and heat

St. Louis has been hot lately, very hot. 

The building my classroom is in has not had airconditioning since Tuesday, September 3.  The parking lot next to our building was being repaired and repaved.  The construction crew damaged the outside sealed electrical panel that runs the AC unit in the building.

That happened on that Tuesday or Friday before.  If the temperature outside was 90, it was 100+ in my classroom.  The students and I have been dealing with the heat buy having the windows open, the emergency door open, the classroom door open and a large pedestal fan in the corner blowing in the room. 

The computers in the room, which are used daily for every class, have been suffering just as much as the students and I have been.  Heat and technology do not mix.  I have 25 computers with 24 of them working.  Since the heat in the room I have computers shutting off due to overheating.

The overheating and shutting down out of preservation causes a problem.  I would rather have them do that then go out all together.  I have been told I can not get replacements.  At the same time, I can not stop the curriculum and the use of said technology.  The Do Now and Exit tickets are done daily in every class on computers.  The Personal Finance class is all on the computer daily.  The Cyber Ready STL coding and security can only be done on the computer. I have been trying to limit the use, but it is not easy since all the courses I teach are so computer technology-heavy. 

 I am dehydrated and heat exhausted daily.  I drink water all day at school and then just as much when I get home.  I just keep telling myself that if I could make it outside for 10 days at Cub Scout camp in temperatures of 95 to 105 and 90% humidity for 5 days... That is my mantra during this time.  I feel absolutely horrible for my students.