The Smoking Iron

The whole purpose of starting this blog was to share some of my funny stories.  Since that has yet to happen, here we go. 

Around the middle of October one of my classes started their sewing unit.  Teaching high school students to sew is not a task for the faint of heart.  You have to expect the unexpected.  Be prepared for anything, and hope that they have paid enough attention to you that they don't seriously injure themselves.  I can proudly say that both sections of this class made it through the unit with no serious mishaps.  (Only one minor burn from the iron.)  Anyway, back to the story.

Among my inherited possessions in my classroom were 5 irons that appeared to be from the 1970s.  I am nothing if not frugal in my classroom, so just because something is old does not mean it cannot be used.  I had 1 newer iron, but sharing 1 iron among 10 to 15 students creates a bit of a traffic jam.  So one day when we were particulary congested, I pulled out the relics.  We plugged them in and added water for the steam.  The first two leaked.  The third wouldn't get hot, so on to the fourth we went.  At this point I was called away to help another student with a sewing machine problem, leaving two of my responsible girls in charge of watching the iron.  A few minutes go by and one comes to me asking if the iron is supposed to be steaming.  I look up and small puffs of steam are occasionally coming from the bottom.  Success!  We have an iron that works.  Or so I thought. 

A minute or so later, the girls come rushing back over, saying there's something wrong.  I walk towards the front of the room to investigate, and there is not steam coming from the iron, but smoke!  Lots of smoke billowing out from around the sides!  My first thought?  Oh Crap! I quickly unplugged the iron, turned on a fan, and had students open the windows while I'm frantically waving my arms around trying to disperse the smoke and avoid setting off the alarm that is overhead.  (Come to find out, I do not have smoke detectors in my room, only heat detectors.  Thanks goodness!)

Needless to say we didn't try out iron number five.  I decided one close call to setting my room on fire was enough and the irons from the 70s went promptly into the trash.  Thankfully Dollar General had a sale on some pretty good irons and I had some classroom money left.