Changing it Up on the Fly

When I was in college, I learned to write detailed lesson plans.  These were multiple page documents with the objective laid out in excruciating detail, every material you might possibly use (right down to paper and pencils), descriptions of each and every activity, and the questions you planned to ask at the end of the lesson.  Absolutely no teacher writes in this level of detail after they get out of college. That doesn't make learning it without value, a point I will return to in a moment.

When I student taught, I was placed with two teachers who were at the opposite ends of the planning spectrum.  Mr. Bell was type A, high strung, sinister man who planned like a Bond villain.  He had plans for his plans, which were written always and only in fine point black ball point pen.  That was the right way to do it, and if you used a medium point, you were just wrong.  My second teacher was a "go with the flow," extroverted, relationship is everything kind of woman who was 9 months pregnant (our last days were the same day).  She would come into the room in the morning and say, "What are we going to do today?  Let's see."  When I had my "defense" of student teaching with the committee, they asked me what I learned from having such varied experiences.  My response was that I didn't think I could be either one of them.  I would probably slide around somewhere in the middle.

I am a planner.  Every personality test says so, and it's not like I needed a test to know it.  I have back up plans for my back up plans and make lists every day which may or may not be cross referenced to other lists.  However, teaching is far too fluid an experience to expect my plans to be completely set in stone.  A good teacher has plans, but a great teacher can make changes to those plans on the fly.

I can anticipate times when I know my plans will have to change, and (wait for it) I plan for them.  However, you won't always be able to expect these times.  You will have the best plan that involves the coolest website, only to find that the filter blocks that site on student computers.  You will have the perfect demonstration, but it requires that you be outside on a day when it rains.  You can't just fall apart in those moments and have students do nothing.  Let me repeat that a different way: There is nothing more dangerous than a group of students who have nothing to do!  When you are making your plans, consider the possibilities and figure out a back up.  Maybe there is a youtube video of that cool demo that you can use if it's not possible to do it live.  With a couple of days notice, your IT people might be able to unblock that website.  If you don't know it is blocked until the kids are in front of you, send an e-mail to IT, and start teaching the follow up first.  Maybe it will be unblocked by the end of class, and you can do the activity tomorrow.  Unless you teach math, there are many ways to change the order of what you are teaching to adapt to surprises.

Let's also remember this.  Our curriculum is important, but we are not the only person who will ever teach them any one topic or skill.  If my 8th grade doesn't learn about the polarity of a water molecule, they will encounter it again in biology as well as high school chemistry.  When you have to change things up, focus on having them learn what is most important, not just what you had planned for that day.  It may be that the lesson your students learn that day is the humility and flexibility modeled by their teacher.