Word of the profession: flexibility

Yes, the word of the profession of teaching is flexibility. I've had to be flexible on many occasions in my short career so far.

I was flexible when I was told students would be pulled out of class when textbooks were being assigned through the library. I missed a class period's worth of valuable instruction time with my students. What I lost in classroom time, I gained in extra time elsewhere, seeing as how the dreadful task of assigning textbooks was taken off of me.

I was flexible when the fire drill came at the worst possible time, as I foresee it will come in the future, also. I will be flexible then.

I was flexible when the LCD projector in my classroom died just as I was beginning the day's classes. Thank goodness for giant Post-it Notes (aka chart paper) and Crayola magic markers; ingenuity at its best.

I was flexible when I had planned a day of computer testing so I could find out the students' reading levels (which I was required to do, also) and picture day interrupted the whole thing.

Most importantly, I was flexible when I looked around the room during my lesson on characterization in short stories today and realized that it was not clicking and no lightbulbs were turning on during the activity. At the end of the day, I sat down with my co-teacher and we revamped everything we had planned to do tomorrow, including shortening the quiz from plot elements and characterization to just plot elements. It just doesn't make sense to keep going with a failing lesson or activity. It's easy for me to put my own ego aside and figure out what is best for the students. I am always learning. I want to model this kind of flexibility for the students. If they are in a situation and their intended plans aren't working, they should be able to recognize it and reevaluate when needed.

I am not the almighty teacher who knows everything and exactly how to teach it to her students. I have 83 students, and I swear they learn in 83 different ways. I would be crazy to think I didn't have to flexible to keep up with them.