One of the most prominent things I have learned throughout this field experience is that flexibility is key. There are so many unplanned moments and changes throughout the day that it's hard to even keep track of what is happening. My CT has stressed multiple times that being flexible is a major part of teaching. Sometimes lessons aren't going as originally planned, so you have to come up with a whole new approach right on the spot. When school was released 3 hours early a couple weeks ago we had to move the entire afternoon lesson to the next week, which the students were thrilled about since it meant no weekend homework! So many things require flexibility when teaching, especially anything involving technology, which has become such a vital part of the classroom. My CT has told me about times where she went to use her interactive whiteboard and it just simply would not respond to her. Since almost all instruction is done using the board, she had to improvise and use just a regular flip chart and marker. This method worked well for her, but the students were not able to interact with the lesson as they were used to doing on the whiteboard.
One of the biggest things about flexibility is that the students don't notice when you flow through the day smoothly, but if you were to struggle and lose your composure students will notice. Setting a good example for them is so important which is why we must be ready for anything and everything!
Anyone else have any examples of when they, or their CT, had to be flexible in the classroom?
There has been a couple instances within my second grade classroom where we had to be flexible. The most common one is-- as you mentioned-- the interactive whiteboard messing up. The most flexible we had to be was when there was an early release due to the major snowfall that we were having. The children were too excited about the snow. That being said, my CT knew that the kids would not be able to focus at all on their literacy assessment. So instead we just had the children watch a couple episodes about snow from "The Magic School Bus".
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