Stay Flexible

 The biggest thing that I learned this week is that, as a teacher, you have to remain flexible. I had spent the previous weekend making sure that I had all of my plans ironed out and my materials ready for the week. Impending weather started conversations about what would happen if school was closed. The school had decided to make Tuesday a flexible instruction day (FID) if the weather got bad, rather than just having a typical snow day. This meant I could give the students an assignment and Zoom with them, but only for a maximum of 20 minutes. It started to look more and more like that would be what was happening, so Monday night I adjusted my lesson plan for a shorter lesson that would be virtual. When I woke up Tuesday morning, there was no delay and the school had decided to stay open for in person instruction; it was back to the original plan. Students that lived out of the district were sent home early, leaving me with just one student in person in my seventh period class. The next day there was an adjusted bell schedule planned due to ASVAB testing, so I had to plan for 52 minutes in one class, but just 31 in another. There ended up being a two hour delay that day, which meant each class was cut to 30 minutes, so once again I changed my plans. 

The rest of the week went fairly smoothly, but I continued to reflect on how things can change quickly and you always have to be ready to adapt your plans. I started to think about other ways that teachers have to be flexible now, particularly because of changes brought by COVID. You may have to teach virtually, in person, or a combination of both. Even if you are teaching in person, you never know when a student could become sick or be contact traced and have to quarantine, forcing them to Zoom into class.

As I prepare for the next week of classes, it's looking like we might finally have a flexible instruction day after all, though I'll be sure to be prepared for whatever comes my way.