The changes in my teaching are best described by the word flexibility. During my first year of teaching, I was tied to my curriculum, my year plan, my lesson plans for each day. At the end of my first year, I could confidently say that I had covered the entire curriculum given to me by my administration, but I wasn’t certain I had truly taught.
I have learned much about flexibility since then. Changing plans or scrapping them altogether is not wrong. The day the students walk into the classroom crying is not the day to teach verb tenses. Students who are working hard should be allowed to continue to work, regardless of my lesson plans.
At some point every student will become an exception to the rule. A good teacher is able to deviate from carefully made plans in order to give the students the best possible education.
Jenni French
Harvest Christian Academy, Barrigada, Guam
4 years teaching
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