Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape. Schools, administrators and teachers all love a good schedule. In fact, you can walk in almost any building and find posted outside every classroom door a carefully planned master matrix of a schedule including the time and duration of every subject, lunch, restroom and recess breaks. That is great in a perfect world but I have never seen a school that operated on a perfect schedule. Interruptions are standard. You cannot schedule someone throwing up, a water leak in the back of the classroom, someone unexpectedly pulling the fire alarm, or a hamster funeral. I used to have a standard disclaimer at the bottom of all schedules, syllabi, and lesson plans that read, “subject to change just because this is a school and stuff happens.” I’m not sure that prevented any consequences for knocking the planets out of orbit because we were three minutes late to the lunchroom but somehow it gave me comfort. I told myself that I was going to do the very best I could every single day for those children. The goal was the schedule, but I refused to let all of the million things that can happen in a day create additional angst for me. There were enough things that could cause me to become anxious not to add to it the angst of the mastery of the schedule. Give yourself, and your schedule a break. Strive every day to hit every mark on the schedule but when it doesn’t happen, tell yourself that you prioritized something else.

Children thrive on a schedule and with a routine. They love to know what’s next! Most elementary school students can tell you their daily/weekly schedule from memory! PEC students often need more concrete reminders. Sometimes I tape a small (laminated)  schedule to the top right hand corner of their desk. Many of my PEC students over the years have had what I call “a high need for certainty”. In other words, they would ask  the same questions over and over, just to be “certain”. They felt most supported when this was clear and there were no surprises. However, if a student comes into the classroom with concerns or issues  from home, from lunch, from P.E. or just walking down the hall, I have learned that the best thing to do is to listen to them, address it, if you can, and be fully present for their concerns. The student  may miss part of a math or reading lesson, but you will have given them a safe place to explore their feelings, and be heard, even if the problem wasn’t completely solved.

Pamela Webster, M. Ed. SPED

If you are an experienced teacher with a story to share about the gravity of flexibility in a classroom, please share in the comments below.