Blog Post #2- Flexibility

One of my teaching goals for this year was to become “eloquent under pressure.” I like to be well-prepared for my lessons, and when I do not have time to fully prepare, I experience anxiety which sometimes causes me to stumble and stutter in front of a class. To me, being “eloquent under pressure” means being confident enough in my skills, knowledge, and abilities to maintain poise and clarity while teaching, even when things are not going as planned.

 Last week, in my student teaching, I had several experiences which reinforced my need for improvement in this area. For example, I was asked to teach and reflect with students on an assignment I had recently graded; I was unprepared for this task, and had difficulties coming up with what to say.

I enjoy being prepared; I actually love the act of lesson planning, and I take pride in my ability to stay ahead of deadlines. But of course, when I am a teacher, in my own classroom, there will be times when my lesson does not go as planned—these are the times when flexibility will be key. There might be a fire drill that cuts my class period in half, or a class may be struggling and need extra instruction before moving on.

 So, what does it mean to be “flexible” as a teacher? What is the difference between flexibility and improvisation? And, how can I prepare for and practice being flexible?

 In 2009, a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas named Hyunjeong Yoo wrote her dissertation on just that: instructional flexibility. A link to Yoo’s dissertation can be found at http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/18165.

 Although her writing focuses on instruction at the college level, I believe that Yoo’s findings are valid in for secondary teaching as well. Yoo states that it is important for teachers to be focused on what students need, and to be prepared to “use a variety of instructional material readily” to assist students based on their individual needs. A teacher’s ability to respond quickly with an appropriate instructional method is somewhat determined by his or her “pedagogical content knowledge” as well as “procedural knowledge,” i.e. how to plan and execute a lesson. Yoo points out that much of this knowledge is gained through years of teaching; expert teachers are better equipped to differentiate on the spot than novice teachers. Yoo also points out that expert teachers who have taught for many years are more likely to conduct “improvisational” lessons—these teachers have a wealth of knowledge and experience to tap into, so although they are improvising a lesson, they are not improvising content or teaching strategies. Yoo also mentions, however, that some experienced teachers become rigid in their instruction, habitually using the same instructional methods again and again.

That makes sense…experienced teachers are better able to be flexible in their teaching, but they should be careful not to get to set in their ways. But…I am a novice teacher, so how can I learn to be flexible NOW?

Yoo’s suggestion for both expert and novice teachers to become appropriately flexible in their instruction is “metacognitive teaching,” which many of my colleagues would know as “reflective teaching.” Consistently reflecting, revising, and adapting lessons based on student needs is the best way to achieve organized, yet flexible instruction, and meet the needs of every individual student.

 I have been working on metacognitive teaching this week. After each class, I reflect. After grading assignments, I reflect. After participating in class discussion, I reflect. I try to think “what would I tell this student if I had an individual conference with them? What do they need to work on? How could I help them?” I am trying to focus on students’ strengths, not only their weaknesses, and attempt to reinforce their positive behaviors and accomplishments during class (as much as I can from my limited position as a student teacher). I hope that this is benefitting the students in some way. I can say for certain that this week my confidence as a teacher and speaker has improved.