To varying extent, we all teach in real time, rather than from a concrete plan. Good teachers react in the moment to their students’ faces, to the questions that are asked, to the specific singing that they hear from the choir.
We make detailed lesson plans, and we throw them out in real time, so that we can teach most effectively the humans we’re teaching. I have many fond memories of my year singing in the large SATB chorus at WMU with Dr. Joe Miller, but my most distinct memory is of the unseasonably warm March day when he took one look at his choir and said, “Meet me in front of the building in five minutes.” He read a book to us and sent us out to enjoy the day. That kind of real time reaction is essential to great teaching.
The great teachers I know will this year be doing more reaction in real time than ever before. The very framework of their teaching is changing in profound ways, different from their entire career up to this point, but also different from day to day as technology, district directives, and governmental regulations change.
Teachers are masters at reacting in real time, but this will be a new and particularly difficult challenge.
Hold space for the teachers. Give them grace.