Flexibility: Key to parenting and teaching

In the past month Donovan has been with us a total of five days.  Not really enough to do my Cinderella unit any justice whatsoever.  I have so many plans, but it isn't fair to him since reading is such a chore.  He wants his time with his father to be spent having fun.  I agree, I also think it is a time that he can experience learning from a different teacher (me and his father).  I have learned with Donovan (and my students from the past) that flexibility really is key to a productive day.  I've not given up on the Cinderella unit, just tweaked it a bit.  Each weekend he is with us we are still reading one of the versions, and discussing the book.  This summer he will be with us for six weeks.  During this time I will do summer bridge activities.  Right now I am reading the books to all three kids.  This summer Donovan is going to read the books on his own and we will do the activities and lesson plans I am working on.  This allows me two and a half months to really prepare a great lesson unit that not only includes reading activities but math, social studies, music, art and physical education.

Flexibility is such an important part of being human.  It is important for my son, who has Pervasive Developmental Disorder - NOS, and Sensory Processing Disorder.  I'm learning that for him to be successful I need to be flexible, but also teach him to be flexible also!  Have you ever noticed how when you are teaching at different times of the day your child or students react differently.  When I taught Spanish in High School I had six different classes.  The number of students varied, as well as the times of day.  I had the same lesson plans blocked out for each group of students, but no matter what lesson it was the kids drove the lesson.  I had classes that one lesson had to be broken up into two days, whereas that same lesson went over in half a class period and I had to come up with something creative to keep the students attention.

I love this quote by Clive Chung I found while reading today:

The ever-changing atmosphere of a classroom requires a cre­ative and self-confident teacher. It helps to project the image of a firm, calm teacher who can handle the varying aspects of the stu­dents and the school program.

This is true for me now as I plan activities to keep my two small children active instead of watching Little Einsteins all day.  I also use this technique when I am bone tired of The Very Hungry Caterpillar game (although I know I will have to play it tomorrow since Chase asked Heavenly Father to let him play the game tomorrow during his nightly prayers).

Tonight I learned a lesson in flexibility as we played with flashcards.  I first tried to have Chase identify numbers just by showing him one card and asking, "What number is this?"  He had this lost look on his face.  I changed tactics.  I put the numbers from 0-10 on the table.  I then asked him, "Where is the number 2?"  He walked around the table picking up random cards.  It then hit me, everything in moderation!  I put three cards in front of him and then asked him to give me the number 2.  He picked it out right away.  I left the other two cards down and added another.  When he missed a number I would point to each card, say the number, and have him repeat me.  I would pick up the cards, put one of the three back down with two new cards and start over.  It didn't take him long to go through all the numbers.  He was soooo proud of himself.  Emma wanted to play too.  She hasn't been working on identifying numbers as Chase has (he really has the number four and five down - he turns five this week).  I gave her a card that had honey pots on them (They got several Pooh learning cards this Christmas).  She would count each pot and look up at me expectantly.  Of course I clapped, and she giggled.  They both had fun learning.  I not only reminded myself on the importance of being flexible, I also learned to keep activities small and focused for Chase.