Wait, That Wasn't on My Lesson Plan

The bell rings. It’s 5^th bell, English 9. My students are sitting there, staring at me -- waiting for me to do something. I begin teaching. It’s going well. My students are really getting the lesson.

I’m happy

…until I look at the clock. Then, my happiness becomes shadowed by the realization that there are still 20 minutes left in class, and my lesson, which was supposed to last all 48 minutes, is doomed.

I begin scrambling.

In my head, of course. I can’t let me students realize I have nothing planned.

My thoughts are racing.

Okay, Miss Valco. Think. We’re looking at this piece as readers today. What else can we do?

Then it clicked.

Now, normally, I would have given my students workshop time in a case like this. But I hadn’t yet introduced the first writing assignment. This experience happened in the first few weeks of school, when I was still getting the hang of things.

If this were to happen now, I would be able to shrug it off like it’s no big deal. I’m just here to let everyone who has had a moment like this know that it’s okay. It’s horrifying when it first happens, but it’s okay.

But when you’re in that moment? Well, there’s a good chance you’re full of panic.

I managed to maneuver around the issue by asking my students to write their own short little narrative in the style of the author, despite reading the piece like readers that day. It worked.