Teachable Moments

Once, very early in my teaching career, I was deep in a math lesson when one of my first grade students shouted out, "Look! A bird!" Sure enough, a robin was building a nest right outside our window. I said something like, "How about that?" and tried to continue teaching. Needless to say, the entire class was no longer interested in math; they only wanted to watch the bird. I finally laid down my lesson plans and started a discussion of what the bird was doing, the materials being used, why the bird was building a nest, etc. It turned out to be one of the best lessons I ever taught, even to this day. Occasionally, an opportunity will come along that you haven't planned. We call times like this "teachable moments". Know that it is OK to lay your lesson plans aside and take advantage of them!