Unanticipated events will occur, and depending on the particular circumstances, you’ll have to be flexible and adaptable in responding to unexpected situations.
But you can be better prepared to react if you think about the following scenarios and anticipate what you might do. Ask your colleagues to help you come up with suggestions. Share your ideas with them.
Consider now what you will do when:
• a student bursts into tears
• you’re on playground duty and a child is injured
• non-English speaking students are assigned to your class and you don’t speak their native language
• a student tells you that his pet died
• a student has an allergic reaction to a food she ate
• you suspect a student is abusing drugs
• a fight breaks out in the hallway and you are the nearest staff member
• you are summoned to the office in the middle of a class
• a parent shows up at your door, angry and unreasonable or crying and distraught
• a child gets sick and vomits in class
• a student refuses to do what you ask
• a child falls asleep in your class
• a student brings you a bottle of pills and says she has to take one
• you find a student looking in your desk
• a student makes an inappropriate hand gesture toward you or a fellow student
• you suspect a child is being abused at home
• you discover that the money from the book sale was stolen from your desk
• a parent vehemently objects to your homework policy
• a student tapes your classroom discussion
• you get a sexually explicit e-mail from a student
• a student brings a gun to your classroom
• a student asks you for help with an ill parent