OLW - responsiveness on 2/12

"The kids need to get into groups of 6 and I'll pass out the scripts and then each group will perform..." a student quickly rambled, stating the steps in the Homeroom Activity she planned for the day.

In my mind, I was reminded that another class was joining us to see how the kids in my room were planning the Homeroom Activity. I was reminded that this activity should be just 20 minutes, as we still needed to have time for small group work. I was thinking this sounded way too complicated and I thought it should be less complicated.

"It sounds like this might take too long. Should we save it for another day when we might have more time?" I gently stated.

"But I worked really hard on it last night," she pleaded.

I contemplated my response. On the one hand, as the teacher, I do have the power to have the final say. Yet, on the other hand, as a teacher in a Responsive Classroom school, my responses need to take in account all in the community. This child was tasked with the job of leading our Homeroom Activity - an activity with the goal of adding a bit of fun into our day.

So I took a breath and calmly stated, "Ok, let's give it a try. How can I help?"

35 minutes later, everyone had laughed.
35 minutes later, everyone had had a fun break.

35 minutes later, I was glad I responded the way I did.

Sometimes, as a teacher, my response needs to be "OK, let's give it a try" and then get out of the way.