Open-mindedness

As a teacher you have to be open to what may happen in a classroom. Kids are not something that you can give a schedule to and expect them to follow it flawlessly. There are many events that you can't account for when creating a lesson plan a month in advance, which is why you have to be open-minded as a teacher. I remember when I was in high school and we got to go to Brazil for an orchestra tour and our director kept telling us about the culture there and how it might be a shock for us, but that we just had to "roll with the punches." It was about our second night in Rio de Janeiro when we went to this restuarant. We were just finishing up our meal of meat, rice, and beans whena bunch of samba dancers entered the establishment and took some students up to dance with them. As we were told we rolled with the punches and danced and clapped along with the samba dancers, but our orchestra director flipped out about how scantily clad the dancers were and started crying about how much trouble she could get in, because the superintendent of the school district was along for the trip. Although she told us basically to go along with whatever came our way she cracked at the first real culture encounter that came upon us. If she were more open-minded like she told us to be, it would have blown over and been a lot more fun for all parties involved.