Teachers and "What if"

If teachers are not under the sway of "this should work," they are chronically badgered with the question, "what if?"

"What if the student do not finish this lesson?"

"What if the students finish early?"

"What if the students act up? What if they interrupt me?"

"What if the parent takes the student's side instead of mine in a grade dispute? What if the parent complains to an administrator?"

Teachers have to manage many mysteries in their line of work. They have to be flexible to the point of pliance and compliance. With little room to adjust.

Students are differential creatures, demanding far more than one teacher can provide in fifty minutes. One lesson could go in many directions. Do we really think that we can meet the demand of a young person's curiosity, especially in the face of technological advances that would have floored science fiction writers like H.G. Wells and Gene Roddenberry.

When teachers are not stewing over "what should work," they are preoccupied with the question "what if it doesn't work?" or worse, "what if it does?"

There is more supposition than certainty to the teaching profession. A demanding job, indeed, one that requires an individual to wear many hats and speculate as to what may work, and to be prepared with something else if the lesson fails, the student fails to understand, or the administration fails to assist.