Embracing the unexpected

A response to the Thought Vectors and Nuggets Activity
created by Charlotte Delouche (@cdelouche)

Number of views: 243

Person standing on a grey surface while holding an umbrella

Person standing on a grey surface while holding an umbrella

I found a particular resonance with this paragraph, from the patch twenty-three, (un)expected:

“So I plan and envision. I record and document. Confer and rehash. I also improvise on the spot. Change my mind in the moment. I decide to run the risk of failing miserably, succeeding wildly or both. I watch what happens. I encounter the unexpected along with the strongly probable and respond to the best of my ability. At the end of the day, we all emerge on the other side: the experience behind us and our options for reflection before us. We choose. (And even when we don’t choose we’re making a choice.)”

This paragraph accurately reflects my feelings. At the beginning of my career, I aimed for 100% preparedness. I feared the unexpected—be it something going wrong in the classroom, a technical glitch, or conflicts arising among students. Over 10 years of teaching, I’ve encountered (almost) every unforeseen scenario. In my view, embracing this daily uncertainty is crucial, despite its occasional difficulty. Indeed, the unexpected can lead to beautiful outcomes. Failures are often the best teachers, and it’s important to embrace them, learning and growing through the process.

Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash