Being Faithful

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In teaching, we have this mantra, "Stay faithful to the curriculum." Of course, my immediate answer is, "Yes, I want to be faithful." I suppose it's all those years being with my hubster or all those Sundays at church that triggers that instantaneous response. Well, I've been trying to be faithful to the curriculum with my temporary kiddos for several reasons. Mostly, I want their regular teacher to find it easy to pick up where we left off when she comes back. I'm also learning three new curriculums simultaneously.There's comfort in following the book. 


Well, what are my thoughts now? Hmmm...I can stray a bit. I used to stray all the time when I was a student teacher and my mentor teachers encouraged it. I love taking chances in the classroom. Today, I strayed from our standard math worksheets. What was I met with? Smiling faces! Little peeps of  "Oh! Now, I get it!" Enthusiastic shouts of "This is fun!" and "Can we do more math like this tomorrow?" 


You must be wondering what I impressed them with. Here's a list of supplies: 8.5 x 14 plain white legal paper, a pencil, and a crayon. Yes, that's it. We were showing how regrouping works. They had to draw rods of 10 and loose ones. 


Lesson learned. I don't have to be faithful all the time. It's okay to stray. Being blindly faithful made me a bit of a sloth and my kiddos into wiggly squirrels.