Educators have an interesting schedule. Yes, we do have two weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s. Yes, we have a week for Spring Break. Yes, we have 12 weeks off in the summer. But...no, we cannot take vacations anytime we want. No, we cannot just pop into work and teach whenever the moment strikes us. No, we are not excused from cold or snow days.

This particular January has been one of the oddest ones around in a long time. Tomorrow, marks a fourth day off due to frigid temperatures dipping way into 30 or so below 0. Yikes!

I understand why we have had these days off. There is no way students should be expected to wait outside for their bus. Walk to school wearing only a gray hooded sweatshirt for a coat. And that parents must now go in late to work to drop off their children to school to ensure a warm and safe passage to the facility. Nor should the staff attempt to get up and start their cars, pray that pipes don’t freeze and explode at home and worry about what to do with their children who are school-less should spend the day. I do know that many parents who are not educators have to figure out what to do with childcare during these days when they expect the schools to be in service. I know many parents have found other ways for childcare - from counting on a neighbor, a relative or even a kid friendly location for a day camp.

When days like this arise, even days when we are told last minute of a school-wide assembly or testing days, teachers have to adapt. It is the adaptation of schedules that educators have to realize come with the territory of the unknown, even if we have our brights on as we are driving on a windy, dark, country road.

When the first pair of these cold days came about, it was the start of second semester. So this adaptation was fairly easy. I cut a few activities out and was good to go. This pairing left me to rearrange activities and the ideal situations. For my freshmen, I am teaching Romeo and Juliet. I have all of the best intentions to start and end an act weekly. Well, this is not the case. I lost a day two weeks ago due to testing that I was not planning until after I had planned. So I was already running behind where I wanted to be. Never the less, I just kept with the plans, not deleting a thing, and just matched them up with the dates.

One part of planning that I have discovered over the years, is to plan as you go. Since I could teach Romeo and Juliet in my sleep, these changes are not a big deal. But my juniors are reading 1984, which I haven’t taught in a few years, so I am glad that I am planning one week at a time. I have an idea of the pacing in my mind, but it is not set in stone.

Even with snow/cold days, odd schedule items or even if students are having trouble comprehending or mastering the material, please provide flexible time to accommodate these various issues that arise from time to time. If not, you’ll keep driving ahead and when you arrive at your destination, you may find that you are a party of one.