The Power of Flexibility

Change occurs constantly. One never knows what’s going to happen next. If you remain flexible, you’ll be able to adapt easily. If you freeze up, you’ll break. It’s your choice how to react in any situation.

Take this situation as an example…….

For the past month or so, a collegue of mine and I have been working on the unveiling of a new pilot course. The technology program works with our remedial writing class and makes paper submissions, grading, and teaching grammar easier for both the students and the instructor.

During winter break, my colleague and I worked diligently with the publishing company to put this pilot class together. This included online training and a few meetings for us to understand the program. Then, we went into the program and tailored it to fit our curriculum. We also created an extremely detailed course outline so students could follow along with the tasks they’d be completing on a day to day basis.

With everything prepared down to the very last detail, we couldn’t possibly be prepared for the monsoon like rain storm we had yesterday in South Jersey. I can’t even count the amount of times my umbrella turned inside out on my way to the class, but by the time I arrived to class, I was drenched….along with our department secretary and the three representatives from the publishing company, who had traveled three hours to get to my class to help train the students.

We decided to meet 30 minutes before the class started. We set up all of the computers so that all the students had to do when they got to the class was sit in front of them, look up at the monitor in the front of the classroom, and follow directions.

Well, that’s not what actually took place. As soon as all the students got to class, the power went out. With the exception of four computers that were apparently running off of the back up generator, everything was off….including the lights. Thinking quickly, we decided to rotate the students onto these four computers and let them leave after they registered for the software program. Quickly after the second group of students got onto the computers to register, those four computers went out as well.

How did the students react to the situation? They became flexible. They took the directions and registered at home. They listened carefully and took notes in the dark before they were dismissed from class.

Although the students might not even realize it, they learned a very important lesson that they can apply throughout life. They learned how to remain calm when things seem to be chaotic. They made a decision that they were going to have enough confidence in themselves to try the new program at home and complete the assignment for homework. They made a decision that they were going to become flexible.