We’ve all been there.

You have the best lesson prepared and ready to go, or you’ve got the rest of the your week planned out perfectly and then over the intercom you hear, “Teachers today we will be practicing all of our emergency drills,” or “Attend students and staff, today we will have a surprise assembly, please report to the gym.”

It might even be a change to administration, building construction, bad weather days or tough colleagues. Either way, chaos can make you feel overwhelmed and at the mercy of others.

All of your perfect planning goes right out the window. You might feel like just throwing your stack of copies in the air very dramatically and the truth is no one would blame you. 

Here’s the truth, whether it was the admin’s decision or something they couldn’t help – it was still out of your control.

If this is a situation you often find yourself in or want help dealing with it, here are 4 ways to keep control in your classroom despite the chaos in the school. 

4 ways to keep control in your classroom despite the chaos in the school

1. Plan based on what you know. 

You can only plan for things you know about.

So do your best to plan as if you aren’t going to have any interruptions and if you do have interruptions then at least you have what you need ready to go when you do get back on track. 

2. Focus on what you can control. 

I know it sounds cheesy, but how can you control things that aren’t your decision?

You can’t control admin’s decisions, you can’t control when assemblies or drills are scheduled.

You can’t control when snow or tornadoes come into your area.

You can control what you do with students when they walk in your room.

You can control how much you teach them with the time you do have them. 

3. Be Flexible – from the beginning

Using a pen in your planner for future plans is rookie mistake.

As you are planning your lessons, keep the mindset that things will most likely NOT go like you planned.

As I plan out my lessons (I will explain my process in a later post) I use sticky notes.

I can keep my neat and scribble free lesson book and easily move lessons up or down depending on what plans change.

Once the day is over, I use my pretty pens to write in what we actually did that day. 

4. Keep it in perspective. 

Students shouldn’t be rushed through content for the sake of staying on a schedule.

Sure, they shouldn’t stay on a unit for 4 months that should take them two weeks, but they should have a fair amount of time to learn content.

Interruptions are out of their control as much as they are out of their control. They shouldn’t have their learning time punished. 

Conclusion

You can only control what you can control.