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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BookTenTiger" data-source="post: 8123541" data-attributes="member: 6685541">Oh man let me tell you about improvising!My first year of teaching I was working literal 16-hour days, drinking 6 cups of coffee at dinner, getting 4 hours of sleep a night trying to figure out how to teach. I was drained, exhausted (at least level 3 exhaustion), and wanting to quit. I thought I had to have all my lesson plans written out, all my copies made, everything prepared to be a good teacher.I was not a good teacher, I was a tired teacher.Finally in the Spring I decided since I would probably quit anyways I might as well sleep. I remember waking up after an actually 8-hour night and realizing I didn't have a plan for that day's writing lesson. But in about 5 minutes, my rested brain came up with one. In class, I was responding to the needs of students. We were having fun. There was a visitor in my classroom that day and she went and told the principal how great the lesson was.Improv is the heart of teaching. Responding to students' needs, going to plan B, cutting the lesson in half, switching it up to support this group but making it more challenging for that group... If I'd known how valuable sleep was as a resource my first year, I would have prioritized it more! When you can improvise, you can teach!</blockquote>