Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: thinking on the spot I teach an afterschool STEAM program at multiple schools every week. Each class we do a different project. For example this semester the theme is occupations and one of the projects was learning about Marine biologists and what they do. For the project we were to make our own plankton out of modeling clay and add to it to make it float just beneath the surface of the water like plankton does. However, I had no modeling clay in my supplies (which are packed and then delivered to be the day before I need them) so I was unprepared and had to think on the spot to change the lesson plan. I hated feeling unprepared, and the class became a lot more chaotic than when I am fully prepared for class. I confronted my boss about the lack of supplies and she said she would talk to whoever packs the materials, however, since then it has happened again. How do I go about fixing this problem? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) If you are doing the same project multiple times through the week, it might be helpful to request one extra set of the whole project at the beginning of the week. That way, any missing parts can be take out of the extra set of materials. Additionally, it could be helpful to have a standard fallback lesson plan with you so that you always have something to do if anything is wrong with your original plan and materials. This could even be showing the students a game you learned to play while you work to adapt a lesson on the spot.