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Identify one or two ways you can, as Dr. Black says, “build a structure [in your classroom] that also has a level of flexibility.”
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I like to allow flexibility by structuring various assessment types in my course. I present the options, but the student can choose.
I have also asked a course before if they felt that they were ready to move on to new material or if they needed another day with the current unit. On review days, I let students email me questions in advance so they can determine what we need to work on.
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My classroom is very structured and students know what to expect. If I feel I am “losing” my students, I stop and think of a different approach to teaching the same thing. We have brain breaks so students are ready to move on to the next activity. When we are doing projects, I allow my students to make posters or create a PowerPoint for their presentations.
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I believe the first ten minutes of course time is crucial to establish a regular pattern. This give the students the peaceful confidence that comes with a predictable structured lesson. After that, we can do one of a variety of activities, which gives them structure yet it’s not so rigid. Then, they can choose which activity to do for the last half of the classroom. That could be a Friday, end of the week casual day.
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One way that I have seen structure and flexibility go hand in hand in the classroom is with flexible seating. The teacher may have an assignment for the course to work on, but each student can determine where they do that assignment from. This gives the students a little bit of choice while completing the task set forth. I have also seen classrooms that have contractual agreements that are drawn up with student insight as to what classroom rules should look like.
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I love structure and have found that most children thrive on knowing what is expected and growing in that. I also love to have the flexibility of giving the students the ability to think for themselves and guide them in critical thinking skills within a broader boundary I have given them in course. For instance, with a Bible project we do in course, not all students need to do the same type of thing. Some may want to build a model house, others may want to create pottery, while others may want to create a slideshow to show off the learned information. This is a small example of how the individual child may pick something that is of interest to them to show understanding of the guided lesson we are learning in course.