10 Teaching Questions to Make You Comfortably Uncomfortable

Teachers should be "comfortably uncomfortable" in their classrooms.  I totally stole that phrase from my pastor.  It's the idea of not getting too complacent with ourselves.  I think it's important for teachers to stay comfortably uncomfortable with their teaching to push student thinking and learning as far as it can go.

Here are ten comfort questions I've been thinking about.

How comfortable are you with...

1. Silence after a question?
2. Noise during an activity?
3. Not knowing exactly what you are doing for the day?
4. Admitting that you were wrong?
5. Not knowing all the answers?
6. Taking a lesson in a brand new direction, on the fly?
7. Moving on when there is still lesson plan left?
8. Staying put when the class doesn’t get it?
9. Reflecting after a bad day?
10. Reflecting after a good day?

#6 and #2 are ones I've recently been checking myself on.

Which ones are you too comfortable with with?  Which ones set you on edge?  What am I missing? 
Photo credit: ldandersen

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