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This weekend, I heard a reporter on the radio say that, in journalism, no two days are the same. I wasn’t sure if he thought that was a good thing or not. And I thought of how that could be said of teaching as well.

Of course, school days are made up of important routines. You rotate through the scheduled periods in the same order, you eat lunch at the prescribed time, and you generally see the same people in the same rooms every day, all of which prevent chaos.

Routines are comfortable and calming. Just ask your dog. In our house, the dog knows what time we get up, when she eats her meals, when we go outside, what treats she gets after which accomplishments, and when we go to bed. If we get off schedule, she offers gentle reminders by way of sitting nearby and staring at us. If I dare to spend the night away, she quietly protests by skipping her supper and refusing to go outside.

On the other hand, on those rare occasions she gets to go somewhere in the car, she is so ecstatic that we have to drag her out of the backseat when we get home. She doesn’t want the novelty to end.

I do believe that humans need a balance between routine and special occasions, depending in large part on one’s personality. As introverts and retirees, my husband and I have leaned with relish into being homebodies. Covid lockdown actually felt kind of awesome to us. But it also made us recognize the holes in our lives where family, friends, and outings used to be. Nowadays, when a social occasion arises, we may be unexcited about rousing ourselves to leave the house, but we usually end up saying, “That was fun. I’m glad we did that.” Stagnation defied!

But back to the routines of teaching, where, truth be told, no two days are ever alike. Back in the Dark Ages, when I was going through my new teacher evaluations, I had to describe my flexibility and adaptability. I had to explain why and how I might need to “back up and punt.” Some people may crave jobs where one knows exactly what to expect every day, where curveballs are exceedingly rare. But if curveballs make you spin out, don’t go into teaching.

It’s more than just having to adjust a lesson plan when nothing is working. It’s more than being prepared for an unforeseen discipline problem disrupting a class. It’s more than having to cover a sick colleague’s class instead of having a planning period. It’s recognizing that, well, almost anything can happen on any given day.

Some examples from my teaching years when my day went off the rails: One rainy morning I found my classroom flooded, with sheets of water still pouring down the back wall. I got to teach in the media center that day, without a whiteboard and with plenty of distractions. One day my pregnant self slipped on a pea in the cafeteria and was sent home. One day I learned while being interviewed by law enforcement that a student had sat right in front of me that morning with a loaded gun in his jacket. One day I was summoned to the office to be questioned by “government agents” regarding a former student who was applying for a mysterious job. One day I turned on my TV at the urging of the teacher across the hall to see live, with my students, the second tower being hit by a jet. That was a day (week, month) when everyone’s routine got busted. And then came Covid.

Please remember that, in addition to wearing many hats, teachers have to be prepared for just about anything. There’s no such thing as a boring day. God bless them. I hope they’re enjoying their vacations.