At 8:10 this morning, during our math strand alignment huddle, the copier ate the bead chain cards and a guide deadpanned “control of error,” which turned into the best micro-PD on resilient practice I didn’t plan. What other accidental moments have you used to reinforce curriculum goals or coach the team — I’m tempted to schedule them on the PD calendar between scope-and-sequence reviews and sensorial shelf audits.
Our laminator ate the parts-of-the-fish cards, so I did a 90-second hallway huddle: ‘name the cue, name the move,’ then had the newest assistant reset the sequence while we timed transitions like a mini work cycle. It doubled as a grace-and-courtesy refresh and an executive-function check, but I cap these at two minutes so it doesn’t steal momentum. If the energy’s off, I park it on a sticky for the 3:00 debrief instead.
When the copier jammed at 8:10 last month, I grabbed our “plan B” sleeve — dry-erase over a blank bead chain template — and did a two-minute “silent rebuild” where one guide restores the material while we name the control of error. It reinforces economy of movement and gives the assistant a safe rep; small caveat: set a timer so it doesn’t swallow the whole huddle.