How do you teach others to grab the moment?

Having a graduate student in my class at the moment has me pondering over a number of different things. This week I have been wondering how we train teachers to learn to adapt and go 'off road' as I like to call it.  If the opportunity arose in class would they adapt? Deviate from the planning? Grab that teachable moment?

Where do you learn this when you’re training to be a teacher?

Do lecturer’s and associate teachers help? Do they encourage them to plan but adapt? Do they model/show this and the importance of not always sticking to what is written down in front of you?

I have been trying to model this with my student because I feel that it is important.

The two I told her in the first week were:

·         First and foremost build a relationship with the students – get to know them well.

·         Learn to adapt, change, and go off timetable when the situation arises.

I still find a lot of teachers cant or (maybe) won’t do this. To me, part of being a good teacher is all about taking a risk.

By doing everything to the letter are we actually benefiting the student’s we are teaching or are we being detrimental to their learning?