Précis

Things evolve and improve. Even though I try to plan out the whole semester so that, on any given day, I can see ahead to what the assignment will be, I often tell my students that I reserve the right to make changes. Sometimes, teaching a class over and over serves to refine my practice. Other times, I find that the student body I'm working with doesn't have the abilities that the prior class had and I need to make other adjustments. Naturally, this happens within every course, that students' abilities are all over the map.

While I often bemoan the rigidity of standardised tests, that does not mean that they can't be used to pinpoint areas that can be improved. Feedback and assessments, both formative and summative, also highlight regions to be remodeled. It's the responsibility of the instructor to modify their instruction to meet the students' needs and to be flexible enough to adapt to unforeseen exigencies.