Expect the unexpected

I knew before starting this new curriculum in my abnormal psychology class that I would need to be adaptable. I even stated in a previous posting my discomfort with living with the unknown and lack on control that comes with a class depending so heavily on group work, but my goodness, I had no idea how adept I would be required to be. I stressed the first two weeks of class the importance of finalizing the class roster so that group assignments could be made. I asked in very forceful terms that if there was any doubt about ones ability to do the coursework to please drop the class now rather than waiting. Last Weds. I announced that I had finalized the class roster and if anyone had second thoughts, they would need to let me know that day that they would be dropping the class. No one spoke up, so I happily proceeded to finalize the class roster and to make the group assignments. The class count at that time was 62. This number was predicated upon one student who had been dealing with a "hold" on her registration in the class and she assured me in no uncertain terms that she would be enrolled by Friday, which is the deadline to add the class. Great, all systems were go; or so I thought. The weekend comes and I am so looking forward to relaxing and de-stressing because I really needed to after such a busy week. However, I decided to check the class roster on line to see if that student who promised to have her enrollment status cleared up by Friday had indeed come through. I wasn't particularly concerned if she hadn't as I had created templates for group assignments for 60, 61, 62, 63, & 64 student class rosters. Nothing could have prepared me for what I discovered. Not only did the one student who had enrollment issues not cleared up her status, three students dropped without telling me. If you do the math, this means that I was now facing a class roster of 58 students. I didn't have a template made up for 58 students. You might be asking yourself, what's the big deal? Just make a new template. It's not that simple. I worked the entire weekend and I was able to do the group assignments for 4 of the total 14 diagnostic categories. It takes a long time to make a template for the entire semester. My over-preparedness during summer break did little to help me with my current situation. As they say, the best laid plans...So I've learned the hard way to expect the unexpected.