As a teacher, I painted myself into a corner by constantly looking for more information. I’d read books by university professors, I’d go to conferences and listen to people talk, I’d subscribe to newsletters, and listen to podcasts.
What did all of this information give me? Confusion. Anxiety. And the feeling of being overwhelmed. After all, every piece of information sorta contradicted some other piece of information. What information should I trust?
Which, yes, led me to look for more information to try to make sense of all of that information!!!
Ugh.
I Didn’t Know What I Needed
Here’s an example of me asking for help:
I’ve been looking for differentiation tactics to enrich learning for my middle schoolers in language arts, science, and math.
Can you tell that I don’t know what I actually want? All of that jargon is a dead giveaway. (What the heck is a “differentiation tactic” and what does it mean to “enrich learning”? And how could anything work across all units in all of those subjects?) I wrote more about jargon here.
It’s like a chef going into the supermarket and saying:
Iām searching for specialized seasoning strategies to elevate the culinary journey of my guests, particularly focusing on sweet, spicy, and savory flavors.
Contrast that blob of words with this:
I’m grilling ribs and need a dry rub. Where is your seasoning located?
That’s a chef who knows what they need! And imagine a teacher who says:
I’m teaching students how to multiply fractions, but 10 kids already got it. I need a fraction-related math project for them to work on.
This teacher will be much more successful at finding a solution than me wading through all of that jargon soup.
Look For Solutions
So, if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, stop gathering information and figure out your #1 problem. Then look for solutions to that problem!
This is the main reason I stopped keynoting conferences, leading workshops, and appearing on podcasts. Teachers didn’t need to hear me give more information. Nowadays I only work on creating done-for-you lessons at Byrdseed.TV. I think that this solves most teachers’ real problem: I don’t have enough time to create lessons.