As a teacher, I’d say things things like:
I want to blend Depth and Complexity with 21st-century, project-based learning add a student-led maker space on top.
Once, my mentor overheard me. She asked me, Ian. What problem are you trying to solve?”
Uh… well. Actually… I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t really trying to solve a particular problem. I was just… adding more stuff? But – you guessed it – I already had WAY too much stuff to do!
I Needed A Prescription, Not More Medicine
It’s like I was grabbing medicine off a shelf without consulting a doctor.
“Why are you taking those pills, Ian?”
“Oh, someone at a conference said they were good.”
That doesn’t work, right? A pharmacy won’t even talk to me until a doctor writes a prescription.
So, as a teacher, I needed a prescription. I needed to know my biggest problem. I needed someone to tell me:
“Oh, Ian. I see you making Mistake X. To solve that, do Thing Y. Here let me demonstrate.”
My Problems Were Boringly Basic
If you watched me teach, you would never have said
“Oh, Ian just needs to ‘blend Depth and Complexity with 21st-century, project-based learning and add a student-led maker space on top!'”
😝 That is not a solution to ANY problem. That’s jargon soup.
You would have seen fundamental teaching mistakes, like:
- Ian talks 10× more than his 36 students combined.
- Ian waits less than 1 second after asking a question, then answers his own question and moves on.
- Ian is teaching his students stuff they already know.
- Ian is grading WAY too many things.
- When a student raises their hand and enthusiastically gives the wrong answer, Ian has no plan for handling this incredibly common situation.
Common Problems Have Simple Solutions
These problems are pretty big! But they have simple, well-known fixes. Just like a doctor can quickly diagnose illnesses and prescribe a solution, a veteran teacher could fix me up quickly.
- Veteran Teacher watches me teach for 20 minutes.
- They make a diagnosis: “Ian doesn’t give his students enough time to think.”
- They prescribe the solution: “Ian needs to count to 3 after he asks a question before saying anything.” (I wrote more about Wait Time here).
Done. If I follow the prescription, that problem is solved.
The solutions was simple. I just didn’t realize I was making such a fundamental mistake. I was too busy gathering MORE IDEAS to stop and fix my actual teaching errors.
This Is Common
It’s not just me! I see the desire for “more ideas” pop up every week in the emails I receive. Teachers write, “I’m always looking for more ideas!”
Rather than reaching for more, more, more ideas, consider:
- What is my biggest problem right now?
- How can I solve that?
Most teachers’ biggest problem is: “I have way too much to do!!”
So my personal focus is: take work off of teachers’ plates – not add more and more and more.
This is why I stopped leading workshops to focus on Byrdseed.TV. You don’t need me to talk for an hour about “lesson ideas.” You just need the darn lessons!