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.”
Of course, a pharmacy won’t even talk to me until a doctor checks me out, spots a specific problem, and writes the appropriate prescription.
So, as a teacher, I needed a prescription. I needed to know my biggest problem. I needed someone to tell me, “Oh, I see you making Mistake X. To solve that, do Thing Y.”
Most Problems Have Simple Solutions.
If you watched me teach, you would not 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 me making fundamental teaching problems, 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.
- Many of Ian’s students already “get it,” but he hasn’t bothered to check. He is teaching things they already know.
- When a student raises their hand and enthusiastically gives the wrong answer, Ian has no plan for handling this incredibly common situation.
These problems are pretty big. But they have simple fixes! Just like a doctor can quickly diagnose most problems and prescribe a solution, a veteran teacher could fix me up quickly.
- Veteran Teacher watches me teach for 20 minutes.
- Veteran Teacher makes a diagnosis: “Ian doesn’t give his students enough time to think.”
- Veteran Teacher writes a prescription: “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
I see this every week in the emails I receive. I spoke about it in this Byrd Byte:
Rather than reaching for more new 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!
Get A Checkup First
So, if you want to get better at teaching, first get a checkup. Have someone who knows what they’re talking about watch you teach. Or record yourself and watch it back. Look for the lowest hanging fruit. There are 2 or 3 things that will make a huge difference with relatively little effort. This is the diagnosis!
Once you have a diagnosis, then you can get a prescription. How can I fix this? Ask veteran teachers. Email me! There might be a simple solution. Humans have been teaching for thousands of years, and we figured out a lot of the basic stuff long ago.
And, if your number one problem is, “I don’t have time to write great lessons!” Well, Byrdseed.TV’s the solution for you! 😝