1:13
Hey there, friends, welcome back to if teachers ruled the world. I’m Leah Cleary, and this is your monthly Practical Tips episode, the one where I share strategies that are supremely practical, tested in real classrooms with real kids and definitely not Pinterest perfect.
1:35
So here we are, a few weeks into the school year, that honeymoon phase where everything felt possible. Yeah, that’s probably wearing off about now. And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably discovering that some of those brilliant procedures you set up, let’s just say they’re not quite working the way you imagine they would. Today we’re talking about how to fix procedures that seemed absolutely genius in theory, but are making you want to scream every single day and practice. Because here’s the thing, we’ve all been there. We’ve all had those moments where we create these elaborate systems that look amazing on paper, but turn into absolute disasters with actual humans in the room. Let me tell you about one of my most spectacular failures.
2:26
A few years ago, I was really excited about gamification in my classroom. I actually have a course on this now that focuses on simple, sustainable systems for gamifying your classroom. I’ll link to it in the show notes. But back then, I was falling into my biggest trap, over complicating everything. It’s just what I do. I had this idea for students to earn extra XP. That’s experience points and gamification by doing vocabulary task cards. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not when I got my hands on it. I created this elaborate digital system. Students had task card checklists that were digital. They would drag and drop check boxes to show what they completed. They had to finish one whole sheet before they could start the rotation again. I recorded little instruction videos for each task card. I went all out. It was beautiful. It was comprehensive. It was a complete waste of time.
3:28
I was so proud of the system that I was actually selling these digital task cards on Teachers Pay Teachers. I was getting good feedback initially, which made me think I was onto something genius. But then I got one review that said this is a little complicated to implement, and my immediate reaction was, no, it’s not. It’s working beautifully for me. Except it wasn’t. I was kidding myself. I was lying to myself. It wasn’t working beautifully for me at all. It was way too complicated to implement. I was spending more time managing the system than actually teaching. Students were confused. I was frustrated, but my ego was saying, this is brilliant. They just don’t get it.
4:19
And that’s the trap, isn’t it? When we fall in love with our own brilliant ideas, and then when people tell us it’s not working, whether it’s students saying I don’t get it, or colleagues giving feedback, our first instinct is often to say, well, that’s because you’re doing it wrong. That comes from a place of ego, and we’ve all got one. I definitely have one, but learning to listen to the feedback you’re getting from students and other teachers is key to being able to pivot gracefully. Don’t cling to strategies and systems that just absolutely don’t work.
4:58
Let me give you another example. During the pandemic, when we went to hybrid learning and I was only seeing students every other day, I thought, this is perfect for personalized learning. My jam. So instead of using one of the simple templates I already had, I created this elaborate, beautiful system where everything was self guided. Students could work at their own pace, choose their own activities, follow detailed instructions I’d created. It looked gorgeous. The idea was perfect, I thought. Except it didn’t work. It was too complicated. I didn’t see the kids enough to really support what they were doing, and worst of all, it reinforced their learning in isolation, when what they really needed during the pandemic was community. Again, I thought it was great. I was very disappointed when it didn’t work out. But you know what? That’s how we improve. That’s how we see what does actually work.
6:02
So what did I do with both of these disasters? I pivoted, just like in basketball, and I was honest with my students about it. With the task cards, I went back to paper. I laminated a set and put them in each table’s supply box. Want to earn extra XP for vocab work? Just pick one of these. Do it and hand it in. You can do two per unit. Bam. Simple. I told my students I had this really great idea. I thought it would be fantastic. It’s not working out. And you know what? They didn’t bat an eye. I think they were actually glad I simplified their lives too. The key is being honest without losing credibility. You’re not admitting you’re a bad teacher. You’re modeling problem solving and flexibility.
6:49
Now how do you actually get honest feedback from students? So you can tell when something needs to change. It starts with relationships. From day one, you build those relationships where students feel safe in your room, giving you honest feedback. You do this by getting to know their names and calling them by their names, learning something about them. Lila is in band. Lydia is in orchestra. Caleb plays football. Mentioning these things, Hey, how was your game last night? Or I couldn’t catch the concert, but I heard it was great. Tell me about it. That foundation of knowing them is worth its weight in gold. When you have those relationships, you can start to tell the difference between this is confusing and I don’t want to do the work. If a student is just throwing an assignment down saying I’m not doing this, or I don’t get it. That’s usually snark. But if they’re sitting there reading, trying to understand, and you’re getting that feedback from more than one student, that’s probably a sign they genuinely don’t understand. And maybe you need to pivot.
7:56
Here are my go to questions for getting real feedback. First, what were we supposed to learn from this? If you’ve got your learning targets displayed and you’ve talked about what they’re supposed to learn, they should know. Hear it from them. Then, did you learn that? And finally, did this waste our time? If they were able to answer yes to the learning target, then it didn’t waste time. If they answer no, then it might have been a waste of time. Sometimes you’ll get mixed feedback. Some kids liked it, some didn’t. What you want to look for is, did they learn what they were supposed to learn? They might not have liked this activity, but if they learned from it, it’s valuable to keep. A lot of times mixed feedback is just personal preference.
8:44
But what about when you realize mid lesson that something isn’t working? I’ve done both approaches. Sometimes I’ve trudged on defiantly and then pivoted the next day, but I’ve also just stopped the lesson and said, Okay, this obviously isn’t working. Everybody back to your seats. Let’s sit down. This has turned into chaos. Let’s talk about this for a second. Here’s what we’re supposed to learn today. We’re going to spend the rest of the period looking at the standard and talking about what we actually need to know. We’ll revisit this tomorrow and see what we can do instead. Bring the students into it. Make them feel some ownership over what’s going on in class.
9:26
All right, so now I’m going to tell you about my most embarrassing example of clinging to a bad idea. This was just last year in my AP World History class. I created this elaborate system where groups would annotate different parts of the course and exam description, the CED, find examples, answer short essay questions, create slides, and present to the class. Then everyone would use that information to annotate their own materials. Brilliant in theory, right? Collaborative Learning, shared responsibility. Everyone benefits.
10:02
In practice, some students did what they were supposed to do. Some didn’t. You’d have one or two students carrying a whole group. Some groups didn’t do anything at all and then benefited from other people’s work. And I did this for a whole semester. I knew it wasn’t working, but I kept thinking, maybe next unit, it’ll click. This is a really good idea. Finally, at the start of the second semester, I had a really candid conversation with my classes. I said, we’re not going to do that anymore. Do you guys know why? Oh yeah, they knew why. They were able to tell me exactly what wasn’t working, and I said I thought it would work. I thought it was a great idea. Obviously it wasn’t a good idea in practice. We’re just not going to do that anymore. Everyone is responsible for annotating their own Course and Exam Description. I could see the relief on their faces. Well, most of their faces, especially the kids who’d been taking the work seriously. They were thrilled that I was admitting this didn’t work, and that I was admitting that this was unfair.
11:14
They felt like they had a say, and that is important. You’re more open to learning when you feel like you have a say in it. Here’s what I’ve learned. The past couple of years, I’ve been trying to make things as simple as humanly possible, because here’s the truth, in the grand scheme of things, who really cares how students study as long as they study effectively? If there’s one activity that really works for them. Why can’t they do it over and over again? We get so caught up in controlling the how that we forget about the actual learning.
11:50
So here are my two big takeaways for you. First, don’t beat yourself up if you’re trying something that doesn’t work. Congratulate yourself for trying something new. When something doesn’t work, you learn so much more from it than you do when something does work. Second, and this is the big one, don’t spend all semester forcing something down your students throats that you know isn’t working. Go ahead and pivot now. It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to admit your brilliant idea wasn’t so brilliant. Your students will respect you more for being honest and flexible than for stubbornly sticking to something that’s making everyone miserable.
12:32
Speaking of simple systems, I mentioned those task cards earlier. In the show notes, I’ll link to the simple paper versions of those vocabulary task cards that actually work in real classrooms. I’ll also link to my Gamification Course, I think I already said that, which focuses on sustainable, simple systems that serve the learning, not your ego. And if you want more tested resources, you can get access to my Free Resource Library through the link in the show notes. Everything in there has been tried with real students and actually works. Remember, we’re all learning as we go. The goal is not perfection. It’s being responsive to our students and willing to change course when needed.
13:19
That’s it for this month’s Tips episode. Next week, we’ll have our teacher reality check, where we’ll translate some education policy jargon into what it actually means for those of us in the classroom. Until then, be kind to yourself, listen to your students, and don’t be afraid to pivot. You’ve got this.
