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I was planning to attend a conference. My boss asked me which sessions I was picking.

Well, this one is called “45 Technology Tools to Transform your Teaching.” That sounds useful?

My boss just stared at me. She asked:

Ian. What problem are you trying to solve?

Uh…

Well, I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t trying to solve a particular problem.

I was just… adding more stuff?

But, like any teacher, I already had WAY too much stuff to do. Why did I think adding 45 more tools would help me?

I Needed A Diagnosis, Not More Medicine

For me, going to an education conference or browsing Twitter was like going to the pharmacy without a prescription.

I was grabbing whatever sounded good.

But that doesn’t work, right? A pharmacy won’t even talk to me until a doctor writes a prescription. And a doctor won’t write a prescription until they’ve diagnosed me.

So, as a teacher, I needed a diagnosis. I needed to know my biggest problem. I needed someone say:

“Ian, I see you making Mistake X. That’s common. To solve that, do Thing Y. Here let me demonstrate.”

Now I’m on my way to solving an actual problem! I’m going to feel more confident and less overwhelmed.

The Solution Must Match The Problem

When I browse conference sessions, I see things like:

Learn to blend Depth and Complexity with 21st-century, project-based learning and add a student-led maker space on top.

But 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” and that’ll solve his problem.

That is not a solution to anyone’s problem. That’s jargon soup. It will just create more work. I’ll feel more overwhelmed after that session.

My Problems Were Boringly Basic

In my classroom, the problems were obvious:

  • I talked 10× more than my 36 students combined.
  • I’d ask a question, wait less than 1 second, and then answer my own question.
  • I taught things some of my students already knew.
  • I graded WAY too many things.
  • When a student raised their hand and enthusiastically gave the wrong answer, I had no plan this very common situation.

And The Solutions Were Simple

These problems have simple solutions. Just like a doctor can quickly diagnose common illnesses and prescribe solutions, a veteran teacher could have fixed me right up.

  • 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.

I didn’t realize I was making such fundamental mistakes. I was busy gathering random solutions when I should have started by identifying my #1 problem.

So, don’t start with solutions. Start with the problem. Get a diagnosis before you look for medicine.

You Probably Don’t Need “More Ideas”

So, if you describe yourself as “overwhelmed,” beware searching for more ideas. Instead, ask:

  1. What is my biggest problem right now?
  2. How can I solve that?

And most teachers’ biggest problem is: “I have way too much to do!!” So look for ways to reduce your work.

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That’s why I stopped leading workshops. I was giving people more work without even realizing it. Now I focus solely on Byrdseed.TV, where I create fully-functioning lessons that you can just use with your students.

And that solves a real problem.