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Writer's pictureJoanne Jacobs

To do more, attempt less



Subtract, advises Adam Boxer, a chemistry teacher in London, on his Substack. He visits many schools and finds himself telling school leaders: “You are trying to do too many things. Subtract – that’s how you do better."


Often, while school leaders announce new ideas, policies and initiatives, individual teachers do their own thing, he writes. Asked to do too much, they pick and choose what they'll actually try to do. They may focus on the trivial and ignore what's important.


I get told to do a Do Now that has retrieval practice, that every lesson needs an oracy component, that I need to put “I do, we do, you do” on all my slides, do a turn & talk, give my students opportunities for metacognition, that students peer assess in green pen, self assess in red pen, and I mark in purple pen, that lessons need to be connected to the school-wide cultural priorities, that I need to do SLANT or STAR, to Cold Call and use mini-whiteboards, to coach and to be coached, to include a visualiser but also the branded slides, group work, an opportunity for creativity, to write a curriculum map and intent statement . . . to write hinge tasks and multiple choice questions, to give exactly 40 minutes of homework a week, relational practice, restorative practice, trauma informed practice . . .

“Star” teachers try to do it all and either burn out or get worse, Boxer writes.


Instead of constantly adding more, he writes, school leaders should think about what can be taken away. "Does this thing that I want genuinely influence student outcomes, or is it window dressing?"


It's Britain, but I'd bet U.S. teachers and principals would find this familiar. Many teachers say they're asked to do too much.

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