Make Pupils Work Harder Than You
Teachers are very good at working hard.
Sometimes too good.
We explain the answer, organise the resources, produce the revision notes, correct every mistake and create a beautiful PowerPoint while pupils sit watching us work.
Who is doing most of the thinking?
If the answer is “the teacher”, something may be wrong. Could pupils retrieve the information instead of being given it? Could they explain an answer to a partner? Could they check their own work against a model? Could they organise the notes rather than receive them beautifully prepared?
The point is not to make lessons harder for pupils. It is to make the useful work theirs.
What could the pupils do that I am currently doing for them?
Every time pupils think, explain, decide, retrieve, correct or organise, they are doing something potentially valuable. Every time the teacher does it for them, they are not.
What would the Lazy Teacher do?
Probably resist spending Sunday afternoon creating six colour-coded revision sheets for pupils who could make their own on Monday morning. The Lazy Teacher does less of the thinking for pupils. So pupils can do more of it themselves.
