What Teachers Told Me What They Want

As people visit Byrdseed, I ask a few questions. I’ve been collecting the data for months, and the results paint a pretty clear picture:

• Basically everyone wants resources they can just use.
• Only 8% (!!!) of my visitors prefer to create their own lessons.
• When asked about professional development, teachers overwhelmingly want examples. Specific examples.
• About two-thirds of teachers tell me they need smaller, daily lessons rather than big, sprawling projects.
• Most people say they never see lessons demonstrated in classrooms—just “ideas” tossed out in presentations.

The main problem seems obvious: Teachers don’t have time to develop their own lessons. They need ready-to-use solutions.

Duh. I was a teacher. I know this.

But!!!

I Wasn’t Solving The Right Problem

But I was basically doing the exact opposite of what people need:

• Only 8% of my visitors want to write their own stuff. But, for years, I was explaining techniques to write your own differentiated lessons.
• Teachers want specific examples in PD, but I’d show up and share yet another taxonomy for categorizing types of questions.
• People want small lessons they can plug-in on a random Tuesday, but I decided to give a talk about Deductive vs. Inductive models of instruction.

Yes, yes, yes. I realize how ridiculous this was!

Give People What They Need!

• If someone’s starving, you don’t hand them a cookbook — you feed them!
• If they’re drowning, you don’t explain the benefits of “backstroke” vs. “butterfly” — you pull them to safety!
• When a house is on fire, you don’t rank fire-resistant materials — you put the darn fire out!

Teachers were shouting, “I don’t have time!”, and there I was, offering up another differentiation framework 🤦‍♂️.

Whoops.

Solutions, Not Information

Most of my professional development centered on giving information. But teachers need a solution, not more homework.

• “More Information” dumps the work back on their plates. They still have to figure out how to use it. A cookbook is information. I buy cookbooks. They sit on my shelf.
• “A Solution” does the heavy lifting and solves the problem. A restaurant is a solution. A restaurant solves my problem.

So we need to focus on solutions. BUT we first have to know the real problem.

As a teacher, I wasn’t even clear on my own problem! I thought I needed “more ideas” — until someone pointed out that too many ideas was actually my issue 😝. I wrote more about my “more ideas” mess here.

What’s Your Problem?

So, if you’re a too-busy-teacher, make sure you’re looking for solutions, not just more information.

And, if you’re someone who leads PD, make sure you begin by identifying teachers’ most pressing problem. I guarantee you it isn’t “I need another framework!”