Simplify Your Teaching, Amplify Student Learning

We have a lot to say and much to share with our students, especially at this time of the year. We want students to hear, understand, and absorb as much as possible during their time with us. We may fear that we will overlook something, not explain something, or not give students enough. Consequently, we may spend our days sharing, explaining, directing, and repeating so that students are exposed to everything they need.  

Yet, there is danger in saying too much, giving too much, and even repeating too much. In fact, we are likely to be more successful in our instruction, and students are likely to be more successful in their learning, when we say less, focus more, and create more space for students to think, share, and explore.  

We might borrow from the philosophical principle of parsimony, which focuses on what is essential and avoids making things more complicated or difficult than necessary. It is true that teaching requires nuance and features complexity, but teaching and other forms of communication are most effective when the focus is on achieving their purpose while employing the fewest words, ideas, assumptions, and distractions. 

So how might the principle of parsimony be applied in our work? Admittedly, what to cut, trim, and avoid can be challenging. We may have to shift some focus, avoid some habits, and adjust some practices, but the increases we see in learning and the reduction we experience in our stress and our workload will be more than worth the effort. Here are six examples to consider and build on.  

Say less and let students think, talk, and learn more. As teachers, we typically like to talk. That is why we chose a profession that is highly dependent on communication. However, our inclination to speak—especially excessively—can get in the way of students’ learning and independence. When we engage in excessive talking, students have less time to think and learn. We might ask ourselves whether what we are about to say is something students could discover on their own. Is it something we should position as a discussion rather than a statement? Or might students reflect and explain to each other? There is a saying that the person who is learning the most in a classroom is the person who is speaking the most and working the hardest. That person should not be us.  

Clear the conversational clog. We might believe that lengthy, detailed explanations lead to more understanding, but students are more likely to grasp and recall what we say if we are succinct. Similarly, limiting the number of instructions we give can reduce the cognitive load students experience and can lead to fewer misunderstandings and mistakes. Breaking procedures into manageable chunks, giving one instruction at a time, and checking to see that students are ready before moving to the next instruction can significantly reduce confusion, off-task behavior, and requests for clarification and repetition.  

Replace repetition with precision. When students do not understand or are confused by our instruction or explanation, we can be tempted to simply repeat what we said, often louder and with more emphasis. Yet, repeating what led to misunderstanding or confusion holds limited promise of improving the situation. Everyone’s interests are better served by our reflecting on what may have created the condition. We might ask ourselves if we were clear, whether we emphasized what is most important, or if we need to offer a better, more precise example. We might also check to be certain students are listening before attempting to clear up the communication. The truth is that one clear direction or explanation is more effective than several repeated but confusing ones, especially when students are not paying attention. 

Reduce the rules, increase the commitments. We might be tempted to create a long list of rules to cover any behavior and situation we can imagine. However, once the rules are created, we need to ensure that they are followed. We need to teach each rule, monitor behavior to ensure compliance, and manage consequences for violations. Rather than creating a difficult-to-manage system, we might engage students in a discussion of what is necessary to create and maintain a learning-supportive environment and then focus on identifying commitments for everyone to follow. For example, simple commitments like respect yourself, respect others, and respect learning can cover a wide range of situations and position students and us to focus on why behaviors are not acceptable rather than defaulting to a long list of rules. 

Cut cognitive clutter. We want the learning environment to be attractive and stimulating. We also want students to have plenty of materials and resources to support their learning. However, this goal can be compromised by too much of a good thing. Excessive posters, pictures, diagrams, and other wall decorations can become distracting for students. Similarly, too many slides and handouts for every activity can create competition for students’ attention. Before posting and providing support visuals and other resources, we might ask ourselves whether they are worthy supports for learning or just additional decorations. The more we reduce cognitive clutter, the better students can focus on what matters most.   

Focus feedback on the essentials. We can be tempted to make every correction on students’ work and unload all our ideas about how they can improve. We might think that we need to share everything we know to make their performance perfect. Yet students rarely make positive changes in their work when presented with long lists of corrections. Rather than trying to include everything in our feedback, we might reinforce one or two important strengths or areas of progress and focus on one or two things that would make the greatest positive difference. If we are concerned that someone reviewing our feedback might conclude that we fail to see other areas in need of improvement, we might note in our written feedback or as a side comment that we are confining our feedback to essential elements to provide focused support rather than comprehensive corrections.  

A final thought: Our goal is not to oversimplify complex concepts and ideas. Rather, we need to remove unnecessary complications while preserving essential complexities. We want students to wrestle with difficult content and concepts, but not become bogged down with unnecessary confusion, distraction, and redundancy.