
What’s Happening to Teacher Thinking?
There’s no question that the state of education is…a mess. There are so many issues right now. One of them? That in many places, we are being handed a boxed curriculum that we are supposed to follow. All too often, it’s mandated to follow it tightly, with little to no regard for the students in front of us. Tied to this, another equally alarming situation is the increasing reliance on what we’re getting from social media. This can lead to misinformation and mass confusion. Much like following a scripted curriculum, this also leads to outsourcing of teacher thinking.
What do I mean by outsourcing teacher thinking?
Here’s an example I saw not too long ago on a Facebook group that will illustrate it. It was truly shocking.
In one of the literacy groups, somebody asked how to teach kids to use quotation marks. I was absolutely floored at the responses. And it wasn’t just one or two responses; it was about a dozen. They all said the same sorts of things.

Many of the comments had to do with buying a program. Try XYZ writing program. Put them on this or that computer program. Many more responses were pretty much the same thing, but with links to TPT products that consisted of isolated skill and drill practice.
Why was I so flabbergasted? Because what I saw was two simultaneous things happening that seem to be at odds with each other.
One, the person asking the question was thinking way too hard about it. Teaching quotation marks is one of the easiest things there is to teach. It’s pretty cut and dry. Second, the immediate jump to purchasing products. This is outsourcing the teaching. And outsourcing the teacher’s thinking.
My response to the question about quotation marks?
Turn on your document camera, put a book page with dialogue underneath it, and show students how it works. Show them how to punctuate the words that a character says mouth and show them how dialogue back-and-forth works. And then, model it in your own writing and follow it up with having students do it in the context of their own writing. This approach doesn’t cost a thing, takes very little instructional time, takes very little work, and requires few materials. It’s the very simplest answer. It’s also the most effective, as it is the most directly applicable to the real reading and writing a child will do.
We’re way overcomplicating things, folks.
Why is this outsourcing of teacher thinking becoming so prevalent? I could be due to sheer decision fatigue, as Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser explain:
“Teachers make about 1,500 decisions per day, which can lead to decision fatigue, a situation in which the brain is so exhausted and overloaded with decisions that it either looks for shortcuts or stops working altogether. Decision fatigue often leads teachers of reading to outsource our decisions to manuals, guides, and social media platforms that offer the promise of a quick fix. This outsourcing is a natural outcome of trying to cope with decision fatigue, and we’ve all been there.
The unfortunate consequence, though, is that outsourcing often leads to teaching that misses the mark, and we end up needing to reteach concepts when our students are ready for them—which can lead to more fatigue.”
Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser, Edutopia, 7/19/17
What’s the solution?
We cannot ignore the stress factor. One way to reduce the stress in our workday–what Goldberg and Houser call out as decision fatigue– is to simplify. The first thing we should be asking ourselves is not what can I find to download to teach this thing? The first thing we should ask ourselves is what’s the thing I can show my kids that will most closely match what I want them to do as readers and writers? And then, immediately, what’s the simplest way to do it?

Putting kids on a computer program will not set them up to do the work in an actual book, nor will it lead to actual application of the skill in their own writing. Isolated worksheets or task cards won’t do it, either. If we want our students to apply the skill as readers and writers, then we would do well by showing them how it works in real reading and real writing.
Don’t get me wrong. There are times when a lesson bought online really is the best way. There are a lot of brilliant teachers who put a great deal of time and effort into making products. There are a lot of fantastic ones out there. You have to really dig, but they are absolutely out there. I’ve purchased countless products myself.
But something simple as teaching quotation marks should not be purchased from an outside source. We need to aim to teach with materials right at our fingertips–authentic texts. Real books. Real writing.
But I think it’s much more than decision fatigue.
I very much suspect the bigger issue is teachers’ lack of confidence.
In an age when parents question everything we do and districts and states demand that we do 5 million things all at once, and social media group members make you feel like what you’re doing is totally wrong, it can absolutely leave you feeling paralyzed. I know because I’ve been there, too.
When I see questions and responses like the quotation marks one, it makes me sad to see that these teachers have completely lost confidence in themselves as educators. Do we really not think that we are capable of teaching something so simple as quotation marks? Do we really have so little faith in our own abilities to teach things to children that we would rather outsource all the thinking? Has teaching gotten to the point that we really think that the simplest methods are not effective?
But I promise, you know way more than you think. Way more than you’re giving yourself credit for.
It’s time to reclaim your classroom confidence!
And you’re not going to screw it all up if what you try isn’t perfect. That is part of learning and growing. We have to try things to know if they will work. Thomas Edison once said “I have not failed 10,000 times – I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” He was right. Trying things out and then reflecting on how it went is a huge part of growth. It’s how a trusty teacher tool belt is made.
We have to believe in ourselves more. We have to have faith that we can do this and that we don’t have to rely on somebody else, some computer program, or some expensive curriculum in a box.
Trust in your own teacher thinking. And for goodness sake, wherever you can, think simple. It will make your days so much less stressful. It will cut down drastically on time spent digging for outside sources. You’ll feel immense relief.
And it will make the learning much clearer to students. Isn’t that, after all, the ultimate goal?
Could you use some help thinking through the simplest way to approach literacy lessons? I’m here to be your thinking partner. Just reach out for a coaching call. I’m here to help!
Who is Coach from the Couch?? I’m Michelle, a 25-year veteran educator, currently a K-5 literacy coach. I continue to learn alongside teachers in classrooms each and every day, and it’s my mission to support as many teachers as I can. Because no one can do this work alone. I’m available to you, too, through virtual coaching calls!
Or, consider joining my Facebook community–a safe, supportive environment (really!) where you can ask questions, learn ideas, and share your thoughts among other literacy-loving educators!
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