47. It's Time to Stop Reinventing the Wheel | Practical Planning

In this final instalment of our 'Practical Planning' series, we’re helping you tackle the "perfectionist's trap" - that exhausting urge to reinvent the wheel for every single lesson you teach. While you want your classroom to be a hub of creativity, we discuss why consistency might actually be better when it comes to student engagement. By drawing on a reliable 'menu' of learning activities and thinking routines, you can significantly reduce cognitive overload for your students (and yourself!) freeing up mental bandwidth to focus on the learning rather than trying to decipher new instructions every day. Join us as we consider how to trade constant novelty for solid routines that build consistency. It might just end up being more exciting than you think!Recording this as PD? Here are the relevant APSTs:Focus Area 1.2: Understand how students learnFocus Area 3.3: Use teaching strategiesFocus Area 3.4: Select and use resourcesFocus Area 4.2: Manage classroom activitiesHelpful Links⁠Project Zero’s Thinking Routine Toolbox⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram @teachingtogetherthepodcast⁠