4 Reasons Why Teachers Fail When Implementing New Teaching Strategies

Are you a teacher busting to try out a new teaching approach that will surely change how your students approach your lessons but are concerned it could fail upon implementation?

One of the demoralising aspects of teaching is that sometimes we put a great deal of effort into a new initiative for very little reward. The new initiative may be a single strategy or a broader intervention style designed to change student behaviour or attitude.

It is demoralising for the teacher when the hoped-for turnarounds do not eventuate, especially when the time investment has been high. This article aims to help teachers successfully implement behaviour-changing strategies or interventions by avoiding some common mistakes.

Here’s a scenario …

I’m a teacher about to implement a new, significant teaching strategy with a class of students I am somewhat off-side with.

I’m classifying the new strategy, or approach, as ‘significant’ because:?

1. I deem the teaching approach to have the potential to solve a big problem in my classroom (poor attitude, disengagement, lack of understanding, or similar), and
2. I’ve invested significant time and energy in preparing the associated resources.?

The new approach could shift towards a more student-centred way of working. It could be an initiative towards improving student agency or some new, ongoing game designed to foster a collaborative learning environment. Whatever it is, the new approach requires significant student buy-in for it to work.

Importantly, I need my class to undergo a turnaround, and therefore I have a lot riding on the success of this intervention.

Fast forward a few weeks, and let's see where we are. Oh dear ... it appears I’m not using the new teaching strategy at all!?

The implementation failed, and so I’m back where I started. The class remains off-task. There has been no change. And I’m one unhappy camper!

So what happened?

I gave up because I deemed the new teaching strategy to have failed!

However, it is quite possible the intervention didn’t fail or had the potential to be successful if only I had been aware of the information in this article.?

The situation above is a true story. It happened to me several times, and I know it also happens to other teachers.

Four Common Mistakes Teachers Make When Implementing A High-Stakes Teaching Strategy

1. Assume students will adopt the new teaching strategy without resisting.
2. Assume the strategy will work the first time.
3. Implement the strategy with poor lesson structure.
4. After implementing, assume the teaching strategy failed because it didn’t change the ‘problem students’.

Preventing the Four Most Common Mistakes

Mistake #1:?Assume Students Will Adopt The New Teaching Strategy Without Resisting

To avoid this mistake, it is best to adopt the following mantra: 'Expect the worst but hope for the best'.

Instead of having an unrealistic expectation that the students will embrace the new strategy willingly, adopt the opposite expectation - anticipate that they will resist and deal with that anticipated resistance before it occurs. When you address student resistance before it arises, curiously, students are generally more likely to accept the new strategy.

For example, if?you are introducing?a new, important game and in your introductory chat, you say something like:

“I’m pretty sure some of you won’t like this activity - at least not at first. Because it is very different to what you are used to. But that’s OK, hang in there and you might get to like it within a couple of weeks …”

By dealing with the objections before they arise, it is almost guaranteed some of your expected resisters will state, after a few lessons or so, “Miss, you were wrong! You said we wouldn’t like, this but actually, it’s OK!” The reality is students like to prove us wrong at every occasion!?

Mistake #2:?Assume The New Teaching Strategy Will Work First Time

Most new strategies require time and perseverance to affect the level of change they are designed to make. However, if you are impatient and expect the new strategy to work the first time, and then, in your eyes, it doesn't, you will have made a significant mistake. The strategy that could have brought the change you sought has now been abandoned, and all your prep time has been wasted.

The golden rule?

To maximise your chances of success, expect the new, significant strategy to take 4 or 5 attempts before effectively working.

Mistake #3:?Implement The New Teaching Strategy With Poor Lesson Structure

95% of failed lessons are due to poor lesson structure!

I just made that statistic up but I believe it to be close to the mark. However, I'm not alone in this assumption.?This research?has linked poor lesson structure with poor student understanding of the concepts presented (Smith, 2014).

From experience, there is no doubt that when lesson structure is improved, the quality almost always improves similarly. What are we talking about? Quality lesson plans, gaining students’ full attention, addressing the anticipated resistance, explicit instructions, smooth transitions, etc.

Mistake #4:?After Implementing, Assume The New Teaching Strategy Failed Because It Didn’t Change The ‘Problem Students’.

This is a significant mistake to make and especially relates to any intervention designed to improve student behaviour. It looks a bit like this:

I've designed a whole-class strategy because I want to see a turnaround, I want to have the class on-side. However, what I am really focussed on are my few problem students. I'll refer to them as my 'Usual Suspects’. It is my usual suspects who cause me stress, who keep me awake up at night, who prevents me from enjoying teaching this class, and who have driven me to want to take some real action.

The problem is that as I introduce the new intervention and during the early stages of its implementation, I'm using my usual suspects as my gauge for whether or not the implementation is working. Simply put, if their behaviour has changed for the better, it has worked. But if their behaviour remains unchanged, then it has failed.

In my case, the behaviour of my usual suspects didn't improve; therefore, I deemed the intervention to fail. As a result, I abandoned it.?

I've seen this scenario play out regularly when teachers implement a student-centred approach as part of a PD. The teachers share that the problem students stayed the same and were disappointed with the implementation. However, after some probing, we discovered a) the problem students were no worse as a result of the intervention and b) many of the other students were relieved and happy with the new approach because their learning was no longer hampered by the usual suspects - the student-centred approach allowed them to progress with less reliance on the teacher (whose attention is often consumed by the usual suspects).?

Further to this point, rarely, the poor behaviour or attitude of several students within the same class will be turned around quickly via any intervention because such improvements require time and perseverance.?

Call to Action - we'd love to hear from you!

Have you experienced?disappointment?from?a failed new teaching strategy after?devoting considerable time to its development? Do you resonate with the ideas expressed here??