Do You Know the Real Reason Teachers Struggle in the Classroom?

If you're a principal or superintendent, you've asked yourself this question before.

Why do teachers struggle in the classroom?

The problem is you never get the RIGHT answer.

And here's why?

It's the wrong question to ask.

Teacher Performance

What makes a teacher great in the classroom?

The truth is there are only 4 Major Components that make up teaching. Despite what the 100 year old literature wants to tell you - if you want to truly help your teachers thrive in the classroom, you must IGNORE what the last generation wants you to believe.

Here are the 4 Major Components:

1. Lesson Planning
2. Delivery of Content
3. Making Connections
4. Classroom Environments

If you look at these four components, you can see that they are BASED off the best available education research. These 4 components are not REVOLUTIONARY - the problem you're running into is if you overcomplicate the foundation of teaching -- it LEADS TO BAD TEACHING!!

And that's what you need to understand.

It's not that you have BAD TEACHERS!! - NO!!

You have good teachers who have no idea what to do at the right time. And that's the art of teaching. Are you using the right technique and the right strategy at the EXACT RIGHT TIME?

Thus timing is everything in teaching!

The Teacher Development Program

Only K12 insiders in the State of NJ know this story. That's because the world of education is disconnected. That's right, every single educator is isolated from each other and cut off from communication and information sharing.

Even if I could grow a social media presence of 1 million educators, that would still LEAVE OUT 3 million more teachers. This is a major problem for American education and if it doesn't get solved - we have a big problem on our hands.

What you probably don't know is that the NJ State Officials made an unannounced visit to my small K12 district program. It's highly unusual for state officials to visit any school, but to make an unannounced visit is even MORE RARE!

They didn't say what they were doing there. They didn't ask too many questions and they didn't talk to too many people. They came in, walked around, observed every classroom, took notes and left.

That was in 2013.

Suspiciously in July of 2014, the NJ Department of Education changed its teacher mentoring and induction requirements. They gave 2-weeks notice, which is also NOT typical.

The original regulations stated that every teacher in the State of NJ must receive one full year of mentoring and induction in every school district. They decided to change that requirement to two full years.

Why?

Could it have been because of what they saw in the classrooms in my small K12 district? Could it have been because the state officials asked me one question:

Why do you force teachers to take a 2-year Teacher Development Program and not one year?

Or could the state officials know something that no one else does?

That's for you to decide.

What I explained to state officials is that it was IMPOSSIBLE to fully prepare or train a teacher in less than two school years. There simply was too much for teachers to learn and practice. Yes, despite boiling teaching down to 4 major components, there is TOO MUCH for teachers to wrap their minds around in one school year.

What the state officials saw was the RESULT of the best teacher prep/training program in the state. What they saw was every single teacher doing the RIGHT THING at the right time in the classroom.

If a student called out, the teacher knew what to do. If a student was struggling with work, they knew what to do. If students were not engaged, they knew what to do. If students started picking on each other, the teacher knew what to do.

Can you imagine walking into a classroom and observing a teacher doing exactly what they should do, at the right time, 99% of the time?

Now imagine every teacher in your building performing at this same high level?

That's what the state officials saw. That was the result of the Teacher Development Program.

Why Does the Program Work, When Professional Development Fails?

I've been asked this question countless times and I think the reason I get asked this question so often is because it's hard for people to change their mindset. There is no a teacher in America who likes Professional Development the way its run right now.

If you said to teachers, "we are cancelling PD" -- none of them would be upset.

So why do administrators continue to do the WRONG THING?

And it's simple -- because they don't know what ELSE TO DO!

And that's why my Teacher Development Program works better than the old professional development. I decided as a school leader to do the right thing, not the conventional thing.

And sometimes solutions are born out of moments when you stop doing what everyone else does and just look at the problem head on.

In reality, teachers need help and support. That's what teachers have been asking for, pleading for and BEGGING for - over the last 20 years. The problem is the entire K12 system has been IGNORING those requests.

And you see the results. Nearly 35% of novice teachers quit the profession within the first 3 years and over 1 million educators have quit over the last five years.

The truth is we have a teacher shortage BECAUSE administrators REFUSE to help teachers and provide them with the support they need.

What Can You Do?

I am brand new to social media. I started all my accounts in 2020 and I have been crushing it over the last 3 years. The reason I'm doing better than educators who have been on social media for years is because I am a 21st century skills communications expert.

And the key to communications is knowing what questions people ask.

That's actually something a teacher needs to do as well. They need to know the questions students will ask them BEFORE they ask it. Can your teachers do that?

And more importantly, do you pay attention to that skill during your classroom walkthroughs and observations?

Or are you too hyper focused on the "checklist" that you forget to observe the teaching?

What every principal and vice-principal loved when they attended my Principal's Academy was how simple I made walkthroughs and teacher observations. When you use the checklist under the umbrella of the 4 Major Components - your classroom observation becomes MORE PRECISE!

But more importantly, when you TRAIN your teachers to understand the 4 Major Components as well, now you are in sync with your teachers. It's amazing to watch when you are on the same page as your teachers.

Every single education consultant will try and sell you on an overly complicated system and framework. They have to make it complicated, otherwise you don't NEED THEM!!

But I spent 20 years inside the K12 system. I am a former teacher, principal and superintendent. I'm not trying to make education more complicated, I'm trying to make it simpler for teachers and principals to do their job.

And there's only one reason I want to make it simpler.

BECAUSE YOUR JOB MATTERS!!

If you're a teacher, you have one of the most important jobs in America. And if you're a principal or superintendent, you have to diagnose and solve problems that NO ONE else in our democracy knows how to fix.

People call me "The School Doc" because I have been diagnosing problems for the last 20 years. There are three major problems with our school system: teacher performance, student outcomes and district operations.

I diagnosed and solved all three of those obstacles.

What I needed to learn on social media is that my job is to post. I can't reach out to people. I can't comment on other people's posts. If you want help - you have to make the first move. I can't find you - you have to find me.

And that's how positivity prevails.

It's frustrating to me, to say the least, when I see teachers and principals posting things that MAKE ZERO sense. But I have to live with that frustration. The truth is IF you want help - you have to contact me. It doesn't work the other way around.

So that's the question you have to ask yourself:

Do you know why your teachers are struggling in the classroom?

Do you know how to help them NOT struggle anymore?

If you don't know the answers to these questions, and I mean REAL ANSWERS with real results -- then you should consider contacting me for help. I can't contact you - you have to make the first move.

Thanks for listening.

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If you're curious to learn more about 21st century skills and education, then follow the online school page I launched called Leaf Academy.