For the past 10 years, I have trained hundreds of audiences of teachers on a wide variety of instructional techniques. During each face to face or virtual  training, I model strategies first, then we break down each component together and identify ways to troubleshoot challenges. I often give participants time to plan for their own classrooms, and they leave energized and excited to “turn around” these ideas. I leave feeling confident that I’ve equipped an audience of teachers with ways to help their students.

I also get the opportunity to follow up with many of the teachers who attend training by observing them while they teach their students. Following these observations, I provide individual and small group feedback. It was during these coaching sessions that I realized the need for a focus on small moves. Time and again, my feedback to them did not encourage a complete overhaul of a teacher’s lesson, but rather a tweak to a component of the lesson. A small move. I might say something like, “I noticed after you gave directions for the partner conversations that most partnerships came up with one answer and then got off task. Next time, try encouraging them to give at least three different answers to your question. This usually prompts better partner discussions.”  In this example, the teacher leaves our conversation ready and able to make an adjustment immediately. That small tweak to the way she gives directions can have a big impact on the quality of her students’ conversations.

Small moves can be the fastest and easiest path toward positive change. Doing something little and simple is palatable. A tiny change feels doable.

All of us have already attended trainings or read books where we learned strategies and ideas that will help. I have bookshelves full of awesome resources, watched countless webinars, and participated in many trainings with some of the most expert educators around. The problem is, even though I often become a “true believer” in those sessions, my actual implementation of the techniques usually pales in comparison. Why is that? Simply because often the ideas require a significant amount of planning to put into practice.  Another problem with implementation is that I have to practice “live” during instructional time. What if I try a new lesson and it bombs?  It is easy to enter into “implementation stagnation,” which is how I refer to the pitfall of never actually using new techniques (even though we really like them) or only trying out a small portion of strategies we learn. 

Starting small mitigates implementation stagnation. When I choose one small move, I do not have to devote a lot of time to planning. Each small move has a singular focus, so the goal is uncomplicated and direct. Also, the cost of trying it out live is minimal because I can still deliver my lesson as planned, even if the small move doesn’t seem to work as I had hoped.