Like most first year teachers, I came home those first few months completely wiped out beyond all reasonable sense. Eventually, though, I realized the problem: I was working harder than the students.

Teachers should certainly exert great effort and be uber-prepared, but I realized that, at the final bell, the wrong person was going home exhausted.

So one day I taped a 3×5 index card to my desk that said simply, “You do less. They do more.” It was a reminder of who should be doing the real work, who should be exerting the mental and emotional energy, who should be walking away stronger, leaner, smarter, better.

I had my role, of course, but I finally understood that it was more important for the students to be struggling and grappling, bending and stretching, grunting and sweating with the skills and the concepts.
I’d already graduated high school, but they hadn’t.

Let’s pretend, for a moment, that I go to the gym and have a personal trainer (I don’t, so we’re going to have to pretend). Wouldn’t it be great if the trainer lifted the weights for me? That would be awesome.

But now ask yourself this: If the trainer is doing the heavy lifting, who ultimately gets the muscles?

You do less. They do more. TZT

You Do Less; They Do More

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