We’ve all been there—you design what feels like a brilliant classroom procedure, get excited about how innovative it is, and then… it completely falls apart with real students.
In this month’s tips episode of If Teachers Ruled the World, Leah shares her biggest procedure fails, including an overly complicated digital task card system she was so proud of she started selling it (spoiler: nobody could follow it), and a semester-long annotation project she stubbornly kept going despite knowing it wasn’t working.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
How to tell the difference between teenage snark and genuine feedback
The best questions to ask students for real answers
When to pivot mid-lesson vs. waiting until the next day
Why relationships are the foundation for honest feedback
How to admit your “brilliant” idea flopped—without losing credibility
Leah’s two big takeaways: don’t beat yourself up for trying something new, and don’t spend an entire semester forcing something that’s clearly not working.
If you’ve ever overcomplicated a system or defended a procedure that made everyone miserable, this episode is for you. Sometimes the simplest solutions really are the best ones.