Teaching is Decision-Making

A lesson is just a series of decisions.

Teaching is a series of decisions we make to help students learn. Some decisions are made by the syllabus or school, but the majority are made by us, the teachers.

We make a huge number of decisions every day, with some researchers reporting that teachers make 0.7 decisions per minute during interactive teaching (Borko et al, 1990). Another study showed that elementary school teachers had 200–300 exchanges with students every hour, most of them unplanned and requiring decision-making (Jackson,1990).

We make decisions when we plan, teach and mark work after class.

No wonder we’re tired at the end of the day!

Newer vs. Experienced Teachers

Decision fatigue happens even more for newer teachers, as many decisions involve situations they haven’t encountered before. Before they can respond, they need to assess what’s happening, consider their options and the pros and cons of each.

Compared to more experienced teachers, who can respond immediately, it’s exhausting.

Experienced teachers don’t need to think. It sounds odd, but high performers use their memory rather than thinking, as the brain isn’t designed for complex thinking (Willingham…