One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Ever wonder why your teachers repeat themselves so often?

Have you ever thought about all the different ways we have to say the same thing?

Have you ever noticed you often get the same information delivered by several methods?

It’s not an accident. It’s what teachers do to help every student succeed. Some people need to see things written down, others need to hear something to really understand it. Some need to hear or see it more than once. Everyone is different and everyone learns differently. Teachers make sure they communicate information in ways all students can understand. 

I find the process of giving instructions to students to be very interesting. I work hard to find the simplest, most direct way of giving instructions. I break down tasks into smaller bits and present them one by one. 

Let’s say a teacher wanted you to accomplish four tasks. Just saying the words will get about 80% of students to do each task correctly and in order. 

Here are that teacher’s make-believe instructions to a class of 30:

One, two, buckle my shoe;

Three, four, open the door;

Five, six, pick up sticks;

Seven, eight, lay them straight.

The teacher’s expectation is that 30 students will buckle their shoes, open the door, pick up some sticks and place them in a straight pattern.

When the teacher looks out over his/her imaginary classroom, here’s what they are most likely to see:

24 kids looked at their shoes and said some version of, “I don’t have buckles on my shoes,” “I only have laces,” “I’m not doin’ nothin’ to these bad kicks” or “Huh?” 18 of them closed a door, but six more reopened it, 14 picked up some sticks, 10 scholars asked to leave the building to look for sticks, 11 kids have them all lined up nice and straight, and three are building a fort out of the sticks. Four students took off their shoes, three opened a window, two kids put the sticks in their shoes, someone asked to go to the restroom, and one ambitious child is chopping up a chair to make more sticks. 

It’s hard. It was a lot of confusing instructions delivered in a way that they were not accustomed to. 

And that is why we say it, put it on your paper, project it on the screen, write it on the board and then start all over again. That is why we repeat instructions multiple times. 

That is why we have so many ways to communicate the same information.