Never Work Harder Than Your Students

In her new ASCD book, Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, educator Robyn R. Jackson makes a bold assertion: Any teacher can become a master teacher with the right kind of practice. The book makes the case that high-quality teachers concentrate on seven essential principles of effective teaching before implementing specific classroom strategies. One of Jackson's seven principles is that teachers should "never work harder than your students."

"The starting point comes when teachers embrace the messiness that is learning," says Jackson. "We have sanitized learning; we want to make it so clean. Everything in a classroom has to go just like we planned it. But if you leave spaces [in lesson planning] for kids to occupy, that's when they'll start to take control. You're creating situations where the kids have to do the work. We think kids are lazy, but kids want to work. They'll work in ways that are authentic to what they need."

Jackson, a former National Board–certified teacher and middle school administrator, not only shares how she learned from her mistakes but also explains how other teachers helped her think and act like a master teacher. Watch Jackson talk about her book on ASCD Talks With an Author.

How do you embrace the messiness of learning in your classroom?