Declutter for More Effective Instruction

Every spring I face the same overwhelming task—cleaning out my garage. After a long Wisconsin winter of neglect, I find myself staring at piles of clutter: all of the outdoor patio furniture that was brought inside, a worktable loaded with items that weren’t put away properly, a slew of unbroken-down Amazon boxes, etc. The space that should be useful and organized has quickly become a chaotic mess in need of TLC.

Do you ever feel like chaotic mess is an apt description of the curriculum in at least one of the classes you teach?

For years, many of us were trained to think that teaching meant covering content and doing our best to teach the entire textbook. But research tells us that learning does not come from exposure to content; it comes from depth, engagement, and mastery. 

In his book Focus, Mike Schmocker highlights how “curriculum chaos and shallow learning dilute educators’ effectiveness” (2018). Julia Simms (2024) believes “one of the most serious issues plaguing education is a curriculum that is so bloated and cumbersome that it is impossible for teachers to teach well and for students to learn efficiently” (p. 71).

Just like my garage, every teacher should be thinking about how your school’s curriculum could use a good spring (or summer) cleaning—not just to remove clutter, but to shift the focus from covering content to ensuring student learning. Here’s how:

Step 1: Stop Covering and Start Prioritizing.

Before I start tossing things out of my garage, I ask two important questions: Do I actually use this? 2) Does it serve a purpose?

We need to think similarly about curriculum. If you equate your curriculum with a textbook, there is an important thought you need to remember: textbooks are resources, not roadmaps. Not every chapter in the textbook, not every lesson we’ve always taught, not every homework assignment we’ve assigned is truly essential.  In his educational research, Robert Marzano explains how the most effective schools focus on a narrow set of key concepts and skills.

These questions can help guide your Step 1 process:

1. What must students know to be successful in the future?

2. What skills will transfer beyond this classroom?

3. What concepts do students need time to master, not just be exposed to?

4. What am I teaching now that is NOT essential for students to know?

For a more in depth look at narrowing a curriculum, check out this informative Solution Tree article.

Step 2: Create a Plan for Understanding, Not Just Exposure

After I clear out the clutter from my garage, I can’t quit there, thinking Alright, now my garage is clean. I also need to logically organize what I want to keep. I need to create a system so I can find items when I need them. For me, this is an ever-evolving process, but it is strategic and intentional. 

An effective curriculum isn’t just knowing what to keep and what to toss; it’s also about understanding the structure and pacing.  The best book I’ve ever read regarding structure and pacing is Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggens and Jay McTighe. Their research helps me understand an important educational truth: the best teaching always starts with the end in mind. First, focus on learning objectives and then design assessments and lessons that build toward them.

When we shift from teaching content to purposefully and intentionally teaching for understanding, students are more engaged and retain knowledge longer, which makes us more effective educators.

Step 3: Share Your Cleaned-Up Curriculum with a Colleague

After a full Saturday of garage cleaning, sorting, and organizing, I always feel a sense of accomplishment and am compelled to complete one more step: call my wife out to see it. I want to show off the de-cobwebbed walls, the decluttered workbench, the nicely organized shelves, and the fact that we can actually navigate without moving or tripping on something.

Do the same with your cleaned-up curriculum! Now that you’ve trimmed the excesses, prioritized what’s most important, and organized it into a logical learning progression for students, don’t keep it to yourself—share it with a colleague or better yet, all of your colleagues.

Discussing your refined curriculum with others can produce the following results:

1. Help you clarify your decisions. As an excellent educator, you know full well that you better understand a subject when you have to teach it to others. When you share, walk them through your choices and the rationale behind each one…and allow them to challenge you!

2. Provide fresh perspectives. Your colleague(s) may notice something that you overlooked, overvalued, undervalued, or omitted. They can help make your learning progression even better, which adds to your level of confidence as an educator.

3. Create consistency on your campus. If multiple teachers understand the importance of this process, YOU could be the catalyst for creating a major mindset shift and more focused, intentional, and effective learning for students at your school.

*****Bonus*****

If you are struggling with where to start or how to proceed in this process, consider allowing generative AI to be the nudge you might need to push yourself forward. I have seen amazing conversations taking place among teachers who allowed ChatGPT to create a sample viable curriculum for a course at their grade level. It’s not a blueprint, but a rough draft and a starting point to have comparisons between what we do now and how we could think differently about what we teach and when we teach it in the school year. 

Here is a sample prompt to get you started:

Act as an experienced [enter grade number] grade teacher who wants to create the most logical learning progression for my students in [enter course name]. Create a sample scope and sequence for an entire school year (or semester) that includes the following skills and/or content: [enter content and skills that you would like prioritized].

Final Thoughts

Cleaning out my garage is tedious and time consuming, but the feeling of accomplishment and having control of my space make the process entirely worth it!

Your curriculum should feel the same way. When you let go of the pressure to “cover it all” and instead focus on what’s essential, what lasts, and what truly helps students learn, you create space—space for deep discussions, for creative problem-solving, for students to actually think instead of just memorize and regurgitate.

And just like a clean garage, a well-designed curriculum has another unexpected benefit: less stress for you. No more rushing to cram in one more chapter. No more guilt over skipping a section. No more feeling like you’re rushing through material without ever stopping to see if students actually get it.

So, as you tackle spring cleaning in your home (or garage), take a moment to do the same for your curriculum. And when you’re done? Take a deep breath. Admire the extra space. Maybe even call over a colleague and say, Look at this! You can actually see the learning now!

Take the Next Step!

Enter the ChatGPT prompt from above. Compare and contrast the results with your current curriculum. Share with a colleague: 

1. What are the three most important skills I teach students?

2. What’s one thing I can remove from my curriculum?

3. What one skill should I spend more time teaching to ensure all of my students can perform at grade level?

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FIND THIS ARTICLE HELPFUL?

If you found this challenge valuable and insightful, I encourage you to check out the online course I created entitled “ChatGPT for Teachers.” After completing the course, you will have all of the tools you need to harness the power of ChatGPT to create a dynamic curriculum, impactful instruction, valid and reliable assessments, and more.