How can you feed the masses and make sure the individuals chew their food?

I am hungry, can you tell?

Teaching is all about serving the masses. But it's definitely not the only career that caters to large populations of people.

We are constantly searching for ways to make sure we can teach our lessons only a few times, but make sure all students absorb it properly.

I really find a difficult time balancing "Student exploration" and just telling the students what they need to learn.

And I think I will forever toggle with this balance because sometimes, just being told what to do can stick as much as being free to explore. I can narrow in exactly what I want them to get out of it. And its in times where the WHY behind the subject is more straight forward and "common sense". So common sense that sometimes the kids don't even see it because they assume it is just known.

I noticed it today with notes. One class I simply asked for the solution and a quick explanation. We cruised through it quickly and had time for two activities.

Another class I started with the WHY and it dragged the lesson out WAYY longer than I was aiming for. We barely started the first activity.

Part way through I realized, I was trying to serve the masses and it was hindering the individuals.

How do I know?

Well, the WHY was so straight forward to some students that by asking for it so specifically, I could see it had them overthinking it and missing the mark; even though I know they knew the answer.

And for the others who are more on the struggling end, the WHY mattered more to their success, but they don't do as well in full class lecture and would be far better off if I would've let them do group exploration in solving.

Size to the masses so that everyone learns, but tailor to the individual so they all get what they need.

How can you do this outside of school settings?

I try and think about what is my end goal for each day's class. What do I want my class to get out of the lesson? Once I understand that, I ask: What do I want each tiered group of students to get out of the lesson?

If I need to move even further in specification to the individual, I can do that as well.

It takes all of 30 seconds to a minute to do, but can save yourself a lot of backtracking or unnecessary effort