How Explicit Teaching Became Over-Scripted

Exploring the shift from responsive instruction to over-reliance on lesson slides

🎧 Listen to the voice note below where I unpack some of the misconceptions, tensions and deeper conversations around explicit teaching and lesson slides.

I have been thinking a lot lately about why so many teachers feel exhausted delivering explicit teaching.

Not exhausted by teaching itself.

Exhausted by the preparation.
The scripting.
The pressure to pre-plan every sentence, every worked example and every possible student response before students even walk into the room.

And I do not think this happened overnight.

Somewhere along the way, explicit teaching became associated with highly polished slide decks, perfectly sequenced click-through examples and lessons that feel more like performances than responsive instruction.

I do not think that was ever the intention.

Because at its core, explicit teaching is actually meant to reduce cognitive load for both students and teachers through clarity, consistency and carefully sequenced instruction.

The irony is that many teachers now feel more cognitively overloaded than ever trying to implement it.

I think part of the reason is that structure and scripting have slowly become confused with each other.

They are not the same thing.

I am a huge believer in lesson slides and structured lesson sequences. I think they can be incredibly powerful when used intentionally.

Slides can:

• establish routines and consistency

• support transitions throughout the lesson

• reduce unnecessary cognitive load

• provide visual prompts for students

• keep lessons sequenced and focused

• help students understand where they are within the learning process

That structure matters.

The issue is not the existence of slides.

The issue is when the slides become the teaching itself instead of supporting the teaching.

I think many teachers are now under pressure to overproduce instruction before the lesson even begins. Every explanation scripted. Every worked example typed onto the slide. Every question predetermined.

But responsive teaching does not work like that.

Some of the strongest explicit teaching classrooms I have observed were never rigid or robotic. The teacher was constantly reading the room.

• Checking for understanding.

• Adjusting examples.

• Changing explanations.

• Slowing down.

• Speeding up.

• Reteaching misconceptions in the moment.

That responsiveness is not a weakness in explicit teaching.

It is one of its greatest strengths.

Over time, I think many teachers have unintentionally been trained to deliver slides rather than deliver instruction.

And honestly, I understand why.

Schools want consistency.
Teachers are overwhelmed.
Time is limited.
Social media has normalised polished lesson design.
Beautifully produced slides often look like effective teaching from the outside.

But effective instruction is not about perfectly clicking through a presentation.

Students learn through modelling, guided practice, responsive questioning and carefully checking for understanding in real time.

A worked example should not just be revealed slide by slide while students passively watch.

It should be modelled live through teacher thinking aloud, questioning and decision-making.

Guided practice should not become silent copying from the board.

It should involve active thinking, participation and responsive support while misconceptions are identified and addressed.

The slides should support the instruction.
Not replace it.

One of the biggest shifts for me over the years was realising that I did not need to script the performance of teaching.

I needed to plan the structure.

That distinction changed everything.

When the structure is clear:

• the lesson flow becomes predictable

• expectations become consistent

• transitions become smoother

• cognitive load reduces

• students feel more secure

• teachers have more space to actually respond to learning in real time

That is what makes explicit teaching sustainable.

Not endless scripting.
Not perfection.
Not trying to control every second before the lesson begins.

Structure should create freedom, not rigidity.

And I think that is the conversation many teachers are actually trying to have right now.

I have attached a short voice note above unpacking some of these ideas further and reflecting on the responses that came through after one of my recent reels unexpectedly reached a much wider audience than usual.

If you are trying to make explicit teaching feel clearer, lighter and more sustainable in your own classroom, inside the Structured Teaching Portal I go deeper into the implementation side of explicit teaching, including lesson structures, guided practice, checks for understanding, pacing and instructional delivery.

Brolga Education
Created by Trudy Mayo — explicit teaching coach & curriculum specialist.
500+ lessons written in explicit instruction | 1k+ teacher subs |

I help teachers plan & deliver clear lessons | Simplifying explicit instruction that engages & drives progress🌟

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