This week's edition explores a simple but important distinction:

A strategy is what you do. A principle is why you do it.

When planning lessons, it's easy to begin with a favourite strategy—cold calling, mini-whiteboards, retrieval practice—but effective teaching starts by identifying the learning problem first. The principle comes before the strategy.

The edition introduces a simple five-step planning framework, along with a free planning tool and one-page guide to help move planning from strategy-first to principle-first.

Question for the community:

When you're planning a lesson, what do you naturally think about first?

• The strategy I'll use?

• The learning problem I'm trying to solve?

• The curriculum content?

• Or does it depend on the lesson?

I'd be interested to hear how others approach this.

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