“If you’re going to overthink, overthink the good stuff.”
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| Inspirivity |
This simple phrase has been sitting with me, especially when I think about the work of teaching and learning. Educators and students alike are no strangers to overthinking. Lesson plans, grading, class participation, test scores… our minds can spiral quickly into all the things that did not go as planned.
But what if we redirected that energy? What if, instead of replaying mistakes, we overthought the good stuff in teaching and learning?
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Overthink a student’s breakthrough. Instead of dwelling on who didn’t “get it,” imagine analyzing why a particular student finally connected with a concept. What strategies clicked? How can you replicate that success for others?
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Overthink classroom wins. Did a discussion unexpectedly take off? Did a group project foster more collaboration than you expected? Overanalyzing those moments can help us identify the conditions that make learning thrive.
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Overthink your strengths as an educator. We tend to overanalyze weaknesses, but what if we spent just as much time breaking down our teaching superpowers? Your energy, clarity, humor, or patience might be exactly what transforms a student’s experience.
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Encourage students to overthink positively. Students are just as prone to spiraling about a missed point on an exam or a clumsy presentation. Help them flip the script by asking them to overthink what went well, where they grew, or what they learned about themselves in the process.
Overthinking isn’t always a weakness. In fact, when directed at the positive, it can be one of our most powerful teaching and learning tools.
So, here’s a question for reflection: What’s one “good thing” in your classroom that you’ve been overthinking lately?
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