"Why aren't they getting this? Don't they care?"
Aug 05, 2025We’ve all been there. You’re halfway through a lesson you’ve carefully prepared. The slides are perfect, your explanation is clear... but you see it in their eyes. The mental checkout. The blank stares.
The internal monologue starts: "Why aren't they getting this? Don't they care?"
In that moment, our instinct is to push harder. To talk louder, repeat the facts, or mention the upcoming test. We double down on the "What."
But what if the solution isn't to push, but to pause?
What if, instead of trying to be more interesting, we just stopped and asked one simple question:
"Forget the test for a moment. Can anyone tell me why any of this might be important... to you?"
Asking this question does something radical. It shifts the ownership from your 'What' to their 'Why'. It stops being a lecture and becomes a conversation.
Sometimes, a student will give an answer that surprises everyone, including you. Sometimes, you’ll be met with silence. Both outcomes are pure gold. The silence tells you that the connection to their world is missing, and that's the real problem you need to solve.
The goal isn't just to get through the curriculum. It's to make the curriculum matter.
And that often starts not with a better explanation, but with a better question.
