What Teachers Can Learn from Crossing the Chasm
Introducing a new teaching method to your whole class at once, using the same pitch that excited your most eager students, is the specific trap Crossing the Chasm names, and it's an easy one to fall into when early enthusiasm feels like proof the method is ready for everyone.
The whole book, compressed
This edition works through 4 core lessons — take them one at a time, not all at once.
What's different for your conditions
Tap whichever ones sound like you. Nothing here is sent or saved — it's just for your own noticing.
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The core lessons, applied to you
Understand that different audiences adopt new things for different reasons
The eager students who embraced a new method right away did so because they like novelty, but the larger, more cautious group needs proof it actually helps before they'll fully engage.
A teacher keeps pitching a new method with the same excitement that won over eager students, and more cautious students remain disengaged because that pitch doesn't address their actual concern about whether it will actually help them do well.
Identify one part of your pitch for a new method that appeals to novelty, and add a piece that instead demonstrates how it reliably helps students succeed.
Pick one specific segment to win completely, rather than appealing broadly too soon
Fully proving a new method with a smaller group of students builds more credibility than rolling it out to the whole class before it's proven with anyone.
A teacher introduces a new method to the entire class simultaneously, and uneven early results across many students undermine confidence in the method before it's had a chance to prove itself with any of them.
Identify a smaller group of students where you could fully prove a new method works, and focus there before expanding it to the whole class.
Deliver a genuinely complete solution, not just the exciting core idea
Students considering a new method need to see a genuinely complete, reliable structure, not just the exciting core idea that won over the eager early students.
A teacher introduces the exciting core concept of a new method without addressing the practical support or scaffolding more cautious students actually need to feel confident trying it.
Identify what "complete" means for the students you're trying to reach next, beyond the core idea, and address the biggest gap.
Expand deliberately, one segment at a time
Once a smaller group of students has genuinely benefited from a new method, expanding it to the rest of the class deliberately protects the credibility built with that first group.
Covering today's material for the whole class and fully proving a new method with a smaller group first aren't opposites — a method proven with one group usually earns faster buy-in from the rest than an immediate class-wide rollout.
Name one thing, honestly
Is there a smaller group of students where you could fully prove a new teaching method works, rather than rolling it out to everyone at once?
Good. Now look back at the "Try this" line under whichever lesson feels most connected to what you just wrote, and treat that as this week's actual assignment — not all 4 at once.
The practices from this edition
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Run this for seven days
Identify what "complete" means for the students you're trying to reach next, beyond the core idea, and address the biggest gap.