What Teachers Can Learn from Made to Stick
Assuming that a technically accurate explanation of a topic is enough for students to remember and use it is the specific trap Made to Stick names, and it's an easy one to fall into when you know every detail matters.
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
Find the single core point and strip everything else away
A lesson that tries to communicate everything about a topic ends up remembered as nothing; identifying the one essential point and cutting everything that doesn't serve it makes it far more likely to stick.
A teacher covers many facts about a topic with equal emphasis, and students walk away without a single clear idea that actually stuck.
Identify the one sentence you most want students to remember about today's lesson, and cut anything that doesn't support it.
Break the pattern people expect, to actually earn attention
A lesson that fits smoothly into the same format every lesson follows slides past without registering; one that genuinely surprises or challenges an assumption earns the attention needed to be remembered.
A teacher introduces a new topic in the exact same routine as every other day, and it blends into the general background of the class period.
Identify one assumption students likely hold about today's topic, and open by directly challenging it.
Make the idea concrete and give it built-in credibility
Abstract facts are hard to remember on their own; grounding a lesson in a concrete, vivid detail makes it stick on its own merits rather than relying purely on the teacher saying so.
A teacher states an important fact abstractly without a concrete example students can picture, and the fact slides past without leaving an impression.
Replace one abstract statement in today's lesson with a specific, concrete detail students could actually picture or verify.
Carry the idea with genuine emotion and a story, not a dry fact
Facts alone rarely stick in a student's memory; connecting a lesson to real emotion and a concrete story students can retell makes it far more likely to actually be remembered.
Covering today's curriculum requirement and making one idea truly memorable aren't opposites — a memorable core idea often satisfies the requirement more effectively than a complete but forgettable list of facts.
Name one thing, honestly
If a student had to describe today's lesson in one sentence a week from now, what would you want that sentence to be?
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
Replace one abstract statement in today's lesson with a specific, concrete detail students could actually picture or verify.