10/31/2025
Schoolutions S5E9 BONUS: Rethinking Certainty in Education - Why We’re Doing It All Wrong
🎯 NEW BONUS EPISODE ALERT!
🎧🎙Listen
➡️ https://www.buzzsprout.com/1890886/episodes/18106285
➡️ https://youtu.be/h5gj6yH9Sjs
"I Don't Know" Almost Ended My Career—Until It Became My Superpower
Have you ever had a moment where you thought you completely sabotaged your professional credibility?
I have. And what happened next changed everything about how I show up as an educator.
THE MOMENT EVERYTHING SHIFTED:
It was 2006. I had flown across the country as a brand new consultant, sitting with experienced K-3 teachers who were asking detailed questions about curriculum design, daily structure, and instructional flow.
I was so ill-equipped. I really didn't have the answers I should have had.
Instead of making something up in the moment, I said the three words I thought would ruin everything:
"I don't know.”
Then, followed with, “I will get back to you."
I genuinely believed I had let everyone down—myself, the teachers, the entire program. At lunch, a teacher found me. My stomach dropped as she approached.
Then she said: "I've never heard a consultant say they don't know."
(Pause for the panic attack I was having internally)
But then she continued: "That's not a bad thing. That's the most honest thing I've heard all year."
And then the words I'll never forget:
"If YOU can say 'I don't know,' maybe I can say it too. Maybe I can stop pretending I've figured it all out and actually learn what my kids need."
THE PROBLEM WITH CERTAINTY:
Here's what I've been thinking about since my conversation with Angela Stockman this week (if you haven't listened to Episode 9 yet—go listen! It's called "Stop Drowning in Data: Why Uncertainty Makes Us Better Educators"): https://youtu.be/8omXvWmAPl0
What if our need for certainty is actually what's killing our credibility?
We were trained as teachers to:
✓ Have all the answers
✓ Write perfect objectives
✓ Execute flawlessly
✓ KNOW
But when you're performing certainty all day, every day—when you're trying to prove your worth through flawless execution—you're not really teaching. You're surviving. And survival is exhausting.
THE SHIFT: FROM CERTAINTY TO CURIOSITY:
In today's bonus episode, I share three concrete moves you can practice THIS WEEK to operationalize uncertainty without losing trust:
MOVE 1️⃣: Name one thing you're genuinely curious about Not everything. Just ONE thing. What keeps nagging at you? Not what frustrates you—what makes you CURIOUS. Angela says to pick one focal point for the WHOLE YEAR. Write it down.
MOVE 2️⃣: Replace "I should know this" with "I'm going to study this" When that curious thing shows up, document it. Voice memo yourself on the drive home. Jot three sentences in a Google Doc. Take a photo of student work. You're not documenting to prove anything—you're documenting to NOTICE.
MOVE 3️⃣: Share your uncertainty with one person At the end of the week, tell one colleague, one coach, or even one student: "I've been studying _____ because I'm genuinely curious. Here's what I noticed. I don't have answers yet, but I'm wondering if you've noticed anything similar."
When you lead with uncertainty, other people bring their observations to the table. Suddenly you're not solving problems alone—you're in partnership.
THE BEAUTIFUL PARADOX:
Here's what I've discovered: When you stop trying to be certain about everything, you become MORE credible.
Why? Because you're:
→ Present instead of performing
→ Listening instead of defending
→ Responsive instead of rigid
→ Actually paying attention to what's happening instead of forcing what you think should happen
Angela said something profound: Documentation has an unintended gift—it sustains your energy for the work.
When you give yourself permission to be curious, when you document one focal point and watch patterns emerge, you're not going through the motions. You're fascinated by what you're discovering.
THIS MIGHT BE THE ANTIDOTE TO BURNOUT:
Not more strategies. Not more professional development. But curiosity, documentation, and permission to not know.
Your uncertainty isn't a weakness. It's your entry point to the kind of learning that actually transforms practice.
TRY THIS NEXT WEEK:
➡️Listen to today's bonus episode (link below)
➡️Pick your ONE focal point
➡️Document imperfectly
➡️Share with one person
➡️Email me how it goes: [email protected]
This won't happen perfectly. We'll forget to document some days. We'll feel silly talking into our voice memos. But that's okay.
Because when we stop performing certainty, we create space for actual learning.
COMING MONDAY: My conversation with Larry Ainsworth about Essential Standards and how prioritizing what matters most saves you time to dig deep with kids.
Who needs to hear this today? Tag a colleague who's exhausted from having to have all the answers. 👇
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