“We’ll Just Do It Quickly” (And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves)

There are certain phrases teachers say that, in the moment, feel entirely reasonable.

Logical, even.

One of the most common is:

“We’ll just do this quickly.”

It might be a starter.

A quick recap.

A short discussion.

A “two-minute” task.

And every teacher knows exactly what happens next.

It takes fifteen minutes.

The optimism problem

Teaching requires a level of optimism that borders on delusion.

We plan lessons with perfect timing in mind:

• Starter: 5 minutes

• Explanation: 10 minutes

• Task: 20 minutes

• Plenary: 5 minutes

And in theory, it works beautifully.

In reality:

• The starter sparks a debate

• The explanation needs repeating

• Someone didn’t bring a pen

• Someone else has a question that is technically related… but not helpful

And suddenly, the “quick task” is the entire lesson.

Why it’s not actually a problem

Here’s the part we don’t say enough:

That’s not failure.

That’s teaching.

Because those moments where things take longer are often where the learning is actually happening.

The extra explanation.

The follow-up question.

The pause to check understanding.

They matter more than sticking rigidly to a plan.

The illusion of control

We like to believe we are in control of time in a lesson.

We are not.

We are managing:

• 30 different learners

• different levels of understanding

• different levels of motivation

• and whatever happened at break time

All at once.

So yes, the “quick task” rarely stays quick.

But that’s because classrooms are not controlled environments.

They are human ones.

What students actually need

Students don’t need perfectly timed lessons.

They need:

• clear explanations

• time to think

• chances to ask questions

• and support when they don’t understand

If that takes longer than planned, it’s time well spent.

So next time…

Next time you say,

“We’ll just do this quickly,”

you already know it probably won’t be.

But if it turns into a moment where students actually understand something better than they did before, then it wasn’t time lost.

It was time used properly.

Even if your plenary quietly disappears.

Again.