The 6th E: The Pedagogical Shift Your Classroom Needs to Sustain You

If you’ve been in the classroom for more than a minute, you know the drill. We are taught to obsess over the lesson planning models. For years, I lived by the 5Es. It was the standard, the blueprint, the guide. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid structure. It helps us organize our thoughts and map out the steps to a lesson.

But here is what they don’t tell you in the teacher training manuals: A perfect lesson plan is just a skeleton. It doesn't have a soul.

I remember the moment the exhaustion really set in. I was doing everything "right." My lesson plans were tight, my steps were aligned, and I was hitting every benchmark. Yet, I felt like I was running on an empty tank. My students were performing, but they weren't always connecting. I was teaching, but I wasn't always sustaining myself or the culture of my classroom.

I realized that the 5Es (or any traditional lesson planning model) could tell me how to teach a lesson, but they couldn't tell me how to show up.

The Realization: We Need a Pedagogical Shift

The problem with traditional models is that they are static. They treat education like a series of steps you have to complete before the bell rings. But education isn’t just a checklist. It’s a culture. It’s an environment. And most importantly, it’s a living, breathing space that changes every single day.

I was exhausted because I was trying to "do" the lesson rather than "being" the educator my classroom needed. I needed a new lens.

That’s how the 6th E Framework was born. It wasn't about creating a "6th step" to add to a lesson plan. It was about creating a new way of thinking about what we bring into our classroom spaces.

What is the 6th E?

The 6th E is not another item on your to-do list. It is the intentional lens you choose to look through before you even start the lesson.

When I talk about the 6th E, I’m talking about the "extra" that makes education sustainable. It’s the variable that acknowledges that you are a human, and your students are humans.

• Some days, what my students need most isn’t another "Explore" phase. What they need is Empathy.

• Some days, to keep my own sanity and manage the load, what I need most is Efficiency.

• Some days, the energy is low, and I need to lead with Enthusiasm.

• Some days, the pressure is high, and we just need Ease.

The "E" changes. It’s seasonal. It’s daily. It’s responsive. It’s the part of your teaching that happens in the heart and the mind, not just on the paper.

It’s Time to Sustain Your Practice

We have to stop pretending that lesson plans alone will save our sanity or transform our student achievement. We have to transform the culture of learning. That means looking at our classrooms through a new lens—one that accounts for the human element of teaching.

When you start to see your work through the 6th E Framework, you realize that the lesson plan is only the beginning. The real work, the sustainable work, is the intentional choice you make about what you bring into that space.

So, if you’re tired of just "planning lessons" and you’re ready to start transforming culture, I invite you to join me. Let’s stop looking at the skeleton and start focusing on the soul of our instruction.

What are you bringing into your classroom today? Let’s talk about it.