Why, How, What?
Please leave a comment and start a discussion about how the video relates to you and your philosophy in your classroom. You will receive one hour of PD credit but, as you will find out after watching the video, that is not why we do what we do.
http://www.ted.com Simon Sinek presents a simple but powerful model for how leaders inspire action, starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.
My "Why" as an educator has always been clear to me. I teach because I believe that opening my students' minds about the world, themselves, and the future is the best way I can help them create opportunities for success and enjoy their lives. My challenge is finding a way to integrate my Why with the standards I am required to teach. This is why Connections was so great: the kids and the teachers all were clear what the value was of what they were learning on a daily basis. It's a harder sell when you're focusing on the standards as they are written. I can tell my students, "You're learning to evaluate the strength of an argument so that you can make informed decisions for yourself," but 8th graders don't necessarily see the importance of that yet. Whereas teaching them how compound interest works or what goes into the foods they eat or how the laws that impact them are decided all have immediate value. I will say that because my Why informs everything I do in the classroom, my students are willing to be challenged, to learn independence, to take risks. If I wasn't passionate about doing right by them, they would never let me get away with what I ask them to do! It's a lot!
ReplyDeleteAnd that is the key...get them to believe in the passion instead of getting them to believe in the curriculum. Get them to believe that opening their minds to the world and themselves and the future is how you are helping them to discover their own "why" and they will follow any curricula you put in front of them.
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