DOES YOUR CLASSROOM OR BUILDING REFLECT YOUR WHY?

Written by: Charity Dodd
DSD Professional Development 

In Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk - How Great Leaders Inspire Action, he shares his Golden Circle. The Golden Circle has three rings.  The outer ring is the WHAT, the middle ring is the HOW and the center of the circle is the WHY.  He states that everyone knows WHAT they do, some know HOW they do it, but very, very few know WHY they do what they do.  By WHY he means what is your purpose, what is your belief.  Why do you get out of bed everyday and why should anyone care? He says inspired people think from the inside out.  Inspired people start with WHY. ​

DO YOU KNOW YOUR WHY?
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Why do you do what you do?  Why did you get into teaching?  I would say you got into teaching to make a difference, you were inspired by an amazing teacher you had, you want to be a positive influence or you want to help children learn, become confident and  

be prepared for their futures. I would wager to say you did not get into education to talk at children, give them homework and tests so you could grade papers and give you something to do in the evenings.  I would also bet you did not get into teaching to teach only a few students and see only those few students thrive in school while the others were left behind.

Take a few minutes and think about your why.  Why did you get into education?  Do your instructional practices currently reflect your why?  If your why is based on  helping all of your students, what are you doing in your classroom or school for all your students?  How can you reach all students and make a difference with all students?  For leaders, how can you ensure you are supporting your teachers to reach all students?

Students need strategies that will enable them to own their learning and to develop the skills necessary to compete in today’s economy.  This seems like a huge undertaking for classroom teachers and building leaders.  

HOW DO YOU GET TO YOUR WHY?

Let’s discuss HOW you can begin shifting to an environment where all students have a sense of belonging and how you can create a culture where your students know they matter because you are meeting their learning needs. ​

• Challenge the status quo in your building or classroom.  
• Begin by making small shifts in instructional practices.  
• Implement learning models that support all students and that will allow you to meet students where they are to meet their learning needs.  Blended and personalized learning are learning models that you can begin implementing in your classrooms tomorrow.  These models allow class time and structure to be more flexible so that you can meet the learning needs of your students.  These models also allow teachers to phase into the work.

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WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT OF STARTING FROM YOUR WHY?
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WHAT will teachers see as a result of implementing blended and personalized learning?  Students will have access to content at their pace, place path.  All students have equal access to digital content, educational technology and learning opportunities to meet their individual needs.  Students will be engaged in their work.  They will own their learning and will have a voice in your classroom.  Will you see these shifts immediately?  Maybe.  Is it going to be easy?  Maybe not.  Will these shifts help get you back to your why?  Yes!

Student engagement rates and blended instruction show a positive correlation as engagement can certainly be a point of struggle within the classroom, but blended learning can help there in many ways. A study completed by the Center for Digital Education found that 73 percent of educators who utilize a blended learning instruction model observed an increase in student engagement. http://edtechreview.in/data-statistics/2506-blended-learning-in-the-classroom-statistics-research

I hope this challenges you to think about why you became an educator and how you can get back to your why!

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