“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.” - Simon Sinek
Photo by Kieran Lamb on Flickr This week’s #YourEduStory prompt: The above quote, followed by: “Why do you do what you do?” This is a solid question for anyone, not just educators. I believe that we should all have a defining purpose behind our life’s work.
My purpose is for wanting to make education absolutely AMAZING for my kids is this simple: I’m never completely satisfied. As much as I have no trouble finding celebrations to be had in the growth of my students (and my own growth, too) I never want to settle. I never want to stop and say, “Yeah, that’s good enough”, and then recycle that lesson for the next 30 years. I push myself to do more and I do that constantly.
This comes from one little story from my student teaching days: my school advisor told me she made a mistake in what I considered to be a flawless lesson. When I asked her what she would improve on, she replied, “I left the handouts at the back when I was instructing at the front.” WHAT? That’s it?
As a then-novice teacher, I watched more closely and realized how the little things can take something from being good to being great. It’s not always BIG things that need to change. Sometimes it’s tiny things. Like changing ONE WORD in an instruction for a student that requires differentiated support. Like actually letting my kids be in flow instead of constantly interrupting it. Like pacing how I transition students to get materials.
I digress. These are little things.
But little things can make a big difference sometimes. And I’m not satisfied with the little things yet, either.
My purpose is for wanting to make education absolutely AMAZING for my kids is this simple: I’m never completely satisfied. As much as I have no trouble finding celebrations to be had in the growth of my students (and my own growth, too) I never want to settle. I never want to stop and say, “Yeah, that’s good enough”, and then recycle that lesson for the next 30 years. I push myself to do more and I do that constantly.
This comes from one little story from my student teaching days: my school advisor told me she made a mistake in what I considered to be a flawless lesson. When I asked her what she would improve on, she replied, “I left the handouts at the back when I was instructing at the front.” WHAT? That’s it?
As a then-novice teacher, I watched more closely and realized how the little things can take something from being good to being great. It’s not always BIG things that need to change. Sometimes it’s tiny things. Like changing ONE WORD in an instruction for a student that requires differentiated support. Like actually letting my kids be in flow instead of constantly interrupting it. Like pacing how I transition students to get materials.
I digress. These are little things.
But little things can make a big difference sometimes. And I’m not satisfied with the little things yet, either.
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