Don’t Start With Why

Dear colleague,

With all due respect to Simon Sinek, why isn't the best place to start in the classroom. It's the place to linger, sure. It's the place to point many dozens of creative and passionate and argumentative mini-sermons per semester, absolutely. But it's not the place to start.

Instead, start with WHERE. Teachers and students need to remember, first and foremost, where are we going? What's the peak toward which this class ascends?

It's the Everest statement. What's this class for? What's math for? Science? Drawing? Music? Where does the study of literature take a person? What is the endpoint of a US history curriculum?

The WHERE needs to have an honored spot not just on the classroom wall, but also, much more importantly, in the daily discourse of the class. When we speak to the where of our classes, when we have students contemplate where it is they are going, both in this class and in their lives, then we've set fertile soil for the work of WHY messaging.

So don't start with why. Start with where. So much of school suffering begins with the fog that occludes the peaks of our disciplines.

Teaching right beside you,

DSJR

P.S. If your team is wrestling with student motivation this semester, my “Why Do We Have to Do This?” Mini-Course gives you 10 strategies in under two hours of video. $99 for individuals, or group licenses for your whole faculty start at $499. Learn more here.