It's been said that the head won't go where the heart hasn't been. I'm finding this statement to be quite true as I enter into my next Masters class EDLD 5304 Leading Organizational Change. First, we were asked to take a look at a very popular TED Talk by Simon Sinek titled "Start With Why". Secondly, we were challenged to form our own educational golden circle modeled after the examples in Sinek's video. Finally, we reflected upon our "Why" statement and considered how it can be used to create a sense of urgency and lower complacency in today's education system. Check out Sinek's video "Start With Why" and get the organizational change wheels rolling. Watching Sinek's video, I realized that I was doing this teaching thing all wrong. I had a golden circle, but I had been teaching most of my career from the outside in instead of from the inside out. This school year ushered in some of the most profound professional and personal changes I have ever experienced. I stepped into a newly created position as the district's Lead AVID Teacher. With my new role, I get the best of both worlds. I teach two AVID elective classes each morning that finish by 10:30am allowing me to spend the rest of my day serving as administrative support for all the other AVID teachers district wide. Prior to this year, I spent 11 years as a classroom teacher and a coach. During this time, I taught 7th grade Science, Teen Leadership and Health along with coaching volleyball, basketball and boys and girls tennis. I never realized until now how big of a role starting with "why" played in my early career. I believe being a sports coach gives teachers a distinct advantage in winning over the hearts and minds of students. Great coaches don't always win games but they always have the most buy-in from kids because they do win the most hearts. Coaches can get students to perform in unconventional ways leaving most teachers in awe. I loved when other teachers would witness an interaction between me and my athletes and say,"Wow, that kid would run through a wall for you or how do you get them to do that?" My answer was always based in the "whys" of coaching rather than the "whats". In my career, it did not take long to discover that kids are great judges of character. I knew that my athletes bought why I was a coach way more than what offense or defense I was teaching. In reflecting on my "whys" of education, I would be remiss if I did not include my golden circle of coaching. My coaching why: Through sports, I will instill in every athlete the self-confidence, desire, determination and work ethic needed to succeed on the court and in life. My coaching how: Students will be taught the academic, athletic and social skills that build great men and women of character. My coaching what: Coach Collins always produces quality athletes that play with heart, pride and hustle. Want to be a part of an exciting experience you'll never forget? Come see us play! This year in my new administrative support role, transferring my abilities to coach students inside the golden circle of my beliefs to coaching adults on technology integration has not been as golden as I hoped. Often, I find myself feeling that teaching and coaching would be amazing if I didn't have to deal with the adults. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy my career and all of the peer interactions and relationships I am fortunate to build but some days I struggle with getting the adults on board way more than my students. According to Simon Sinek, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. I believe not a single teacher enters into the profession for the money, nor do they stay in the profession entirely for the money. Digging deeper into this notion, I believe appealing to the soul driven intrinsic reasons of why teachers become teachers and remain teachers is the key to unlock the potential for change in an organization. When visiting a teacher's classroom, I can sense immediately whether or not the golden circle environment is run from the outside in or the inside out by the level of community and relational capacity present between teacher and students as well as student to student. I find teachers who operate with urgency have better time management making the most out of every moment from bell to bell. Urgent teachers create an active and engaged environment with the perfect conditions for deep learning. I do believe that urgency even in the best classrooms ebbs and flows. Teachers tend to start the school year off with a tremendous urgency bang, lose it somewhere around November and then fight to find it again before testing season. After high stakes tests are complete, it seems complacency sets in disguised as the wrong kind of urgency with everyone biding their time until school is out for summer. Perhaps, the cure to combating complacency lies within my "why" statement. Much like my coaching golden circle, my teaching golden circle sets out to motivate, inspire, engage and create a technology rich environment for all teachers. In doing so, I begin by appealing to the hearts of educators in... My education why: I will motivate all teachers to embrace the important role technology plays in education. I will inspire them to utilize technology to its fullest potential both professionally and personally. My hope here is two fold. One, that veteran teachers will realize teaching with technology is the way of the future and two, for rookie teachers to continue integrating technology into their classrooms just as they have always done growing up. How am I going to get this change started?... My education how: By modeling for teachers the endless possibilities in which technology can enhance instruction, foster relational capacity and energize assessments for the entire learning community. At this point, internalizing the whys and hows of teaching are highly important as individuals become catalysts in creating organizational change. But wait, there's one more part to completing my golden circle of education. The "what" section presents a call to action by appealing to individual teachers to see the benefits joining a group of like-minded educators united for a common purpose can hold. The what statement can be viewed as positive peer pressure in the fact that everyone is teaching with technology, so its time to either get on board or get left behind. C'mon, everybody is doing it! Doing what?... My education what: We just happen to produce quality students with the total package of 21st century skills necessary to be successful in college and in life! Why wait? Teach with technology NOW and Teach the world FOREVER! WOW! Pretty powerful stuff! How could any educator teach from the inside out and not be an enthusiastic, charismatic role model? I believe the answer is found in using the golden circle to create urgency. The right kind of urgency validates the teacher's why and gives the students a purpose for learning, two components vital in creating and sustaining positive organizational change. If you can validate and give purpose to learning...you will be golden!
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AuthorMadeline Brandi Collins is a Louisiana girl through and through. Raised by her beloved Maw Maw and namesake, she moved to Texas 13 years ago to pursue a career in education which proved to be one of the best decisions EVER!
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May 2017
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