Sinek or Cynic? You Choose!

To build your knowledge and a framework for thinking about Simon Sinek's book, you might preview this TED Talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

In reading Simon Sinek's START WITH WHY:  HOW GREAT LEADERS INSPIRE EVERYONE TO TAKE ACTION, I have found myself thinking (again) about this quote (p. 67):

"...when manipulations thrive, uncertainty increases...instability increases...and stress increases for all." 

 This has been the elephant in the room (or in my mind, anyway) when considering how teachers are feeling when they question how best to teach to achieve the short-term payoff of acceptable/better test scores. 

Teachers wonder, "What if I follow my teaching beliefs but test scores go down?"  Or, "What if I do what I know is right, but test scores go down?"  The reality is, we may be creating students who are learning, creating, and thoughtful.  But if they don't measure up on test scores, teachers have everything to lose. 

Sinek relates this type of fear to terrorism.  "Fear, real or perceived, that his job would be on the line if something went wrong was enough to make him ignore the express purpose of his job...  When fear is employed, facts are incidental.  Deeply seated in our biological drive to survive, that emotion cannot be quickly wiped away with facts and figures.  This is how terrorism works... it's the fear that it might happen that cripples a population." (p. 21)


As if that is not enough, politicians and even our lawmakers have pressured us to buy "programs" designed to "fix" education so that without said programs, we might wonder if we are missing out on something or to instill the feeling that everyone knows something that we don't.  We fear we may be wrong... or that the results of our work might not have an immediate payoff on test scores.  Sinek reminds us, "And as good as the short-term highs may feel, they have a deleterious impact on the long-term health of an organization.  Addicted to the short-term results (we have) largely become a series of quick fixes added on one after another after another.  The short-term tactics have become so sophisticated that an entire economy has developed to service the manipulations, equipped with statistics and quasi-science."  (p. 29)

So--


How does a literacy coach respond when knowing this?

Maybe part of the answer lies in the very beliefs that are buried in the day-to-day fallout of test scores.  According to Sinek, we start with WHY.  Why do we do what we do?  If we have clarity of purpose, discipline to stay the course (eat, sleep, and breathe it), then you will be guided by this principle in all you think, say, and do--the WHAT and HOW of your work.

Consider your responses to these questions:

Why do you teach?  What about it makes you want to get up every morning?

Why do we educate people?

Why do we care about pedagogy?

Why do we need educated educators?

What value will the educational experiences that I provide to my students today help them as caring, thoughtful citizens?

We can use our responses to these questions to guide us in considering what we believe is right as we hold ourselves accountable for instructional decisions we make every moment of every day.  These can become the litmus test (or "celery test" as Sinek puts it) for HOW to teach in a way that is authentic to your professional beliefs--when everything you say and do aligns to what you actually believe.  Everything you do in the classroom should prove that you believe in your WHY.

When you are working only to improve or attain a certain test score, does this align to your beliefs?  If so, how?  If not, why?  Are test scores really about your teaching and students' learning?  Perhaps some of the most sound advice comes from Alfie Kohn:

http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/ftt.htm
"Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain."  (p. 84)   "If there were no trust, then no one would take risks.  No risks would mean no exploration, no experimentation, and no advancement."  (p. 104)

While politicians tell us just to,"Make it better," it is up to us as to WHY we are driven to do so, how we choose to go about it, and what the results of those actions might be.  When balanced, trust will emerge and value will be perceived.  Work satisfaction will increase, teachers will not just stay but thrive, and students will win.