Know Your Why

Anyone who has ever spent time with children has heard the question, “Why?” Often when children are asked to do something, or told something they have not heard before, they will ask that very important question. The difficulty can be giving an answer that will satisfy their curiosity. It is important to always understand the why; why are you asking your students to complete that task, why are you teaching that material, why do you teach at all?

Knowing your why is crazy important to any activity. Before you begin, you should take the time and examine the purpose of what you are about to do and/or teach. If you understand the why, then you are better able to communicate that why to your students. Honestly, knowing your why is important even if you never have to explain it to anyone else. Understanding what drives you, and why you do what you do will help you to be more successful in life.

Let me give you an example. There was a time when I thought I wanted to be an accountant. I spent 2 semesters taking accounting classes and moving toward that goal. There came a point when I had to ask myself, “Why am I doing this?”. The answer stunned me. I wasn’t working toward being an accountant because I was crazy passionate about accounting, or even because I felt it was the right job for me. I was working toward that goal because I knew I could complete the work and do the job with a decent amount of skill. I reached the point that that was not a good enough why.

Whenever we approach teaching our students, we need to ask ourselves, “Why are we teaching this, and in this way?”. If the only answer we can come up with is that the worksheet is in the workbook, then we need to reexamine whether that worksheet actually has value, or if that material needs to be taught another way. Even project based learning, of which I am a fan, has to be examined for the why factor. Does the project have value? Why use that project to teach those skills? etc.

When we as teachers take the time to examine the why, we are better able to teach with passion and focus. When I was teaching decimals, I chose to use a project that had the students working with money to learn the skills. I was able to define the whys of the lessons, and the project I chose to use as my teaching tool. I was able to discuss the why with colleagues, parents, and the students themselves. During parent teacher conferences a month later, one parent was still talking about how much their child learned during that project. The why matters.

I challenge you to take time today and ask yourself that very important question, "Why?" Why are you a teacher? Why do you teach the way you do? Don’t be afraid of the answers, but instead answer yourself honestly and let that time of self-reflection shape your future. Before you teach another lesson, know your why. Embrace your why, and hopefully you will find a renewed passion and fervor for teaching and for life.