What is the PURPOSE of school?
Is the purpose of school simply for students to build content knowledge, get good grades, prepare for the next grade level, pass AP exams, or score high on the ACT's or SAT's?
Is Science simply about following a series of steps in a lab to get a solution
OR
About developing a CURIOSITY for the unknown and having students ask WHY until they figure it out?
Is Math just about showing your work and getting the right answer
OR
About building RESILIENCE when encountering a problem you don’t understand?
Is English/Literature about reading a bunch of chapters in a book and writing a summary
OR
About students striving to be DEPENDABLE members of the class, who do their work so they can take the INITIATIVE to actively participate in the class discussion?
Is History about memorizing dates, places, and names
OR
About connecting with the past and building EMPATHY with the decisions of historical figures, the struggles of soldiers in battle, and the fight of slaves for freedom?
We want students to have positive, ENTHUSIASTIC attitudes. We want to encourage students to put forth their best EFFORT every day and FOCUS on becoming better versions of themselves. We strive to develop students who are CONFIDENT in their ability to learn and grow, and who share their thoughts and opinions without fear of failure. We need students who are CREATIVE thinkers and independent learners, challenging themselves to never settle for "good enough"!
Purpose-Driven Learning is quite simple in theory.
The purpose of school is to unlock and empower one’s innate drive to learn.
To be more specific, the purpose of school is to facilitate students’ learning within our classroom and beyond our classroom. The purpose is to support students in developing their innate passion for self-empowered learning that will hopefully endure long after their formal education. While inspiring and perhaps easy to understand, Purpose-Driven Learning becomes very challenging to put into practice. We are enslaved to educational standards created by politicians, chained to grades that too often do more harm than good, reliant on testing that does not accurately assess the whole child, and confined by fear of the unknown and the non-traditional.
We know the educational system is broken, yet we don’t know how to fix it and are afraid to stray from the path that has been laid before us. We do the same thing year after year and hope for a different outcome. We teach the same way and expect a higher quality of student to be produced. We are scared to change, and yet claim that we are preparing our students for an ever-changing world.
The question you need to honestly ask yourself is…
What did you really learn in school?
If I can’t solve for x, did I really learn Advanced Algebra? If the only thing I remember from French is how to say hello, did I really learn the language? If I have to look up the dates of the Battle of the Gettysburg, WWI, or the Korean War, do I need to relearn my US History?
If we are honest, most of the content knowledge we “learned” in school has long since been forgotten. Facts, dates, names, and vocabulary that we were so heavily tested on have failed to remain important in our daily lives. Now, if the content we were taught has not lasted, what was the purpose of school in our lives?
For me, I remember the CURIOSITY needed to build a marble rollercoaster in Physics and the FOCUS required to tackle the challenging problem-solving of Pre-Cal. I recall the CONFIDENCE needed to get up in front of the entire middle school as Elvis in our all-school production called Memories. I remember the CREATIVITY required to both help my grade school teacher decorate our classroom windows and needed to create my AP Art portfolio. From 5th-12th grade, I grew by putting forth my best EFFORT every day at practice as the quarterback on my football and in band, I practiced my trumpet just as hard to demonstrate my DEPENDABILITY. Losing every wrestling match from 1st-5th grade, developed the RESILIENCE I needed to make it to the State Tournament when I was in high school. Taking the INITIATIVE in Cub Scouts and then in Key Club allowed me to serve within my community and learn the importance of servant leadership. I remember the ridiculous ENTHUSIASM of our men’s choir which offered a needed break from the rigors of school when we would interrupt classes to sing doo-wop love songs on Valentine’s Day. And I developed my EMPATHY by exploring the lives of the people I encountered in the history textbook, the character in literature readings, and in the roles performed in drama class.
Perhaps it is similar for you, it is not the content, testing, or grades that I remember and value from my days in school, but rather it is the life-skills, the “soft”-skills,” the employable-skills. There is no doubt that my formal education helped form me into the person I am today - but it was the social-emotional learning skills (SEL skills) that had a transformative and lasting impact.
After reflecting on Your own education, the question You need to ask, as AN educator, is…
What is the purpose of your classroom?
The hard truth is that the content we teach will most likely be forgotten. However, the experience we offer the students can be lasting. Purpose-Driven Learning shifts the focus of our classroom from what we teach; to how we teach it.
Math is not innately boring, nor is reading, writing, or any other subject that often gets accused of lacking excitement. In the same breath, the arts and physical education are not automatically fun and engaging just because of their non-traditional curriculum.
When we understand that what we teach is not as important as how we teach, we begin to ask different questions, we have different expectations of our students, and we put our time and energy into strengthening our curriculum in different ways.
Now, I understand that many teachers feel bound to their content because of national standards, common core, and state testing. I get that, for most of us, we need to prepare our students for the next level of our subject area. Please understand that I am not saying that our content is not important. I am saying that building content knowledge should not be our main focus, nor is it the purpose of school. It is our job to provide students with the opportunities to learn and explore, create and discover, fail and succeed. Schools need to provide a supportive environment for questions, risk-taking, and self-discovery. The purpose of school needs to be driven to inspire learning by intentionally building our students’ social-emotional learning skills.
Almost a decade ago, I looked at my curriculum, my teaching style, and my students and decided that content knowledge, testing, and grade are not the most important purpose of school. I accepted the reality that my students will forget much of the content they learn in my class. Therefore, I needed to change the purpose of my classroom to offer them a variety of engaging experiences, build the SEL skills that will lead them to success outside of my classroom, challenge them to take the risks that will help them unlock their fullest potential, and empower their passion for lifelong learning.
For the latest discussions about Purpose-Driven Learning, check out #UnlockPDL on Twitter. Explore the Keys of Purpose Driven Learning to learn more and download resources about the SEL skills that will help our students succeed in our classrooms, will support them throughout their schooling, and will last long after they have graduated!