Noble Teaching Purpose

Noble Teaching Purpose

The Dave Ramsey “EntreLeadership” podcast has been an absolute revelation to me this summer.  It illustrates the wonderful potential of technology.

For those of you who don’t know, and that’s where I was two months ago, Ramsey is a financial counselor whose company helps people get out of debt (and stay out of debt).  Now that part really has zero to do with me.

The part that has revolutionized my teaching has been my accidental discovery of his podcast “EntreLeadership.”

The only reason I stumbled across this is because I was astonished by Simon Sinek’s TED Talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.”  Because it was so awesome, not only did I buy his book, but I also searched iTunes for any podcasts related to Mr. Sinek.

Sure enough, the very first EntreLeadership podcast features an interview with Sinek.  Luckily, I downloaded everything related to Simon Sinek to my iPhone and laptop and began listening to it.  Some was junk.  But some - like the EntreLeadership interview - was gold. (now part of me is eager to see what great resources of knowledge our students will discover just like this)

I subscribed to the podcast and soon had roughly fifty podcasts downloaded.  This led me to learning about such amazing leaders and entrepreneurs as Jim Collins, Jon Acuff,  Tony Hseih, Patrick Lencioni (whose book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, we read as part of our PLCs last year), John Maxwell, and Lisa Earle McLeod (who is really the focus on this blog entry - but we’ll have to get to her later) to just name a few. 

Their ideas on leadership and business have profoundly changed how I approach what I do in my classes and in LHS.

These have inspired me to be a leader and to be a role model and to teach my ass of every day.

Just this morning I was listening to the podcast feature Lisa Earle McLeod.  It is called “Selling by Serving.”

Now the skeptics out there will argue simply that business doesn’t correlate to education.  I agree.  To an extent.  The fact that we can’t treat schools like businesses is so obvious, I think it’s foolish to even launch into why.

But there are some aspects about business that apply directly to education, parenting, and being a leader.

An excellent example is “Selling by Serving.”

Like it or not, as teachers we are selling.  As Dave Ramsey says “Stop selling people.  Start serving them.”

This was a revelation.  When I enter 205 this year, “How can I best serve my students” will be in the forefront of my mind.

That changes so much for me.  

Example - Am I serving them best by handing out a worksheet?  By going through motions?  By lecturing all hour?

Of course, not!

But I can serve them best by trying to individualize instruction, engaging them in interesting lessons that connect not only to the “real” world but to what is important in their “young adult” world, and by acting as co-learners with them (especially with all the opportunities that the 1:1 environment will afford us).

I just got word that the test results are in for our district.  The news isn’t terrible good.  Scores have dropped.  I don’t have specific numbers, but overall the atmosphere wasn’t jubilant.

Why do the scores dip?

My first reaction - after hearing this podcast - is that we aren’t serving our kids.  We, in my opinion, are too focused on scores, prepping for tests, and teaching skills that kids will need to pass the tests.

When we focus instead on serving our kids - by building engaging lessons, by designing rich curriculum, by forging relationships with them - then I think our test scores might improve.

Until we do that, the scores are going to stagnate or drop.

“Stop selling people.  Start serving them.”

McLeod has studied the top sales people in several businesses.  She discovered that the number one factor is whether they have what she calls a "noble sales purpose."

She shared how she was studying the number one pharmaceutical salesperson in the country.  After watching how successful she was, McLeod asked her one simple question: "What do you think about when you're selling?"

The rep looked around, as if someone was listening in, and then confessed, "Every time I enter a waiting room, I think of this little lady who came up to me and asked if I sold a particular drug that she had recently been using.  I told her that I did.  She then thanked me for giving her her life back.  Before she was on the drug, she was home bound.  After she was on it, she could play with her grand kids again and begin traveling.  Every time I sell, I think of her."

That's a "noble selling purpose."  McLeod found that all of the top sellers have some sort of noble selling purpose, whether they realize it or not.  They have a higher calling, a great mission, a deeper purpose than simply to make money or be the top seller.  In fact, those who want simply to be the top seller or make a profit, thus lacking a noble selling purpose, are actually unsuccessful.

Wow.

Of course, this can be applied to other areas besides business.  Think of ministers or priests.  Think of the insurance agent who you seek out to work with.  Think of the teachers or professors who have made an impact in your life.  Think of the coaches.  Think of the car sales people (and this is the perfect case study.  Whenever we went on a lot, most agents descend on us like hyenas on a dead wildebeest carcass.  But one time we went to the Toyota dealership in Fargo - to actually buy a vehicle for our mother in law.  However, the sale's lady was so good and so personable that she ended up getting us to buy a vehicle.  Yes, we got a great deal.  But if it hadn't been for her dynamic personality - not pushy and very open - we wouldn't have bought a new vehicle.  We didn't even need one!)

So what is your noble teaching purpose?

For me I think of the teachers who changed my life (and they never mentioned anything about test scores) Mr. Mueller (my fourth and sixth grade teacher who forced me to be the lead role in a videotaped episode of "To Tell The Truth" and awakened the showman in me), Mr. Jackson (my elementary school principal about whom I wrote an article for our sixth grade newspaper (again an assignment in Mr. Mueller's class).  I interviewed him about his metal detector and all the cool stuff he found.  I loved writing that story and took so much pride in seeing it in print.  Plus, Mr. Jackson taught a remedial reading class that I was in - yeah, an English teacher was actually in a remedial reading class - and he helped me fall in love with words), Mrs. Christianson (my freshmen English teacher who saw potential in a young writer.  She read a paper of mine out loud to the class. It was the first time I ever felt positive about something that I had written), Coach Thygeson (who saw more in a hot headed athlete than I ever did.  I remember him telling me after a sophomore JV baseball game MIddle River, where he actually graduated from, that he was going to stay behind in town to visit some of his family and that he was putting me in charge of the team to make sure they behaved on the way home.  That was the first time an authority figure had trusted me with being responsible), and so many professors in college (Christensen, Hauser, Weavers, Schnabel, Michael, Drake, and so on).  

They changed my life. I owe it to my kids to try to do the same.  That's my noble teaching purpose.

The teacher in Educating Esme has that, and her test scores go through the roof too.  "Stop selling people. Start serving them."