Assistant Principal / Leader of Pedagogy

 

Big Picture Thinking Motivates - Always start with Why

Righto!  Here we go!  It’s the start of a new school year.  At this time we often look at goals for improvement.  Students are asked what their goals are for this term, semester or year.  Teachers, too, do the same thing.  This week on Wednesday afternoon the teachers in the Collage met together to discuss, in small groups, our individual Professional Learning Plan (PLP) for 2021. This entailed us looking for areas we would like to improve in as teachers.  Each of us filled in our own goal or goals.  I was proud of the enthusiasm shown by our staff to improve.  

So what motivates us to improve?

The answer to this question has occupied my thoughts in recent times.  I believe the answer to motivating ourselves and others lies in BIG PICTURE THINKING.  If we think about WHY we do want we do, we are much more likely to be motivated

This idea is well explained by author and businessman Simon Sinek.  He can be credited with the above simple diagram.  We need to start with the Why.  The How and the What flows from that.  Here is a link to a youtube video of Simon explaining how the “Why” changed his whole way of thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRaqe9M2DYc

At O’Connor, our staff are motivated by big picture thinking in the form of the Annual Improvement Plan.  This includes the vision for O’Connor.

Vision

Our vision is a faith filled Catholic Professional Learning community, founded on faith & focused on learning, working collaboratively to enhance the learning for all, resulting in students who are creative, confident and informed people ready to make a real difference in our world. We believe that everyone can learn, not always at the same time or in the same way, and we strive to create learning opportunities for all. 

AIP

The Vision and the three Motivational Goals on the AIP provide the WHY for us doing what we do.  Everything we do is guided by these beliefs and goals.

For students, trying hard in class and improving is obviously important.  If you can decide on some big, broad goals for your future, you will find it much easier to be motivated.  For example, each of the Year 12 students have committed to big picture goals for their HSC year.  These are printed and laminated in Ms Menz’s office.  We have seen student’s being motivated by these goals with many working hard to achieve them.

So, in summary, I encourage everyone to think about their WHY.  Why do you do what you do?  What gets you out of bed every morning? Give it some thought and commit to it.  Write it down.  Stick it on a wall in a place where you will see it all the time.  You might be amazed at how motivated you are by keeping your eyes on the big picture.  This can work in a school setting, a business setting or our personal life.

Mr Stephen Chapman

Assistant Principal - Leader of Pedagogy

Never stop learning; for when we stop learning, we stop growing  - Jack Lewman