A Week of Why

I am trying to make my teaching more relevant. It is a work in progress. I am trying to choose examples that kids will actually use. I am trying to choose projects that apply to their lives. I am trying. Last week Simon Sinek inspired me to sell the why. That is, "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it".
I am a work in progress. This week I have had a 'why' part to every lesson, I have even added a 'why' part to the top of my task sheets and maths exercises. As a result, I have started to question every part of my lessons. Why does it matter what I am doing? Why am I doing this activity? Why Why Why. I even dreamt in why this week. It has been a brutal week under my own personal scrutiny. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or in the case of teachers, bad grades and unhappy, disengaged students. Why does matter, but once you have sold the why, the how and what takes the place, and even if you have the right goal in mind, you need to deliver the goods. So now, I am not only asking myself why the work is relevant and important for the students to know, I am also asking myself what and how can I best present the information so that they see the relevance and learn the content. All of this whilst still keeping to the curricullum. I started this week on a high. I finish the week with a reality check. I need a great product to sell with a good marketing strategy to sell it with. Let the hard work begin.