Inspiring Empowerment

Empower is the word that has resonated the most with me today. Our district vision is to inspire and equip students to be lifelong learners and positive contributors to the world. This can't be accomplished if we don't work towards empowering students to drive their learning. Empowering students looks and sounds a lot different in a classroom than compliance or engagement. George Couros outlined the difference in Innovator's Mindset. Empowered students own their learning and the passion for learning becomes palpable.

Ultimately, I think this is or should be the 'WHY" of what we do in schools, especially now. Students now have so much access to knowledge with technology... education has stopped or again should stop being about giving students content and more about giving them the skills to pursue their passions. This is how we will develop empowered lifelong learners.

Therefore, with all that being said, in starting with why (thanks @simonsenek) my goal this year is to develop coaching strategies that leads to the empowerment of students on the campus I serve. I hope to do this through modeling my own pursuit of my passions, working with teachers to personalize learning for students, and supporting teachers to feel empowered themselves to "innovate within the box" of our current educational systems.

Thanks Visionary Leaders for inspiring empowerment in education! Oh and can't wait to read John Spencer's Empower!