This week I had an opportunity to re-watch a clip of Simon Sinek’s The Golden Circle. But this time it was followed by Michael Jr.’s Know Your Why, which I have seen several times. Pairing these two videos together was impactful! We watched them at our school’s first professional learning session on equity and identity. This first session begins a year long focus on equity, which I know will expand beyond one year, because anti-racist work is never done. It is a journey. In this blog I want to say more about the impact of the work on “Why.”

While watching the videos, I had an “aha moment.” This year I am living my “Why,” my purpose, more than any other year as an educator. It feels amazing even to type this. I shared this message with my colleagues when I started my portion of the presentation. It energized me, and centered me on giving every ounce of focus to my audience, and to choosing my words and tone of voice with intention. I shared information on the “Why” of equity work in our school, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the ways in which systems have been structured to produce an opportunity gap for students of color, data from my state of Wisconsin, and data from our school. Next, participants engaged in self-reflection, then they read a document with terminology on anti-racist and white supremacy.

Effective communication relies on shared definitions. It’s our responsibility when we use words to use them with wise intention.”
-Elena Aguilar

The vocabulary document will be one we come back to throughout our work this year. Finally we read “The Invisible Knapsack” and processed our thoughts in community Circles.

After the meeting a couple of things happened. One, other people had the same feeling and experience of “aha” – that this year is more about their “Why” than past years. Two, colleagues mentioned that my passion came through as I was presenting. I brought the passion because of the sense of urgency, but also felt it because I have an opportunity this year to live in my “Why.” So living in my purpose energized me, and inspired/connected to others.

This is the time for action around social justice and I’m seeing evidence of a commitment to equity work in my school district and my school. This makes me extremely hopeful. Following my site’s professional learning session, we had the opportunity to listen to recommendations and stories from high schoolers in our district who are leaders in equity work. Their voices were centered for every staff member in our district to hear. These courageous young adults were inspiring and informative!

This work is important, it is continuous, it is critically important. Coming back to purpose is a source of strength in the work.

“When you know your why,
your what has more impact because
you’re walking in or towards your purpose.”
-Michael Jr.