Find The Why In Your Educational Journey

[Music]

i consider myself an idealist

i imagine a world where people wake up

in the morning

inspired to go to school or to work they

enjoy their time there

and they come home happy about the work

they did

these people have purpose and

fulfillment so

i have to ask you guys are you helping

school

are you enjoying the learning process

are you doing it for grades

are you doing it just to go to a good

school or college

or to get a good job i want you to think

about this question

why i’ll tell you my story about purpose

of fulfillment

when i was in first grade i was walking

the streets of all chairs

the capital of algeria with my dad

i saw an old man hobbling along the

street with a specific bag

called kattab in french

traditionally encartable is a bag you

carry only when you go to school

similar to your backpack with a

surprised and curious look

i asked my dad how come this old man

still go to school

and why he looked at me and said

yeah why not he still can go and learn

there is no end to education and you can

learn as much as you want

i was dazzled by the answer and i

thought

really we can my immediate reaction was

an innocent and deep determination to be

a lifelong learner

and love them proud they said i will

never stop learning

as human beings we have several needs in

our lives

i want to tell you about abraham

maslow’s hierarchy of human needs and

how it’s relate

to my search for purpose and fulfillment

in life

these human needs are organized into

five staged pyramid at the bottom

we have physiological and safety needs

physiological needs include the

biological requirement for human

survival such as

food clothings and sleep safety means

the human need for order

predictability and control over life

for me i fulfilled my first two levels

by emigrating to the us during the

algerian bloody decade of terrorism

after i finished my graduate studies

in tunisia and france i worked as an

auditor

at the ministry of finance in algeria in

the 90s it was

unsafe to work in algeria especially for

a female

who needed to travel frequently for work

i knew

that i had to leave algeria for better

life

and i was fortunate enough to be granted

the green card for immigration in the us

the next two levels are love and

belonging

and esteem at these levels people

need feeling the feeling of belonging

and connection with others

it involves friendship trust love

and acceptance esteem means self-dignity

independence and achievement but also

need

for um respect from others

it was very hard for me to fulfill these

two

levels everything was uncertain in the

u.s

i had a new life a new language

new people i truly struggled to

adapt to the new environment but

alas with hard work and determination i

was able to accomplish a lot

i got married started a family

got a high paying job on wall street

bought a house

and so much more and you would think i

was done

and i had achieved everything right

guess what no

no i felt a missing please

that was something inside me that i

needed to fulfill

to be happy in my life and that missing

piece

was the human factor

now let’s talk about that last level

the tippy top of maslow’s pyramid

self-actualization self-actualization is

the realization of a person’s potential

and self-fulfillment

in other words it’s finding the why

what i mean by finding why is the

reflection

that leads you to discover your purpose

according to simon

author simon sinek when you know

why you do what you do even the toughest

days

becomes easier what did i do i left my

job on wall street and applied for

a substitute teaching position people

thought i was crazy

in their eyes i was throwing my

comfortable life away

but i knew that i was trying to find my

why

to find my why i worked hard i worked

harder than i ever had before

harder than i had worked for my

physiological and

safety needs harder than i had worked

for my love and belonging and his team

needs

i got my teaching license earned my

doctorate and now i get to teach at

edison high school

rutgers malmoth university and njcu

now that i know my why the sky is a

limit

so let’s summarize finding your why

serves as a gps to get you through

any uncertainty your why is not

written on stone your why is where you

find happiness

when i was faced with uncertainty when i

first start the new life in the u.s i

was not sure about my why

so now let’s go back to the six-year-old

me with my dad

and looking at that old man with his

cartab

even though she was missing the human

factor and didn’t know her why at that

time

she definitely kept her promise to never

stop learning

as you can see my dad was there for my

doctorate degree graduation

and my story comes full circle

but for you finding your why may sound

confusing perplexing

and most of all uncertain however the

process of navigating uncertainty is

easy

when our plans fail our destiny begins

here are my three steps to addressing

uncertainty

the first step is to simplify complexity

first be aware and accept the unexpected

and to do this

i would like to use david snowden’s

signified framework

this framework has four scenarios

if the unexpected situation is obvious

categorize it and use best practice if

the unexpected situation is complicated

analyze it and use good practice if the

unexpected situation

is complex you got to research it and

use emergent practices

if the unexpected situation is chaotic

you need to take action and use novel

practice which is you gotta come up with

something new

in short you don’t have to know exactly

what to do

as long as you make sense of the

situation and try your best you will be

able to simplify the complexity

the next step is taking small steps

in a complex situation you can take a

small action or step

and see what happens then based on that

you can take

another action or the next step and then

the next

and the next for example to switch from

finance to education

i first applied for substitute teaching

position

then i applied for french teaching even

though my master’s degree

was in finance small steps are like

chain links one leads to the next

and this way you can pave your path

through uncertainty

the final step is to create a support

system

when dealing with unexpected situation

focus

on the process instead of outcomes

my support system was my entourage i am

so lucky and grateful to be surrounded

by such amazing people

managing challenges was easier with the

support

that i received during time of

uncertainty starting with

my mom’s prayers my family and friends

help at home

and encouraging words and most of all my

amazing student

those who are there for me with all kind

of

understanding support and cooperation

and sweet gestures like kind notes and

even sending me

time management software to organize my

tasks

all of these mean a lot do a lot and

help tremendously

the bottom line is that maslow’s theory

looks at

the complete physical emotional

social and intellectual qualities of an

individual and how they impact learning

and i take that as a drive for my

educational philosophy

my educational philosophy is a holistic

view of the learning process as a whole

i don’t teach for grades and i don’t

believe in assessment

especially for at a higher level of

education

however i do believe in individualized

feedback to motivate student

now let’s go back to those questions i

asked you at the beginning

for me the ultimate goal of education is

to spark

a pursuit of knowledge so that students

keep on learning

as they grow into whoever they choose to

be

education can help you widen your

perspective

and be more open to things that

you know a little about while navigating

your way in time of uncertainty with the

tool you acquired in school

keep in mind that the noble purpose of

education isn’t

just a stepping stone to a good job and

money it goes beyond that

at the end of the day you must feel

accomplished and happy about yourself

making a difference

now you know from my personal experience

how the human factor

did shape my educational path it was the

turning point for me

to pursue my why and for you

i would say it’s never late to rethink

the purpose of your education

find your own why look for it

and achieve the highest point of

maslow’s pyramid

it’s something that comes from within it

is you

and only you who can make that

self-actualization happen

and that brings us to the end thank you

for your interest and attention

wishing you all best of luck merci

you