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