In a past class, we have seen a couple of the videos from this week. I remember some of us having the discussions about how in the Behavior Science Guys' video. The kids just talking to the adults about getting help to quit smoking didn't change anything. It took the kids acting like they were going to smoke to get a reaction from the adults. The reactions from the adults the second time around showed that they were reacting from the heart in telling the kids that they didn't need to smoke because of all the issues that it can cause. After listening to John Kotter and Simon Sinek, I totally believe that in order to have a successful change in major things we do, we must appeal to the heart of the matter. We need to have a why that others can believe in and follow.
I think that we traditionally target the mind instead of the heart in education because education is all about learning which we associate with the brain. I know that for the most part, high school students will probably do better on their elective classes because they got to choose those classes. I teach one of their least favorite subjects (math), so it's hard to get them motivated and enthusiastic about something they don't believe they need.
Creating change in an institution that is stuck in its ways will be a challenge. I know at my school that we see that there are problems with student motivation and several other things. We have got to find a "why" that will help teachers and students both to actively put more effort into believing in themselves and learning all that can be done in high school. One can hope that during high school, students will be able to find their personal "why" for what they want to do in the future. It's important to find these "whys" so that there can be a focus to our actions.
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