The why

Byryan

This article first appeared in the Eduk8me newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to get articles such as this.

I’m not going to wade into the arguments for and against Common Core, but there was one aspect that I really liked about it. Part of Common Core focused on the why. In math, why does addition work the way it does, or multiplication, or calculus. Students didn’t learn just how to add, but why.

I found out that one of the reasons Reading Rainbow was canceled was because it focused on the why you want to read. At the time, education became focused on teaching kids how to read, seemingly forgetting why they would want to read.

When I give tech PD, I’m guilty of this line of thinking. I focus too much on the how, when I need to also include the why. Students need to know why they need to learn what your teaching. Purpose is one of the three tenants of motivation espoused by Dan Pink in Drive.

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