As an educator, I aspire to do a variety of different things for the common good. I believe a crucial step of this process is inspiring a shared vision amongst my students. This process involves a couple of steps. First and foremost, if I want to inspire a vision in my students that I want them to see, I, of course, have to implement an appropriate vision. I have to try and inspire them into things that will be highly beneficial for them in their futures, such as respect, responsibility, honesty, kindness, accountability, and many others. So, the first step of this process is laying out what these concepts are in the vision that I have. The next step of this process is modeling these concepts to my students. My students won’t be and shouldn’t be expected to learn things from me if I don’t demonstrate them myself. Living out these common good characteristics daily will expedite the process of learning these concepts. And lastly, once my students are aware of these concepts, I have been modeling them and they are starting to act upon them, they must continue to be reminded of what the visions are and why they are important. This is significant because if they don’t understand the importance of the vision, or they start to lose sight of the importance of the vision, you will lose the focus and attention of the students. It would be important for me to remind them and hold them accountable to help them continue to promote their growth.
Another important thing that I can do for the common good as an educator is to put the needs of my students before my needs. The best leaders in the world, regardless of what they do, put others before themselves. Regardless of what is going on in my life outside of teaching (unless it’s something extreme, of course), I need to find a way to push through the days when I don’t feel like giving my students my very best effort and attention because of outside stressors and situations. If I were to not give the students my best effort and attention, they would not be getting the most out of their time in the classroom, and it would be because of a factor outside of their control. It is important to understand that, without putting your well-being to the side, the students are the top priority. You have to put them first because they are counting on you to lead them, to teach them, to guide them. They are trusting you and counting on you, so you must fight hard and dig deep every single day to give them your very best.
Another thing that I can do for the common good as a teacher is the important concept of meeting the students where they are. A significant aspect of the common good is making sure what you’re doing is beneficial to everyone in the group, or in this case, the classroom. This is a challenge, mainly because there is a different path for all of the students in your classroom to accomplish this. To do this, I will challenge myself to get to know each kid personally and on a deep level to know who they are and how they prefer to operate; what learning tactics and strategies work best for them to learn and have fun while doing it. Knowing this information will be essential to meeting them and their learning where they’re at. Being intentional about building relationships with them and getting to know them better is the central part of meeting them where they are. You can’t meet them where they are if you don’t know where they are to begin with.
All in all, doing things for the common good as an educator takes time, hard work, and getting well out of your comfort zone. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the students and making sure that they are getting the most out of their educational experience. It is important to communicate well with your students to get all of them on a shared inspired vision and to make sure that you meet all of them where they’re at so they get what’s best for them. These students are counting on you to lead them and educate them each and every day.
