I remember sitting in the back of a huge auditorium at my church in St.Catharines, Ontario. The Global Leadership Summit was about to begin. The screen displayed a colourful countdown clock, and the music was bumpin’ as people flooded into the auditorium. I scanned the room. I was the youngest person there, and the youngest by a lot. I wasn’t really sure why I was there, or what this experience had to offer me.
The screen illuminated with live video footage and it seemed as though the speaker was talking directly to each attendee. The feed from Chicago came in crystal clear and I remember his words exactly.
“Everyone has influence.” He started. “The CEO of the company sitting in the back row, the tired new mother standing in the doorway calming her baby, the politicians governing our city, and the youth who maybe aren’t even sure why they are here. You all have influence.”
The idea that everyone has influence was something very striking to me and has stuck by me since this experience over 10 years ago. The simple statement has followed me through me through my first 6 years of teaching and has me wondering all sorts of things about my students and my classes.
Do they know that hey have influence? Do they realize how much of an impact they can have on their families, friends, communities, schools? How can I help them realize this? How can I help them prepare?
As I journey through Cohort 21 and learn from so many incredible facilitators, coaches and colleagues, I am continually inching towards answering this question. Part of my journey will include incorporating leadership opportunities in my FSL classrooms and answering real-life questions, in real-life context. I want to hold my students to a higher standard that they DO have influence and CAN use it where they are at, regardless of their age.
Buckle up friends – I think this is going to be a lot of fun.
#everyonehasinfluence #toutlemondeainfluence
** Pictured is myself (and a group of rockstar volunteers) RUNNING this event 4 years ago. I think you can sum up that I was exactly where I was supposed to be in that big auditorium all those years ago…
This is such a great mindset to go into Cohort21 with! I am so excited to see what you do Samantha!
This is such a wonderful reminder and a great way to start the year! I teach French as well, and I cannot wait to hear how you move forward with your FSL learners.
@sreimer What a great sentiment to start a conversation around. @gnichols and I often talk about “spheres of influence” and how the most impactful actions plans are the ones where the individuals really understand theirs and concentrate their time/energy within them. @ddoucet
Everyone has an influence- what a powerful message to bring into your teaching and learning community. I can’t wait to hear about your ideas of how you are bringing this into your teaching. It will influence me!
Thanks for sharing, Kathryn
Thanks for this great post. It’s not easy hitting the “Publish” button, and I hope that this is the first of many that we will read and learn from you :). See you soon, garth.
I would also add that I was struck by: “Do they know that hey have influence? Do they realize how much of an impact they can have on their families, friends, communities, schools? How can I help them realize this? How can I help them prepare?”
It might help to frame this conversation / discussion / exploration in the language of “Agency”. What does it mean for students to have agency in their learning, in their community and broader lives? Check out the OECD Education 2030 paper on Agency – it might help 🙂
https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/student-agency/
See you soon,
Garth.
Hey @sreimer!
Great post! Does any student truly realize the power they have within? Are they in fact crazy enough to believe they can change the world? I share you belief that everyone has influence and the more agency we can give students to more they might begin to realize their superpowers.
I love that the French curriculum is like no other. Directly in the description of the course, we as language teachers, are tasked with helping them learn the skills to be lifelong language learners! Easy peasy right?
I love where you’re going with this and I wonder what types of Genius Hour projects your students could explore in French? We talked briefly about some design thinking projects of students solving real problems within the French-speaking world as well but mostly I would love to hear more about what you have been exploring since our last check-in.
I would love to pull @vkraus into this space as well and get her involved in your action plan!
Have you checked out Destination Francophonie? It is just a cool travel show that goes everywhere and explores French language in that place. I also wonder how we might engage students in developing the leadership side of things.
@gvogt and I have been playing with the idea of unleashing your inner crazy (UTIC), and what that looks like for you as a teacher, and modelling this can help to unleash your students. We’ll be running a session on this during the 3rd F2F if you’re interested.
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!