Purpose-Driven Learning

Unlocking and Empowering Our Students’ Innate Passion for Learning

Adam Moreno

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032279152
• eBook ISBN: 9781000602630
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Purpose-Driven Learning advocates that the primary goal of education is to empower our students' innate drive to learn, which can be unlocked through the discovery and development of key social-emotional learning skills.

This book offers an intentional framework for exploring strategies of inclusion, SEL, and assessment that goes beyond abstract buzzwords. It features heartfelt stories, intriguing research, and effective action steps to inspire and empower teachers and their students to write authentic stories of social-emotional well-being and passionate, lifelong learning.

PDL is a process that can be explored and utilized in any educational context; teachers, coaches, camp directors, faith leaders, parents, and more will all find value in this resource.

1Purpose-Driven Learning: Connecting, Exploring, Empowering

DOI: 10.4324/9781003294634-2

Connecting to My Story

The Power of Storytelling

I want to build a relationship with you. I want you to know who I am. I want you to connect with my experiences. I want you to trust that what I am sharing with you is true and transformative! We know that relationships can be established in all kinds of ways. Back in the day, pen-pals formed connections through handwritten letters; more recently, technology allows us to connect through email, text, and social media. Those of us teaching in 2020 needed to build relationships with our students through distance learning – more challenging than in-person learning, but I know that we were able to achieve a connection with our students that made an impact. While lasting relationships might be more difficult when not created face-to-face, they are not impossible – so let’s venture into the challenge. Let’s connect, reflect, learn, and grow together.

It is my hope that this book will help empower us in this challenge. Each of these chapters will begin with a story because it is through our stories that we reveal who we are. Stories allow us to share our experiences that make us similar, and through our stories we can affirm the differences within our experiences that make us unique. Research shows that when you “listen to a story, your brain waves actually start to synchronize with those of the storyteller. And reading a narrative activates brain regions involved in deciphering or imagining a person’s motives and perspective” (Renken, 2020). In other words, we can empathetically connect through storytelling and begin to develop an authentic relationship.

My stories come from the diverse roles I have had in working with children, teens, and young adults. I share stories of my students, campers, and youth, as well as stories from my own childhood about my teachers, my coaches, my mentors, and even a couple of stories about my family. If learning is limitless, then why limit my stories to the Purpose-Driven Learning (PDL) that occurs in my classroom? However, it’s not just about my stories. I also listen carefully to my students’ stories – stories of their families, of their hobbies, of their frustrations, and of their dreams. I listen (sometimes I jot down a few discreet notes) and I bring up what they talked about at a later date. If you want to build a meaningful relationship with students, ask how their “big game” went next time you see them, check in to see how their dog is doing after they tell you she is sick, joke around about their latest “fight” with their sibling, have them tell you about the drawings they were working on in your study hall – listen to their stories, actively respond, and find ways to revisit their stories to demonstrate true care and interest.

So let’s build a relationship – let me tell you a story. I begin by sharing with you three of my passions: summer camps, theatre, and my faith. These passions led to my three most meaningful careers as a camp director, a Drama teacher, and a youth pastor. Yeah, pretty fun jobs that required a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but centered around my greatest passion – connecting to and impacting the lives of children, teens, and young adults! I hope that my stories throughout this book will help us begin to form a lasting relationship in which we can share more stories about the transformation within our classrooms, beyond our schools, and equally as important, the transformation deep within ourselves.

A Summer Like No Other

Did you go to a camp when you were a child or teen? Perhaps, like me, you went to several – a couple of week-long sports camps, super-cool band camp, a two-week church camp, even a YMCA day camp every now and then. I liked camp growing up, and after my junior year of high school, I was hired to work in the kitchen and be the wrestling instructor at Red Arrow Camp (RAC) for boys, a seven-week residential, sports, and wilderness camp in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. It was life-changing! I worked over the summer at RAC since 1998, as a counselor and coach, then as leadership staff, and now I have spent a number of years on their advisory board. Some of my best friends are my Red Arrow brothers, for whom I am extremely thankful. Yet it was for two other reasons that RAC changed my life.

It was at Red Arrow that I was introduced to the great outdoors and it instilled in me a passion for hiking, canoeing, cycling, and running (for fun). I love being outside, especially when it involves physical activity, grand adventures, and exploring the wonders of the wilderness. It was at Red Arrow, I also discovered my passion for working with kids. Up to that point, I had never been in charge of, been a mentor for, or been responsible for children. I loved helping the boys learn new skills, face their fears, overcome challenges, work together with their cabinmates, and reflect on being their best selves. We have a saying at Red Arrow: “Don’t wait to be a great man, be a great boy.” I didn’t call the work I did as a counselor “Purpose-Driven Learning,” nor in those early years did I use the language of social-emotional learning (SEL) to describe the campers’ growth at camp – but I knew camp was powerful and I knew that I was empowering my campers to be “great boys” by building essential lifelong skills. After four summers at RAC, I decided to change majors and become a teacher – an all-too-common story for camp counselors. It was at Red Arrow where I discovered my love for teaching.

All the World’s a Stage

The people who have only known me as an adult are often surprised when they find out that I did not grow up as a theatre kid. My passion for theatre is such a defining aspect of who I am. It is hard to believe that my theatrical journey began by participating in only two high school musicals. It is true – two chorus roles in high school inspired me to pursue a musical theatre degree. From college, I headed out to the East Coast to try my hand at professional theatre. After four years out East, I had the opportunity to return back to my hometown of Milwaukee to teach middle school theatre at a top independent K12 school. It was a tough decision to give up one dream to pursue another – but the opportunity to help young people reach their theatrical dreams motivated the change.

So I returned to Milwaukee and summers at RAC, and began my career as the Drama teacher and theatre director – and my life has never been the same. It was during these years that I truly experienced the transformative power of the arts in the lives of young people, as strong administrative support of the arts met the passionate gifts of Arts educators and the innate creativity of children. I was granted the freedom to create innovative curriculum, implement creative teaching strategies, and explore diverse methods for empowering students in their own learning. Being the theatre director and choreographer made it possible for me to express my artistic vision and empower my students to boldly explore and express theirs. My experience teaching allowed me to start my own children’s theatre company, Higher Expectations Theatre, where I worked with elementary through high school-aged students, unlocking and empowering life skills through theatre skills.

As I have pursued my passion for theatre education, I have gathered experiences and gained expertise that now offer me the opportunity to be a national speaker promoting PDL. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead workshops in building essential SEL skills through arts integration at educational conferences and professional development trainings all over the country. Fast forward from a sixteen-year-old, with an undiscovered passion for theatre, to my life now, in which theatre has become foundational to who I am, how I express myself, and how I engage the world around me.

Can I Get an Amen

My faith has always been an important aspect of who I am. I grew up going to a faith-based school, went to church, and in my adult life have volunteered as a Sunday School teacher, Confirmation mentor, and youth leader. For almost a decade, I taught in a formal classroom and directed on the school stage. I passionately pursued my vocation as an Arts educator and I taught with the intention to inspire and empower the skills of PDL in my students. Yet, on the weekends, I sought to help inspire and empower the faith of children and young adults in my faith community.

In 2015, out of the blue, I was “distracted” by curiosity! I looked up from my passion for theatre education to look a little closer at something else – faith-based education. Then I started thinking: “What if?” What if I take the innovative teaching strategies I learned as a Drama teacher and apply them in ministry? What if I take the educational technologies I used in my classroom and use them in a church setting? What if PDL can help others be more intentional in their faith? And just like that, curiosity changed my life. Well, actually it took a lot of discernment and prayer, but I felt called to follow my curiosity into a new vocation. Like a hummingbird, as Elizabeth Gilbert might suggest, I moved from one beautiful field of flowers to another, bringing some of the old to the new, “cross-pollinating” in hopes of creating something more beautiful.

After three years of seminary, I was ordained as a pastor within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a progressive and affirming body of Christian believers. It was in my time within a congregation working with all ages in faith-based education that I realized how impactful SEL skills are beyond the classroom. More than simply developing key SEL skills, it was during my time in ministry that I came to know the transformative power of belonging in the process of becoming one’s best self. Within the context of my ELCA congregations, I proclaimed and experienced the power of radical inclusion and compassionate affirmation of every person.

If it was at Red Arrow that I discovered my passion for teaching, then it was through my faith journey that I experienced what kind of educator I actively sought to be each and every day – open and affirming to the vast diversity of individuals with whom I would engage, helping all to discover their created identity and develop the innate greatness that lies inside of each of them.

Holistic Education

As I stepped away from congregational ministry, the opportunity to write a book became available to me. A number of my educational Twitter colleagues had written books, and while I was pursuing ministry, they had done the hard yet rewarding work of becoming authors, national conference speakers, and highly sought-after professional development presenters. My former colleague and best friend, Michael Matera, suggested that I write a book – after all, PDL has been so impactful in his gamified classroom that he wrote about it in his book Explore Like A Pirate (Matera, 2015). If unlocking and empowering SEL worked for me and worked for him (and many of those who read his book), why not write my own book? So I did.

However, it would be foolish of me to write only about my experience in a formal educational setting – especially about a Purpose-Driven process that claims to unlock and empower authentic, holistic lifelong learning. I am an educator – in the classroom, on the theatre stage, at camp, and within my faith communities. We are all educators beyond our classrooms – within our families, as part of diverse communities, and throughout the world, as we connect and collaborate with others over social media and virtual educational platforms. From stories of summer camp to youth group, from stories of my Drama classroom to the various classrooms in which I have been a substitute teacher, the power of PDL is continually affirmed and continually surprises me as it unlocks and empowers the innate passion for learning within young people in such dynamic ways. It may seem impossible and yet the stories shared in each chapter are true – trust me, give PDL a try, and begin to create your own unbelievable stories within your classroom and beyond.

Reflecting on Your Story

We All Have a Story

My experiences, my stories, are just that – mine. While I hope that there are moments with which you can connect, there will certainly be moments that vary greatly from your experiences, from your story. In the following chapters, after I share my stories, I will give you the opportunities to reflect on your story. Where do you feel connection? Where do you experience resistance? What are your thoughts on the stories that I share, on the Key of PDL being explored? I hope that the questions I ask in each chapter help you pause from reading my words and consider your own thoughts and feelings.

An essential step in teaching, building, and empowering social-emotional skills is being open to exploring these skills within ourselves. You don’t have to be an expert in, nor do you have to be strong at, every SEL skill. In fact, that would be impossible. Rather, each of us needs to reflect on our strengths and challenges, just as we are going to ask our students to do. We need to embrace our strengths with humility, yet with confidence. We need to admit our limitations without shame and with a growth mindset – knowing that we can learn and grow in any skills we commit to exploring. You are the author of your story and I know you’ll write a story that is truly amazing! So:

• What is your story so far in your career, in your life? Passions? Failures? Successes?
• What experiences have shaped your story? Childhood? Family? Career? Interests?
• What is the story you wish to write as you journey forward? Goals? Purpose? Dreams?
• What is your WHY? WHY did you start teaching? WHY do you feel it is an important and/or needed career? WHY do you show up each and every day?

Exploring Our “WHY”

Where Do We Start?

Years ago, I read Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why, and its overall message and his challenge to his readers have stuck with me long after reading. “For those who have an open mind for new ideas, who seek to create long-lasting success, and who believe that your success requires the aid of others, I offer you a challenge. From now on, start with WHY” (Sinek, 2011). The book shares stories of successful individuals and organizations, it provides research based on inspiration, motivation, and innovation, and its companion “workbook,” Find Your Why (Sinek, 2017), offers practical exercises and applications for defining one’s purpose and embracing the power of intentionality.

Fully believing in the power of WHY, my book explores the purp...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• A Purpose-Driven Introduction
• 1 Purpose-Driven Learning: Connecting, Exploring, Empowering
• 2 Intentional Belonging: Unconditional Inclusion and Affirmation
• 3 The Key of Confidence: The Journey of Becoming
• 4 The Key of Enthusiasm: Embracing a “Yes, I Can” Attitude
• 5 The Key of Focus: Looking Within, Raising Awareness Beyond
• 6 The Key of Initiative: Building Involvement and Increasing Impact
• 7 The Key of Creativity: Leveling Up with the Gamification Guru
• 8 The Key of Dependability: Showing Up and Doing Your Part
• 9 The Key of Curiosity: Exploring the Wonder Within Each Day
• 10 The Key of Empathy: Compassion, Curiosity, Connection
• 11 The Key of Resilience: Taking the Path Less Traveled
• 12 The Key of Effort: Being Better Than Before
• 13 Empowering Self-Assessment: Exploration and Expression
• Conclusion: A New Story of Learning