Creating Hope and Joy for Learners — A Conversation with Dean Shareski

I was lucky enough to have Dean Shareski recently join me on “The Innovator’s Mindset” podcast. I consider Dean a very good friend, which made this a delightful conversation, as we have a comfort level in pushing back on one another’s ideas and knowing we are supported.

One of the things that I appreciate about Dean’s work is his focus on finding “joy” in our work and helping students find joy as well. As an educator, I know that I can easily check out when I have lost that joy and a sense of purpose. Many people feel this way right now, and understandably so. Things are beyond overwhelming in so many facets of life.

Addressing this, Dean provides a great warm-up question he uses in professional learning, and it really resonated with me:

We talk about why this question matters, have a fun conversation about if you should wear shorts on a plane, and so many other ideas about education.

You can watch the podcast on YouTube, listen on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, or Spotify.