What happens when the Engler mission is applied to teachers? Is teaching much like entrepreneurship? Can the core concepts used in launching and running a business also apply to managing a classroom of students?

Teaching is a purpose-driven profession. If you ask a teacher, “Why do you teach?” be prepared to hear a heartfelt story that clearly conveys a passion for students.

Teachers have the ability to change the trajectory of a student’s life simply by creating the right atmosphere for nurturing purpose. This is why Engler created a program for educators – Guide.

What is a Guide?

A Guide is not at the center of the classroom as the source of all knowledge, but instead, someone who comes alongside a student to unlock their ability to pursue knowledge.

Guide is an effort for teachers to think about their classroom like an entrepreneur thinks about a market. Who is the customer and how can we create a product that fits their needs?

Imagine what schools could look like if students were engaged in pursuing a challenge they were passionate about. Imagine your classroom filled with students learning to solve problems themselves. Imagine being a guide to students, rather than a teacher.

We seek to empower educators to create greater value, find opportunities, and challenge assumptions within their classrooms. Join us and spend two days rethinking your approach to classrooms, students, and your role as an educator.

How does this work?

At its core, Guide is focused on helping educators to think and teach with a ‘guiding mindset.’

Maybe the best way to teach isn’t by taking tests or focusing on one subject at a time? Maybe the teacher doesn’t have to be the arbiter of information? Maybe the students can even be the pilot of what they learn?

Built for educators of all levels and domains, at Guide we aren’t going to hand you a pre-built curriculum; We are going to look for the untested assumptions about education, learn to design teaching experiments, and seek to create new value for students. We’ll provide a toolkit to help you get started, and leave plenty of time for you to start making plans for your upcoming semester. We are going to help you think about your classroom like an entrepreneur.

Is this conference for me? 

1. What if your classroom was set up as a true partnership and you collaborated with your students to build expectations together?
2. As an educator, what if you could re-design your classroom approach in a way that your students are expected to take ownership of their learning?  
3. Or students were motivated by failure? 
4. Or what if your students were helping you design the lessons they wanted to learn? 

As a teacher with 28 years of experience, and as the 2021 Nebraska State History Teacher of the Year, I can safely say that I have experienced numerous educational fads and gimmicks that promise things and never deliver. But something about the Engler Entrepreneurship Program, and the Guide Mindset in particular, makes good on what it promises. The goal of education is to foster (to guide) students in their educational journey through self-motivation, to deeper, more meaningful learning, to independence, accountability, failure and success. What I experienced in two days at the Guide Conference has me, even now, rethinking and contemplating what I can do in my history classroom to better assist students in their learning.

Nathan Bassett

Lincoln Lutheran

By participating in “Guide Conference,” we will lead you down a road to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit of purpose and passion.

The goal of this training is to equip you with the necessary mindset and skills to develop a classroom where entrepreneurship not only exists but can become the core of the student experience. Understanding your own philosophy, how to build the classroom environment, collaborate with students, and communicate your purpose is critical.

You’ll learn what Jack Sparrow has to do with changing how we approach teaching.

Are you a teacher interested in learning more about Engler’s Guide Conference? 

Guide Conference is Perkins Fund Eligible.

Contact Brennan for processing information: bcostello3@unl.edu