Levelling Up- Dr. Will’s P3

Affectionately known as Dr. Will, Will Deyamport the Third Ed.D is a K-12 Instructional Technologist, consultant, coach, writer, and the host of The Dr. Will Show. He is a recognized digital leader facilitating the 1:1 Chromebook initiative for Hattiesburg High School and Thames Elementary working with over 500 teachers district-wide on how to purposefully implement technology to reimagine the learning experiences of their students. Will is the district administrator for Compass Learning, Classworks, and Schoology, working with what he calls an amazing group of instructional technologists, technicians, and other key personnel. He also says that he has the greatest boss who has allowed him to lead with his strengths. Leveraging learning outside the confines of the classroom, Will’s mission is to remove technology as an impediment from teachers becoming innovators in their classroom.

When we were discussing his podcast, Dr. Will explained why this 4th season of the Dr Will Show is so powerful. He changed from focusing on edtech and went, “...all-in on working with teachers to take control of their lives, their career, and their money.” While some of his shows have been about overarching issues in education, the majority of his guests have focused on career development and helping educators put their finances in order. Will has found a niche in the educational podcast world, focusing on helping teachers better themselves and their lives with topics such as insurance, how to budget, how to save, how to invest. “We definitely focus on educators levelling-up.” Will helps educators take stock of their skills, who they are as individuals, and where they want to be in life. He makes the point that most professional development is about competencies, so he wanted his show to help teachers understand what they want and give them strategies to help put in the thinking and time to achieving that.

When speaking about his process for choosing the songs for his guest appearance on The Personal Playlist Podcast, Will did a lot of thinking. He was looking for music that was appropriate for the audience and task. “It was interesting because I have never done that before.” Being born in 1973, Will listened to pop music but, “Hip hop was one of those things that was like WOW.” He compared it to the kids who grew up on jazz and the oldies and then discovered rock n’ roll thinking, “This is mine.” For him, this genre means so much. He began reviewing some of the early artists and then settled on the group that recorded his nostalgic song. “I chose that one because they play well... off each other, this was real nice the back and forth between the two. It has some real nice scratching in it from Jam Master J, and then the melody in it was nice, too.” This song helped express why this music and this group was crucial to him when he was young. Here is Darryl and Joe by RUN DMC:

Will’s identity song is by an artist, actor and activist. “It’s from one of my favourite movies of all time, Brown Sugar, where he himself plays a rapper. It’s like quintessential hip hop.” The song is about being the best at what he does, and that is what Will aims for every day. This season of his podcast, which is his passion project, is even more about living his truth. Will is doing his best at being himself. Like the artist, Mos Def, under the new name Yasiin Bey reflecting his muslim identity, Will had planned to change his name to Mahmoud Abdul Sharif but never made the legal change. While they have things in common, Will connects with the music. He added, “I personally enjoy his music. Cool that he’s a Muslim brother like myself...His music, along with Talib Kweli, has always been about the higher level thinking, intellectualism, what can we do to progress the community.” Will wants his audience to see a similar progression in what he does with his podcast. There are many differentiating aspects in what The Dr. Will Show brings. Just as Will sees Bey’s music as a balance of, “I’m the hype MC and more culturally relevant music,” the Dr Will Show is a balance of a host who has a lot of assets to bring to the conversation and a lot of meaningful guests who can really help people in the most authentic ways. Here is Will’s identity song, Breakdown.

Even though Will has a lot in common with the artist of his pick-me-up song, this song really gets him going. They share a name and both speak about getting to the next level. They are role models and people who have worked hard to get where they are. He refers to the song as bubbly and connects it to his life saying, “I’m here, I’m making big moves.” Will wants to be on a roll of continuous improvement. “I want to be better every day.” When he is getting ready for work or preparing to present at a conference, this song helps him say, “Hey, you running this thing, you the best.” Here is Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It by Will Smith from the album Big Willie Style:

While there were other songs that Will considered in the process of coming to his P3, his choices really give the audience a sense of who he is. Will reflected, “I enjoy where I am in life, I’m blessed to be where I am in life, but I really do what to get to the next level, not only in prestige and pay but in career fulfillment. I try to consume things that enrich my life..that feeds my soul..." The hashtag that compels me also says a lot about our guest and the goals for his podcast. "I was particularly drawn to it as well. #InvestinYouEdu came to mind because we as educators...I have found us not to be people who think about our profession in the same way as a professional athlete or bankers or someone like that. Some of us, we go to work, year after year and then we retire. The investment piece is about reaching your highest human potential and investing in yourself on every level. Whether it be your health, your finances, your education, your well-being, always putting in the investment in being your best self.” That is a key aspect of how his show can help people can devote energy to improving themselves and their futures.

Will wants people to feel in control of their lives. He is adamant that we should, “Use education to get to that next level.” He speaks directly to the audience urging us to, “...create your side hustle. So many of us give and give and give at our jobs, we love our kids, we love our schools, we do all those things, but we only get paid so much as an educator. We live in an economy, especially in the United States, where multiple streams of income are not only needed by necessary." Will reiterated a key point several times, "Stop giving away your genius for free.” Lots to think about from this great interview. If you want get in touch with Will, you can reach him on Twitter or through LinkedIn.