Meet Dr. Will Deyamport III
Dr. Will Deyamport III is an instructional technologist, educational consultant, documentary producer, keynote speaker, freelance writer, and the producer of the Dr. Will Show, a podcast for educators looking to make an impact and generate income in the process.
Accepting the Things Beyond His Control
Dr. Will recalls a time from a couple of years ago when the district budget dictated cuts in his department. When the news came down that cuts were coming, he remembers feeling shaken and disillusioned. Although he suspected he was in line for a pink slip, he made sure to end the school year by fulfilling all of his responsibilities to the best of his ability.
Eventually, Dr. Will actually discovered that his job was intact, but the close brush with a layoff left him with feelings of lingering discouragement and resentment. Those feelings changed after a conversation with a colleague who reminded him that jobs and positions are ultimately in the hands of God – not school districts. Her comments helped change his perspective on his situation and gave him more peace over challenges that fall outside of his control.
An Amazing Educator
Dr. Will recently received recognition as an Amazing Educator in his department, and he credits the quality and timeliness of his work for the gesture. He appreciates the people he works with and tends to get after tasks quickly and well – it’s the best way to serve others, lighten his load, and move on with his day.
The Dr. Will Show: Impact and Income
The tagline of The Dr. Will Show (podcast) is the mobile university for entrepreneurs, where Will focuses on personal development, entrepreneurship, and edupreneurship. He defines an edupreneur as an educator who wants to build an education-based business.
The original intent of his podcast was to talk about issues in pedagogy like blended learning and technology integration – areas of expertise that would build his credibility and visibility as an educational consultant. But after some time in this space, he decided to start asking other questions:
- Who are we as human beings?
- How can we become better people?
- How can we self-actualize and tap into our purpose?
- How can we fully utilize our talents to benefit others while also increasing our income and quality of life?
These are the questions that drive The Dr. Will Show today.
About The Edupreneur
Dr. Will’s documentary, The Edupreneur, profiles prolific educators, authors, speakers, and consultants who have built impactful resources, businesses, and incomes in the education space.
To educators who are skeptical or squeamish about the idea of charging money for services, Dr. Will says simply to “Get over it.” As an educator, you’re investing time, money, and effort to develop resources to serve learners and other educators, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with earning some money and reaping the benefits of your hard work. Deciding to charge money for your resources, your voice, or your time is simply an acknowledgment of your genius – your unique blend of experiences, knowledge, and expertise that you offer.
Free is great, says Dr. Will, but we need to move past the notion that absolutely everything in education needs to be free. If we want to encourage the creation of great resources and the promotion of impactful ideas in education, we need to be willing to move from free to fee. Learners benefit, and creators are supported – it can and should be a win-win situation.
It can be naive and even dangerous to simply lean back and trust our districts to take care of us as educators and people. Instead, we should take the initiative to constantly build our own expertise, voice, and services in order to increase our professional value and strengthen our job security along the way.
Define Your Personal Brand
I asked Dr. Will to speak to educators who consume content from other educators but feel like they have no voice or nothing of significance to add to the education conversation themselves. “Educators have to [create],” says Will. “Everyone is a brand.”
Your brand is your reputation, the value that you add to individuals, organizations, and the world. We now live in the world of Google, which means we are Googleable. When your name is searched, what are the results that come up? What narrative is being shaped about you? If you are staying in a passive role, you are allowing other people to tell your narrative in their terms. But instead of leaving your story in the hands of others, Dr. Will urges, start creating content that tells your story and shares your ideas in your own words and on your own terms.
What Else is Setting Dr. Will on 🔥 in Education Today
Other passions for Dr. Will include online learning, entrepreneurial thinking, and financial literacy. These are all areas that are still largely underdeveloped in our schools and districts, but they are essential skills for the twenty-first century. Educators and learners alike have only begun to realize the tremendous potential of video conferencing platforms, for example, that can shrink the world and bring experts to our classrooms.
A Professional Goal for This Year: Building an Online Academy
One of Dr. Will’s immediate goals is to support the development of an online academy for his school district. He’s already begun the work of creating courses in Schoology, but he’d like to do much more in terms of collecting the unique genius and resources that each educator brings for the time that they spend with the district. This might include webinars, video exemplars, clips from teaching, testimonials, vlogs, and other media resources that will help learners and educators to follow.
Areas of Personal Learning and Passion
Outside of his professional work, Dr. Will enjoys learning about entrepreneurship and personal development, and he starts many of his mornings watching YouTube channels dedicated to these topics. He also likes learning about African American history and culture, particularly contributions within Islam.
A Personal Productivity Practice
Dr. Will doesn’t keep a to-do list, partly because multitasking simply builds pressure and raises anxiety, making him less productive. Instead, he tries to do work quickly and do it well, keeping the people he serves happy and himself in a good headspace.
Voices & Resources That Inspire Dr. Will’s Thinking
Over on Twitter, Dr. Will recommends following Dr. Sarah Thomas @SarahDaTeechur. She’s a technology coordinator, professor, speaker, publisher, founder of the EduMatch Project, and one of the most generous educators out there today. Get to know Sarah better in episode 66 of the Teachers on Fire podcast.
One edtech tool at the top of Dr. Will’s list is Zoom, which allows educators to connect, bring speakers into the classroom, and preserve learning through the recording of webinars. Learning is moving to video on demand, and Zoom is leading the way.
The book that changed Dr. Will’s life is The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X, Alex Haley, and Attallah Shabazz. It’s the kind of book that will motivate anyone to get their stuff together, Dr. Will says.
Dr. Will gets his creative and entrepreneurial inspiration from podcasts like The Sunny Show and Jasmine Star – Making the Impossible Possible. For a great education podcast, tune into 8 Black Hands, a podcast produced by passionate educators who also happen to be African American. Follow this podcast on Twitter @8BlackHands1.
On YouTube, Dr. Will singles out Sunny Lenarduzzi, Vanessa Lau, and Jasmine Star – great content creators who model what it means to effectively build a brand, serve others well, and share what it is you are all about.
A bit of a movie buff, Dr. Will has been enjoying a series on Netflix called Raising Dion, which features a strong African American cast and a very compelling storyline.
We sign off on this fun conversation, and Dr. Will gives us the best places to find him online. See below for details!
You can connect with Dr. Will …
- On Twitter @iamDrWill
- On Instagram @iamDrWill
- On his website at https://thedrwillshowpodcast.simplecast.com/
- At his documentary: The Edupreneur
Connect with the Teachers on Fire podcast on social media:
- On Twitter @TeachersOnFire
- On Instagram @TeachersOnFire
- On Facebook @TeachersOnFire
- On LinkedIn: Tim Cavey
- On The Teachers on Fire Magazine
- On YouTube: Teachers on Fire
Song Track Credits
- Intro: Stand Up (by Mike Cosmo — license purchased at https://taketones.com/)
- Outtro: Bluntedsesh4 (by Tha Silent Partner, courtesy of FreeMusicArchive.org)
Teachers on Fire 