Teachers are interconnected digitally in unprecedented ways. Tap into that power by sharing.
“If you create something and don’t share it, you’re being selfish.”
Adam Bellow’s (@adambellow) line in a recent keynote at ISTE 2013 is still ringing in my ears.
That line — really, that word “selfish” — hit me in the ears like a hammer.
The teaching world has changed in 10, even five years. More importantly, the mindset of “collect my best ideas in a file in my classroom” is slowly being destroyed.
We have powerful, free tools that help educators share and gather great ideas:
There’s one thing teachers can do to make this unprecedented collaborative community more powerful.
Share.
Share everything — ideas, philosophies, practices, tools.
Share everywhere — short messages on Twitter, articles on blogs, full books on Amazon or iBooks.
Share in every medium — written form, audio (podcasts), video (screencasts, YouTube).
Share all the time — during the school year when you’re in the midst of it AND during the summer when you’re recharging and considering the coming school year.
Just share.
And ditch the excuses. The education community online is very much an example of the 80/20 rule — 80 percent of the content is created by 20 percent of users, and vice versa.
“I don’t understand how this sharing thing works.” Pick a medium that fits your style (see list of tools above) and try it. Twitter is an easy way to get involved. Set up an account, search the #edchat hashtag and start following teachers and sharing ideas you like.
“I don’t have anything of value to share.” Not true. Every teacher ‘s perspective is different, colored by location, personal experiences, content area, successes and failures. People love to read about real examples from the classroom. Any teacher can set up a simple blog, describe what works for him or her, post some photos and share it with the world.
“I don’t have time to do any of this.” Start small. Write a short blog post every week (or every two weeks) about your classroom successes or musings about education in general. Follow some educators on Twitter and check it for five minutes whenever you get a chance. Record a quick video where you describe and demonstrate your best ideas and upload it.
Just start. Just do it.
Someone shared with you early in your career, and it helped you a ton.
Pay it forward. Create and share.
Because creating without sharing is selfish.
(For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links, “like” Ditch That Textbook on Facebook and follow @jmattmiller on Twitter!)
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Sharing is caring! I just love this sentence. If educators think that people won’t listen to their ideas, I am sorry but you are totally wrong. I have been blogging for four years and I can say that I have learned much more things than I did in four years at university. Most of the time, an educator’s ideas and experience become a better reference. Keep blooging, tweeting, or posting your ideas anywhere possible. Here is another sentence I love; don’t be a critic, be creator.
Happy sharing.