The Importance of Sharing

The Innovator’s Mindset Massive Online Course (#IMMOOC) started this week, and I am beyond grateful that I chose to participate. The reading, the YouTube live session, and the Twitter chat were all incredibly powerful. Many people, from around the world, came together to discuss the importance of innovation in education.

Throughout the week, I had many aha moments, moments of validation, and moments of reflection, but there were two quotes by George Couros that resonated with me more than others.

“If someone feels uncomfortable because you’re doing good work, you are not the problem.” This came up as a response in the live session when discussing the importance of sharing your learning and someone asked, “How do we ensure that this is seen as sharing and not bragging?”

In my current role in Fairfield-Suisun, one of my responsibilities is supporting teachers. In doing so, I encourage them to share the amazing, innovative practices that are happening in their classrooms. Many are unwilling to do so because they don’t want to be seen as showing off or bragging by their colleagues.

I also have teachers who refuse to go and observe other teachers because it makes them feel and/or viewed as less than or not as good as those they are observing. The fact that they want to observe instruction in other classrooms is somehow seen by them as a reflection of their inadequacies.   

Although I understand the reasoning, both situations are concerning to me-the fact that teachers do not want to share and the fact that teachers are not interested in improving their craft by observing others. In order to improve practices, move forward in education, and build capacity, both need to occur. 

“The positive shifts we have seen in education in the last few years are not because we have access to information, it is because we have access to each other.”

When I was a teacher at Rolling Hills, I was a member of a Professional Learning Community (PLC). One of the most powerful elements of a PLC is the collaborative piece. Members of a PLC don’t just collaborate weekly; teachers share ideas and observe each other daily. If this is practiced, and teachers are completely open to the process, instruction improves and as a result, student achievement follows suit.   

Collaborating as part of a Professional Learning Community was my experience, but one doesn’t need to be a member of a PLC to share with, and learn from, his/her colleagues. The secondary schools in our district are participating in the #ObserveMe movement. This a friendly challenge that includes welcoming colleagues into their classrooms to observe and sharing their daily classroom practices on Twitter. Educators are collaborating with one another, while at the same time, building both local and global connections.

Teachers should not feel badly or so cautious about sharing their innovative practices, just as teachers should not be embarrassed or less than when wanting to observe/learn from others. When one shares, it not only impacts the person seeing/hearing the idea, but also the one sharing it.  It is not about being perfect; it is about collaborating with the same collective goal of continuous improvement in mind. Through the collaboration and connections with others, educators’ practices continue to improve. As educators, we need to be open to sharing with, and learning from, one another (whether it be in a blog, on social media, or in person) in order to effectively support our students.