Teachers Love to Share. So Start Blogging!

Recently I had the privilege of hearing Dean Shareski in person give his celebrated "Sharing: the Moral Imperative" presentation. If you haven't seen it, at least watch the first few minutes of his video in which he states "I am a Giant Derivative." You'll get the message quickly.



Dean's point is that we are all the sum of all the information we have read and consumed. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Aren't we impelled therefore to share our own knowledge and experience with others? Surely so. So why don't we? Teachers love to share. I think it's in our DNA. And yet many teachers are reluctant to share their ideas online.

Well, I get why many teachers are gun shy about tweeting, blogging and otherwise sharing information online.

1. You're exhausted. You're already giving everything you have. How can you do one more thing?
2. Alternative version of #1, you don't have time.
3. You feel that what you have to say isn't of value to others.

I've been there. I was fortunate enough to have a year long professional development experience through PLP (Powerful Learning Practice.) which helped me to develop a professional learning network and to understand the importance of sharing. Yet even after that transformative year in which I started blogging and tweeting, I soon went back to my old insular habits and fears. It took me a couple more years to get past them and really start sharing my ideas and resources online on a regular basis.

So how do you get past your reservations? Here are some things to consider:

1. Think you don't have time for blogging? Tweeting is microblogging. It's putting your ideas or links to your resources out there to share in 140 characters or less. Surely you have time for that once in a while.
2. Once you get validation from other people who retweet or favorite your tweets, or seeing that people from other continents have visited your blog, suddenly it becomes enjoyable. It's much easier to make time for what we enjoy.
3. One of the points Dean makes in his presentation is that while your ideas may seem ordinary to you, they are revelations to other people. You do have something to share, believe me.
4. If you do decide to blog, one thing that helps me is the Blogger app on my phone. If I get an idea, I can jot it into Blogger quickly and easily from anywhere. Then I can flesh out the post later on my computer. I did that with this article.

Where will the sharing lead you? That's actually the fun part - you don't know. But at a minimum it's sure to lead you to meeting other educators who share your ideals. And since we reap what we sow, the more you share, the more you will receive.

Still unconvinced? Leave a comment and tell me why you're not sharing online. Maybe we can learn from one another.