Show Your Work Chapters 6 + 7

Something that made me think a lot from chapter 6 was the importance of sharing
information that you have acquired and not being stingy about it. I think that in a lot of
professions work and research can be really silenced, to preserve the discovery. This is what the
book says not to do, and I could not agree more! I remember a ton of my lesson from all of the
years from my schooling coming from a mix of teachers in the past and maybe even from other
schools. When a teacher can collaborate and use other’s materials, I think that it demonstrates
the huge amount that they want to pour into their students. A part of this is admitting that
sometimes other educators are going to create better lessons than you in certain subjects.
Using other materials should not be a sign of weakness as Professor Meyers says: “work
smarter, not harder”. This is something that I have been thinking a lot and it has actually
relaxed me a lot, it has made me realize that I am not alone in my future teaching journey.
Instead, I am joining a network of amazing people and educators who want to help me to be
better and who will be there to build me up and assist me in all that I do. It will be my job to
learn from those who have come before me and to take from them the things tools and lessons
that they have made available to teachers everywhere. This relates to previous chapters in the
sense that it is important to make your work accessible and the best way to do that is to make
sure that it is online. There is really no other way that others can access lessons from people all
around unless it is on the internet, this fosters a really great community of collaboration. Once
you do learn something or hear about something, it is only right to share it with others! If
someone else found a cutting-edge tool used to simplify or enhance a lesson, you would want
to know about it! When sharing a lesson that you made on your own, it is important to make it
user friendly and easy for others to use. This means using a lot of detailed instructions, photos,
and even videos to make the steps clear. The tool is useless until there is a good explanation on
how to use it.
I felt that chapter 7 was a really good chapter to follow chapter 6 since it talks about
how it is really important to always be listening and learning as you move throughout the
profession and grow in your identity. The book talks about how important it is to not be
“human spam”, which refers to constantly putting out their own work to others, but not ever
using other’s tools. This is harmful to that individual because to be the best it is crucial to learn
and collaborate with others. It can be easy to want to only push your agenda, but the exposure
to other’s materials and ways of thinking will be better in the long run. In the teaching
perspective, utilizing only tools that you have created could hinder the students because they
are only being exposed to one type of learning. Other resources diversify the content for
students, and it makes them more well-rounded in techniques as well as adapting to different
learning styles. A large part of this is having mentors that you can go to for advice as well as
materials, these mentors will rub off onto you and make you a better educator. Once you can
admit that the best teachers are the ones that are always learning and trying new things, others
will notice and begin looking up to you! It is a really cool full-circle continuum that is everlasting
in the teaching profession. Make sure to follow the teachers that have made an impact on you,
not to just say that you follow them, but to actually receive content from them and learn from
them. If they don’t put out good content, make sure to ask yourself if they are really worth
following. You should surround yourself around the hardworking and the people who are really
devout to their profession and those who you want to embody.
Chapter 7 Don’t Turn into Human Spam
- You have to be reader to be a good writer and vice versa
- Don’t be human spam -> this is the type of people who want to put out their own work,
but not read other contributions
- To grow a following you have to have role models that you can look up to first
- You have to listen every once in a while, and make sure that you are up to date
- Don’t follow people to follow people, follow people who produce content that you want
to learn from
- Be interested in your field if you want to be considered an interesting person
- Do the “vampire test” with the people that you encounter, this means noticing how you
feel after spending time with them
o They are a vampire if they suck all the energy out of you, and they aren’t a
vampire if they feed off your energy and fill you up with more
- Find your “knuckleballers” they are the people in your tight circle who you can learn
from and who can learn from your contributions
o Don’t keep secrets, tell about the good and the bad and help one another out
- Make a solid meeting space to meet with like-minded people