Last Friday night, I sent out the following tweet:
If you could take two minutes and comment on this kid’s blog, I am sure it would make her day: http://t.co/e0PUu4d5eH #comments4kids
— George Couros (@gcouros) July 19, 2014
With many people sharing the tweet, and taking the time to comment on a Friday night (she received 21 comments…not bad for her second blog post!), it really reminded me how much teachers care for kids. And when I say “kids”, I am not talking about kids in their class, but kids anywhere. Naomi received comments from all over North America, and even Australia. Can you imagine what this does for her to help her keep writing and learning, even over the summer months? Every person that took the time to write, even if it was only for a few seconds, made a difference. (Side note…I have never shared a blog to #comments4kids hashtag that William Chamberlain hasn’t commented on. What a great guy for always taking the time to do that.)
Yet when I see how a lot of schools are set up, we seem to be in competition with other schools, districts, and sometimes people in the same building. Why is that? When you became a teacher, was it to help kids, or to only help the specific kids you in your class? I know that with the majority of teachers that I have connected with, any student that is placed in front of them is a kid that teacher will do everything for to help them become better. What happens when we look at all students as “our kids”? The imperative share becomes much greater.
So this is why sharing has become so important in our work today. Every little bit we share with one another, helps a kid somewhere. Whether it is taken in its exact form, or it is remixed to meet the needs of our class, that “share” does something for kids. Does it matter if they are across the hall or even across the globe? I became an educator to help kids. It doesn’t matter where they are from.
Paraphrasing Dean Shareski, it is our moral obligation to share with one another in the field of education. I believe that the more I go into classrooms and see what teachers do all of the time. I always think of the “obvious to you, amazing to others” video, and the humble nature of teachers who often think that what they do is not that significant. You never know the impact of what you share could have on a kid somewhere. If it makes an impact on one teacher or one kid, somewhere else, isn’t that enough?
We sometimes do not see the impact of our sharing on others, but that is not reason enough to not do it. I saw the following quote today and it really struck me:
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams
The “sharing” that we do often does all of the things listed above, and if it helps kids, no matter where they are, it is definitely worth it.
P.S. If you want to see a great video on the power of “sharing”, I loved the one below:
