21st Century Educator

Give It Away Now!

Mrs. Ruiz

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EduBlogsClub Prompt #14:

Prompt: Write a post that includes a “giveaway,” whether that is a lesson, a PDF, or something else. 

Just make sure it is something you’ve created (preferably) or something you have the copyrights to share 🙂

Some ideas to get you started:

  • Write a post about the importance of sharing ideas to create better student outcomes for everyone.
  • Discuss times when you felt you did not want to share your ideas and why “giving away” this one is important.
  • Share a time someone used an idea without permission and why plagiarism in the real world matters.
  • What value do ideas have and why does giving them credit matter?

I wish I had something to give away. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, wracking my brain for anything I have created that I could possibly give away and I couldn’t come up with a thing. That made me wonder though, why don’t I have things to give away? I’ve been a teacher long enough, I should have things to give away. What it boiled down to for me is that I do a really good job of borrowing from here or there to create things for my students. Those mash-ups of resources are very specific to a task and not anything that I feel is worthy of giving away, though I would absolutely credit the sources they came from.

Teachers Pay Teachers always made me feel like I should have something cool to share like the teacher creators on that site. Something that other teachers would find useful. But I turned out to be more of a consumer on TpT than a creator. I think perhaps that has to do in part with thinking that whatever I have created is not worthy of sharing. I know that sounds like I have low self-esteem and I don’t, I just have very high standards for my work and I don’t want to put something up on TpT or even this post that is not something truly significant and unique. I am sure there are some reading this post that would argue that I might be judging my own work too harshly or that someone out there might find something I have created worthwhile, but I really just want to be sure that if I am sharing something in such a public forum, that it is of the highest standard and quality.

In speaking to the first point of the prompt,  (sharing ideas to create better student outcomes) I am reminded of the 3rd grade PLC I used to lead at my former school. Those meetings were rich with ideas on how we as a team were going to achieve our goals and continue to see our students perform at their best. Each one of us would come with our own unique ideas and we would mash them up into something usable for all of us. I created a number of things for my PLC, all things relevant to what we were doing, none of which I would want to post publicly.

Teachers are great at sharing ideas. I love that the Internet has maximized the sharing experience. I have learned about so many cool new tips and tricks that I have incorporated into my practice because of my virtual PLC.

This post definitely has me thinking about what I can share publicly going forward. As a teacher on assignment, my work presently is very specific to Career Technical Education, and once again I don’t feel I have anything to share, beyond cool websites.

Do you share your work publicly? Tell me about it in the comments below. 🙂

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Mrs. Ruiz

Wife, mother, National Board Certified Teacher, doctoral student researching the learner centered teaching practices of fully online K-12 teachers, Elementary Assistant Principal and dog lover. Passionate about educational technology, academic innovation, and redesigning the American educational system.

5 responses to “Give It Away Now!”

  1. Kathleen Avatar
    Kathleen

    Hi Melanie,

    This is a really insightful post! There was an interesting discussion on Twitter the other day about how social media has really amplified that feeling of ‘should’ for teachers. Like you should be doing this or that or sharing more. You’re right that teachers are great at sharing ideas. Hopefully the downside of this won’t be that people feel like they need to do more! Teachers can be tough on themselves.

    As for sharing publicly, I have got back into blogging recently as I really miss it! I enjoy sharing publicly but what I enjoy most is the metacognitive benefits of writing.

    Well done on another great post!
    Kathleen
    http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au

    Reply
    1. Mrs. Ruiz Avatar
      Mrs. Ruiz

      Thanks Kathleen! I really appreciate you reading and commenting.

      I shared my post on NEA’s edCommunities and the conversation went in a way I didn’t expect or consider. The idea was that teachers create all the time and seem to be expected to give what they create away instead of protecting their intellectual property. I hadn’t considered it from that angle before. In my post I do make a comment about Teachers Pay Teachers, but that was in terms of creating something worthy enough to sell.

      I agree with you about blogging. I had gotten so behind on my posts and I am enjoying catching up. The EduBlogs prompts really get me thinking about my practice in a reflective way.

      Reply
      1. Kathleen Avatar
        Kathleen

        Oh that’s certainly an interesting topic isn’t it? I guess some people feel like everything is considered charitable when you’re working with kids and your goal is their development? And others feel like that leads to almost exploitation in our field? It’s an interesting topic with two schools of thought. Maybe you could explore it more in a blog post!

      2. Mrs. Ruiz Avatar
        Mrs. Ruiz

        It is! I did not expect that sort of response at all, but I totally understood it. Your comments hit the nail on the head. It seems that there are certainly two schools of thought on the matter and I can respect both. It struck me as something worth further investigation as well!

  2. Barbara Paciotti Avatar
    Barbara Paciotti

    Melanie, so glad you are back with us #EdublogsClub. As a retired school librarian, I see something in your post that interests me as a giveaway: your list of CTE websites!

    At one time I was giving away my librarian stuff, until I read this blog post from Angela Watson: https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/should-teachers-sell-the-materials-they-create/
    It convinced me that my lesson plans & the accompanying materials were worth getting something back, because I put in a lot of work on them–at home, not at school because who has the time there–and my “own” time was worth something. Since I retired I spend even more time on my lessons, and the small income I’m generating supplements my retirement–which is of course based on my meager income as a teacher! I don’t make a lot, but it at least helps me pay for the online services I use to create my lessons!
    BrP

    Reply

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