In Show Your Work!, Austin Kleon provides the reader with advice and tips on how to build an audience, connect with others, and display their work process. The one aspect of his book that really stood out to me, however, was when Kleon very clearly stated that the goal of sharing one's work - one's process - is not to obtain fame; instead, to "show our work" means to genuinely share the different phases of our work process, help others by sharing what we know, and to learn even more about what we are passionate about along the way. When it comes to my online presence, I tend to be a "visitor" because I rarely share any of my work or personal tidbits of my daily life as an educator or learner. After reading Show Your Work, though, I do believe I need to start making the move and become more of a resident and start showing my own work as I continue to grow and develop as an educator. |
I cannot count the number of times I have benefitted from reviewing the lesson plans, learning activities, and supports shared by other teachers on various online platforms. By sharing my own work, even when it is not perfect, I can also have the opportunity to provide additional resources to new and/or experienced educators. As I've read through the blog posts of various teachers, I noticed one other interesting thing: in the comments section of blog posts, viewers/visitors of the site like myself have also added suggestions and tips to help the original teacher further develop their work. This reminded me of Kleon's chapter "Teach What You Know," where he mentioned how teaching others what we know - how we do our own work - can in turn help us learn more because sharing our work can potentially connect us with others who have additional knowledge, information, or a fresh perspective to share.
Once I finished reading Show Your Work!, I began to think about my own classroom and what the information presented in the book means for me as an educator and my students. In my class, I encourage my students to voice their thoughts, share their work with one another, and provide constructive feedback to their peers. In order for this to be fully effective, however, I do need to model that process myself. Going forward, I plan on documenting more of my work - whether it's completely perfect or not.
Once I finished reading Show Your Work!, I began to think about my own classroom and what the information presented in the book means for me as an educator and my students. In my class, I encourage my students to voice their thoughts, share their work with one another, and provide constructive feedback to their peers. In order for this to be fully effective, however, I do need to model that process myself. Going forward, I plan on documenting more of my work - whether it's completely perfect or not.