Comments on: “The Less You Share, the Less Power You Have”

By: Mike S.

Mike S. — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:32:25 +0000

In the scope of an individual building or school district, I think there has to be a deliberately established culture that fosters collaboration and sharing. In my opinion, this begins with administrators acting as models as well as celebrating the collaboration that does take place. It is useless to expect this to just “happen” if the culture is not poised to accept it. The idea of changing the culture is of course easier said than done, but it seems like the most effective way to create open collaboration and sharing among teachers.

By: Stacie

Stacie — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:13:04 +0000

I feel the same way about sharing. My building is a mix of veteran teachers and fairly new ones. There are some who remain very tight lipped about everything they do and don’t share at all with fellow teachers. We are all there to help the students in learn, hoarding ideas doesn’t help them at all. There’s one who takes credit for other teachers ideas which I think plays into some people not being overly willing to share. Another teacher and I who are teaching the same grade, luckily have been working together and sharing ideas back and forth about the district’s new genre studies we are to do. It’s great, we give each other the studies we’ve worked on and then tweak it to make it our own. It’s way less work and the students are getting the benefit of two minds working together. I wish all the teachers were so willing!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:46:34 +0000

Great reponse Jason. You make a great point and it is encouraging to know ther are people out there who share that philosophy. Let’s change the world together!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:45:07 +0000

Mike & Dave–you both make great points. Time is in the eye of the beholder. You get what you make of it. Isn’t it worth two seconds of time if you can helps your collegues, or even better, help your students? Of course, as Dave said those who do aren’t received well. I know when I shoot an email to my department, they get deleted without being opened. It’s pretty disheartening.
Dave–I appreciate your point that “the only thing we can do is encourage those that are willing to make the extra effort.” A great idea–looking to our cyber collegues is something we have to do.

By: Langwitches » Sharing in Education- Is it Changing?

Langwitches » Sharing in Education- Is it Changing? — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:13:46 +0000

[...] linked to Will Richardson and his post “The Less You Share, The Less Power You Have” who points out: it just seems amazing to me that at this point there is no real shift towards [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:59:18 +0000

@Mike
One of our teachers shot an allstaff out last week with a web-site he came across and people were upset because they get too much email already. There is a backlash against teachers who try to reach out, as if it were going to mean that more is required of everyone. The don’t rock the boat mentality will take a while to change. the only thing we can do is to encourage those that are willing to make the extra effort.

By: Thing - Delicious - better than Google? | The Hines Initiative

Thing - Delicious - better than Google? | The Hines Initiative — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:13:05 +0000

[...] to check his e-mails! Made me feel sad for him today when I was reading a post from Will entitled “The Less You Share, the Less Power You Have“. If this student doesn’t get in the game, he will really be at a [...]

By: Peter May

Peter May — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:26:00 +0000

I don’t quite understand some educator’s concerns about sharing lessons and activities, especially within school districts. I would consider it a privilege to view lessons and activities created and implemented by other educators in my district. This opportunity would allow teachers to know what students have been exposed to as well as what they should be prepared for in future grades. Isn’t it common sense to not teach a lesson that someone else in your building is teaching? Even if it is a really cool lesson, it seems counter productive. Instead wouldn’t most teachers create a lesson that would then build on the experiences the students gained? Or help build skills that would prepare those students for the future lesson? In my school district we are in the process of completely mapping our curriculum on a district wide level. The goal is to have a living online database that teachers will be able to use to share and build great lessons and activities. The application we are using is called Techpaths, is anyone else using this and if so how do you like it?

By: Amy H.

Amy H. — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:43:23 +0000

I am continually amazed at the lack of interest in sharing at my school. I am only able to trace it back to insecure people that feel the need to “compete” even though others may not know there is a contest at all. I just want my students to learn. I don’t care who thought of the idea or whether another teacher will teach my idea better. I am open to learning if he/she does teach it better. I agree with the poster that says it is teacher-centered mindsets that hold us back. The students are the center. Stop making it about anything else!

By: Blogging Professional Development Pre-requisite: Must be willing to travel the world and back again in your jammies « LifelongLearner Rhonda’s Weblog

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:24:59 +0000

[...] to read and reflect upon Will Richardson’s blog post and the related comments to “The Less You Share The Less Power You Have.” The more exposure others have to how powerful the sharing nature of the read/write web can [...]

By: Victoria

Victoria — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:43:46 +0000

Sharing is power and I have found that many of my colleagues are willing to do that. But, their idea of sharing means going to their classroom and searching through the hundreds of folders they have stored in filing cabinets. Don’t get me wrong, this has been immensely helpful and I am so grateful that I work with such great teachers who are willing to guide a novice. As a teacher starting my third full year in the classroom, I have definitely learned more from my colleagues than I did sitting through lectures in college and I am very thankful for that. But, this sharing does need an up-date. How can I encourage the other teachers in my department to switch to online sharing? Because I am so young, I am often hesitant to bring up ideas because I don’t think they will be received well. Most of my colleagues will see this as time-consuming and one more thing on their “to do” list. Even when the site is created for them and all they have to do is post ideas, lessons, projects, etc., participation is still uneven. It seems as thought some teachers are on their everyday sharing great ideas, while others post nothing.

As one of the youngest teachers in my department, I am often hesitant to make suggestions. But, I really think this could make our lives easier, rather than busier. I think that is perhaps the best approach to take in order to sell my colleagues on this and actually see some participation. Thanks for bringing up this topic. I know that it is something many of us can relate to.

By: alice

alice — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:28:35 +0000

As a French teacher I feel like I’m reinventing the wheel every year, creating new resources that I’m sure other teachers in the past have already created. And the thing is when you talk to other teachers, they will moan that they have to create new resources but when it comes to share, you will not hear from them! Personally, I’ll keep sharing ideas that I have found or new ideas (that I am sure others have invented in the past) because I love sharing and I don’t think my resources only belong to me. I feel so much happier by sharing and helping others than being on my own with my “great” ideas. A resource or an idea or a lesson is great only if others thinks it is great as well.

By: Northwest » Power 2.0: The Power of Sharing

Northwest » Power 2.0: The Power of Sharing — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:39:15 +0000

[...] Richardson recently wrote a blog article on just this subject. “The Less You Share, The Less Power You Have”. In this era, when it would be so easy for teachers to share and collaborate with each other and [...]

By: Steve Ransom

Steve Ransom — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:42:10 +0000

@Betty – excellent insights in all of this. I think that you are correct that schools have bee guilty of not grooming and using their own talent. Hopefully, that is changing. We seldom put the responsibility on teachers to come up with creative, effective solutions. We bring in outsiders and then tell the teachers what they are now going to do – like they don’t know anything. Knowledge sharing is certainly related. If we can get teacher confidence in the importance/value of their own knowledge and creativity to build the school intellectual capital, that would be a good first step and a necessary step for buy-in/ownership. These new social sharing technologies would are a great way to begin to grow that kind of culture, I think. But the whole teacher-as-professional issue is a messy one, though.

By: Betty Gilgoff

Betty Gilgoff — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:20:53 +0000

It seems to me that this is just going to take some time. Creative Commons is great and will create change, but many ordinary teachers (are there ever any?) have to learn about it and then have time to practice using it to get comfortable with what it offers. Teachers have to learn to trust the process of sharing and for many, develop their confidence and voice in doing so. Let’s face it, this hasn’t been the culture in the past.

I believe a lot of teachers do have their own ideas, a lot of creative ideas. In fact I would go so far as to argue that the freedom to create, explore and play with ideas is what often draws people into teaching. But our school systems, with their hierarchical nature, haven’t traditionally done a lot to support the sharing of that creativity. Until recently, with more of a move to learning teams and teacher driven Pro-D, I believe we’ve ignored the talent in our own teaching staff and instead leaned heavily on “experts” and outside wisdom, thus undermining teacher confidence in themselves.