TL;DR:
- Everyone is full of ideas and experiences to share.
- Writing a book is a way to share your ideas with other educators.
- You never know the impact your voice could have on others.
Ever think about writing a book?
Maybe you’ve seen a colleague publish a book, or you recently read a book that just spoke to you in the right way, and now you’re wondering if maybe you should write your own. There are a lot of different reasons you might want to write your own book. For instance, maybe it’s always been a dream of yours. Or maybe someone told you that you should write a book about a specific topic because you’re really good at it; you know a lot about it and should share your story. Or maybe someone told you that you CAN’T write a book, so you want to prove them wrong.
Those are all perfectly acceptable reasons to me, but I want to share why I think you should write a book.
There Is Power in Sharing Your Story
Yes, you have a story and it is powerful whether you realize it or not.
Since the very beginning of Teach Better, my good friend, Chad Ostrowski, has said, “For every problem there is in a classroom, there’s a solution somewhere else in another classroom.” He’s right. The solution to your problem is most likely in someone else’s classroom. The problem is, it just hasn’t been shared yet.
That simple, little thing you do every day in your classroom could be the thing that changes the way someone else teaches. It might seem insignificant or unworthy of praise, but it could be the thing that makes a teacher think about instruction differently, or allows students to understand a concept more quickly, or simply makes someone else’s classroom become a little more organized.
The point is, you do amazing things in your classroom every day, even if you don’t realize it. Therefore, sharing them in the form of a book could be the way you impact students you’ll never meet.
That simple, little thing you do every day in your classroom could be the thing that changes the way someone else teaches. Click To TweetJoe’s Classroom
Early on in our journey, Chad and I were in a classroom in Ohio. The teacher (we’ll call him Joe) had recently started implementing The Grid Method, our mastery learning framework, Chad and I were there to see how it was going. I’m sitting at a desk just watching this amazing classroom operate. Then I leaned over to a student nearby.
Here is how our quick conversation went:
I asked, “So, do you like how your teacher has changed the way you guys do things in here?”
The student softly replied, “Yea, I really do.”
“What do you like most about it?”
“I like that I can move at my own pace because I’m not as quick as Sarah. And now I don’t feel dumb anymore and no one makes fun of me.”
“Now I don’t feel dumb anymore and no one makes fun of me.”
An 8th-grade student said that to me. This child had decided that he was dumb. He had been made fun of for not being able to learn as quickly as others.
And now that has changed.
This silly little idea Chad had in his 7th grade Science classroom had not only changed the way this teacher ran his classroom, but it had transformed the way this student thinks about education and himself. It took a child who previously felt that he was dumb, and removed that negative self-talk so that he could learn, grow, and actually enjoy school.
What if Chad had never shared The Grid Method with anyone?
What if he had just said, “I’m nothing special, I don’t have anything to share”?
What if we had never met Joe?
Would that young man have realized he was smart and that he could succeed? Would he have made it through high school and gotten into college? Or would he have gone on believing he was dumb and given up?
Now, I’d like to believe Joe would have found another way to reach this student because he was and is an amazing educator, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’d rather we continue to try and share stories and ideas so that other teachers can discover those silly little things that shift their thinking just enough to change something that could change everything.
[scroll down to keep reading]
Your Voice Matters
You have a story to tell. You have value. I don’t care if you’re a 20-year veteran or still trying to figure out how to manage your first classroom…your voice matters and it could change someone’s life.
Lift your voice up. Share it with others.
Share all those “silly little things” you do every day. You could impact someone you’d never have the opportunity to impact otherwise.
I believe you have something to offer others. The question is…do YOU believe it?
See the full blog series here!
About Jeff Gargas
Jeff is the COO/Co-founder of the Teach Better Team and co-author of “Teach Better.” He works with educators to increase student engagement and improve student success. Jeff previously owned an online marketing firm, where he worked with entrepreneurs and small businesses. He is also a former adjunctive professor at Kent State University and spent 10+ years in the music industry.
