I recently read Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon. It is a fast read that keeps your attention the whole way through because it is applicable for everyone. The big message that I got from Kleon's book is this: Put yourself out there and show the world what you can do.
One quote that really stood out to me is, "The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others" (Kleon, 117). As a teacher and as a tutor, there have been so many times that I learned something in class, from a student, or on the Internet that I taught to another student. Last semester, when I was co-teaching Algebra II at Paloma Valley High School, I taught my students the AC method for factoring trinomials. I did not learn this method when I was in high school, but rather I learned it from a student I tutored when I was a younger college student. Ever since she showed me the AC method, I have preferred this method for factoring trinomials. And now I'm teaching what I learned from a student.
Kleon also discusses the reality that we will face people who attempt to devalue our successes. We all have had people like this in our lives--trolls, people who put us down, people who make us feel bad, people who intentionally try to prevent us from achieving our goals. Kleon discusses how "the worst troll is the one that lives in your head. It's the voice that tells you you're not good enough, that you suck, and that you'll never amount to anything" (Kleon, 155). I have faced quite a few people like this in my life, and their prognostications of my future (or lack thereof) still echo in my mind. It has made it much more difficult to believe in myself when my mind keeps dwelling on someone else's caustic remarks and doubts in my abilities.
On speaking about throwing out old material and starting anew, Kleon tells us, "The thing is, you never really start over. You don't lose all the work that's come before. Even if you try to toss it aside, the lessons that you've learned from it will seep into what you do next" (Kleon, 199). As a teacher I won't have to worry about throwing out old material and not being able to recover it for future use. As Kleon states, what I am working with now will affect the way I teach in the future, it will have some impact that shapes the way I teach.
Reference:
Kleon, A. (2014). Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. New York: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
One quote that really stood out to me is, "The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others" (Kleon, 117). As a teacher and as a tutor, there have been so many times that I learned something in class, from a student, or on the Internet that I taught to another student. Last semester, when I was co-teaching Algebra II at Paloma Valley High School, I taught my students the AC method for factoring trinomials. I did not learn this method when I was in high school, but rather I learned it from a student I tutored when I was a younger college student. Ever since she showed me the AC method, I have preferred this method for factoring trinomials. And now I'm teaching what I learned from a student.
Kleon also discusses the reality that we will face people who attempt to devalue our successes. We all have had people like this in our lives--trolls, people who put us down, people who make us feel bad, people who intentionally try to prevent us from achieving our goals. Kleon discusses how "the worst troll is the one that lives in your head. It's the voice that tells you you're not good enough, that you suck, and that you'll never amount to anything" (Kleon, 155). I have faced quite a few people like this in my life, and their prognostications of my future (or lack thereof) still echo in my mind. It has made it much more difficult to believe in myself when my mind keeps dwelling on someone else's caustic remarks and doubts in my abilities.
On speaking about throwing out old material and starting anew, Kleon tells us, "The thing is, you never really start over. You don't lose all the work that's come before. Even if you try to toss it aside, the lessons that you've learned from it will seep into what you do next" (Kleon, 199). As a teacher I won't have to worry about throwing out old material and not being able to recover it for future use. As Kleon states, what I am working with now will affect the way I teach in the future, it will have some impact that shapes the way I teach.
Reference:
Kleon, A. (2014). Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. New York: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.