"Each year the farmer entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn." He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is in other dimensions."
- James Bender, author of How to Talk Well, as cited in Conzemius & O'Neil (2002).
Conzemius, A., & O'Neill, J. (2002). The Handbook for SMART School Teams. Bloomington: Solution Tree.
What do you think about this story and how does it relate to your position as a leader in the school system?
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4 comments:
Sharing ideas with co-workers helps everyone in a "community" be on the same page. Not everyone at a school knows everything. Most of the time, everyone has a "specialty" subject, and wants to share their ideas.
Relating this to the story posted, the farmer was sharing his specialty crop with his community.
Share, share, share! Sharing what you know and what you have learned with everyone is a great way to help all involved. It isn't just about sharing knowledge, but sharing enthusiasm for what you have learned. If you learn new things about technology and keep it to yourself, the only crop that will "grow" is within your own classroom. Sharing is what eCoach is all about.
Why keep something good to yourself?? If it can benefit the kids, then shout it out and make sure that everyone in your school is aware. I made my school aware of donorschoose.org after I got a computer in my classroom. Don't be afraid to let others know if you have something they may be able to use. I know after completing my first year that I was very welcome to other people's ideas and "stuff" they already had. So... if you have something that works share it with other people.
If we are all working for a common goal to help the kids, then why not work as a team and get the job done? It is easier to get things done with many people are working together instead of going it alone.
We're really all in this together, as a grade level, as a school, as a district, etc. We need each other and can't be our best without each other. If you're holding back your ideas to have as your own or trying to "one up" your neighbor, you're really only hurting yourself!
We have this saying in my classroom that really sums that story up--
T-together
E-everyone
A-achieves
M-more!
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