Building our colleagues' narratives

"Where are your stories? Where are your students' stories?" I found myself sitting in a bubble of my own frozen silence when Kevin Honeycutt asked these questions during the Keynote this morning at NCCE2016.

I know students' work and stories should be out there. So why am I not doing a better job of making that happen? And as a Tech Coach, it occurred to me that the same could be said for how I share the work of my colleagues.

Of course, we all know the challenges there. Teachers are often the least likely to want to share their own stories. It's as if the profession builds in a misplaced sense of modesty and self-consciousness. Ironic, right? Yet as Honeycutt pointed out, if we don't share those stories, no one will know, and no one can be expected to support the incredible work that happens every day.


I don't have the answers. I really only have some glimmerings of questions.