Today I was reminded about the way that good ideas find their way into the mainstream eventually. That's why you should never give up on a good idea.
Many years ago when I first learned about Google I readily used it with my students. Later I was reprimanded by a colleague for using that platform. I didn't give up on Google nor has anyone else as we all know. Then today I sat in on a workshop and heard a teacher deliver a presentation about Google docs. It's mainstream, accepted, and encouraged so many years later.
Similarly a tech specialist in our district was one of the first to attend an edcamp. Several others of us followed her lead and attended edcamps here and there. Then today a leader announced that our school system would host its own version of an edcamp, a close facsimile to edcamp that will be run and attended by educators at the elementary level of our school system. The successful edcamp format has found its way to our system.
When ideas are new, many scoff at the notion because they can't see the potential, and as I and many have written about before, those ideas go through many iterations as they find their way to the mainstream. I often recall the first time an innovative friend of mine started using a phone machine (how archaic that seems now) and how we all joked and made fun of the use of such a machine. As we know, it quickly became mainstream.
I'm glad that these good ideas, resources, and ways to share and learn are finding their way to the mainstream as they are ideas that make a difference for teachers and students. I'm also glad that I didn't listen to so many naysayers as I embraced new ideas in teaching and tech throughout time and instead went forward with the ideas all the while listening and learning about ways to make them better and how to embed those ideas into the teaching and learning I still engage in today.
So as Langston Hughes stated, "Hold Fast to Dreams. . ." and also hold fast to those good ideas as they will take hold eventually. Don't let anyone let you think or act differently in that regard, yet heed their thoughts as one way to hone and develop those important, wonderful ideas in ways that matter. Onward.
