There's a troubling feeling when you see an idea you've championed celebrated with someone else's name on it. Yet, if you look closely, what you often realize is that your idea wasn't owned by you, but instead an idea adapted and developed by many over time. Good ideas are contagious. They arise, are embraced, adapted, and developed in many, many ways by many, many people. There's rarely an original idea.
What is more unique and original is the time and effort people put into ideas and how those ideas reach. The idea I heard about tonight is not a new idea, but the way the idea was encouraged and utilized with children was responsive and positive. It was a good model of how to use this idea well with others. Also there was a collaborative aspect to this idea that helped to make it powerful.
In truth, no one really owns ideas and for ideas to truly prosper you have to give those ideas flight. Sometimes you'll be celebrated for an idea that you had little impact on, and other times you won't be celebrated for ideas that you may have played a significant role. In the end, it's not about the celebration, but about the impact good ideas have on the children you teach. Onward.
