Many students thrive when educators combine multiple disciplines because it allows them to think innovatively (out of the box thinking) and find new solutions for solving problems. But how about educators and leaders?
Interdisciplinary opportunities can enrich your work and help you achieve your goals by involving collaboration or interaction with people from different fields, disciplines, or backgrounds. They can be formal or informal, such as taking a course, joining a project, attending a workshop, or networking with peers.
Busy as a Bee
Most of my friends will tell you that I am always busy. I must admit, I do immerse myself into projects and love to learn new things. I graduated with a B.S. in Sociology, but I soon found myself running a jewelry business alongside my father. He was a pilot and had started selling jewelry on the side. He started out selling mostly to flight attendants and grew the business based on his reputation and the instant trust amongst his fellow aviators and flight crew. As the business took off, he found it difficult to juggle a business and fly commercial planes. He asked if I would like to step in and help. We grew that business together, and it was an amazing opportunity to learn sales, marketing, and communication skills.
Eventually, we closed the business. I went back to school and got my master’s in teaching. I always had the mindset of a lifelong learner and hoped to spark that love of learning in young minds. I was an English Language Arts teacher for years and found joy in allowing students a space for students to take risks and own their learning. I grew in educational leadership as a department chair and mentor for student teachers. I am now a program analyst in continuous improvement for a large K-12 school district in the south.
Creative Cross-Pollination
Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. I believe that creative cross-pollination between my marketing and sales background combined with a passion for education has allowed me to feel fulfilled. I am doing something that matters to me and hopefully to others. I started this blog for educators which is teacher support with inspiration. I will never forget how scared I was when I hit publish for the first time on my site and now I am celebrating over 100 entries. Since then, I have reached teachers around the world and have collaborated with former Imagineers, university professors, authors, and motivational speakers just to name a few. It’s exciting!
Create Opportunities for Buy-in or Investments
The philosophy of incorporating interdisciplinary learning and teaching will bring you success and more importantly open up opportunities for you to do what you love. I have leaned on my sales background which was successful because I built relationships with my customers. I have taken this idea of “buying-in” to inspire people to feel invested in themselves, their career, and students. Using my experience in the jewelry business and my love for Disney, I continue to innovate and grow a business to help teachers by creating seven workshops with names from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Finding the Song of Significance
Seth Godin talks about finding a “song of significance” aptly named for his book The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams. I could not believe that I was starting this book as I was writing this blog about interdisciplinary teaching and learning or cross-pollination.
Seth uses the behavior of bees as an analogy for finding a song of significance. He explains that when a new queen is born, “the existing queen and as many as half the bees in the hive…will swarm and leave” (7). After thousands and thousands of bees flee, leaving their home, they go and search for “possibility and growth, without knowing precisely where they are headed…The swarm only has a few days to locate, agree upon, and inhabit a new home—or they’ll perish” (8). We are reminded that what matters is the work, “it’s creating the difference, being a part of something, and doing work we’re proud of. This is the song of significance” (10).
You are my inspiration. There are so many good things happening in the classroom. You are significant. While I may doubt myself on occasion (it’s only natural), I have tried to trust my instincts and dream big. I continue to be amazed by the new people that I meet and the relationships I build with people all around the world by having honest, motivational, and interdisciplinary conversations with fellow leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators.
See You Real Soon,
Erin
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