The Deal with Self-Promotion

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A while back I was having a conversation at an art gallery with the curator and another artist. As I am trying to explain my vision and technique the artist said in a sarcastic tone: “You like to talk about yourself a lot”. Although I wasn’t talking about myself I replied: “Yes, I do. You are not going to promote your work for me, are you?”.

1378061_10150322435744956_1463205766_nThe deal with self-promotion is not about talking about yourself or self-adulation. The deal with self-promotion is that no one else can explain or describe your vision and ideas better than yourself. We all have a way to explain what we do. I can be very passionate when explaining what I do. I add a little drama to my explanations too (that might be in the blood or the comedian in me… or both). Explaining my art is no exception. I get very excited when I describe my ideas and process of each piece. I like to tell the stories of the people I teach and encounter and their testimonies because I truly enjoy seeing people happy and satisfied with the experience of art. I am not talking about myself, but I have to talk through myself.

I came across an article by Nathan Hangen, The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion. Hangen stated the difference between self-adulation and self-promotion. The first is when people exalt themselves and their accomplishments in a prideful manner. The second is when people share their vision, concepts, and ideas. The last inspires something. It is important to share the ideas when people fit into them.

It is not about you or what you know. It is about what you do with your knowledge. Powers don’t define a hero. Superman and Zod have the same powers. Each one decided what to do with them. Ideas, vision, and knowledge are like superpowers and part of who you are. What you do with them is up to you. I won’t mind wearing a symbol of hope on my chest. I will wear it shamelessly not for my own sake but for the sake of others. Finding some enemies on the way is just part of the deal.

The Healthy Don’t Need a Doctor

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Sharing your knowledge with people with knowledge is a good practice. It helps to grow knowledge by making sense of others’ experiences and points of view. Great discussions emerge when people share what they know among themselves. On the other hand, it becomes inevitably a competition when some people only respect their own opinions and points of view with or without facts. Such individuals need not knowledge since they claim to know it all. It is a different story when someone wants to learn giving the opportunity for a teachable moment and we turn away. Because some people lack the knowledge is why we should take hold of the opportunity to share. Because they don’t know we can teach them.

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (Luke 5:31 NIV)

Life Incomplete

Life Incomplete by Ivan Tirado

Sounds simple. In theory we understand what it means. However, when it comes to practice it is easier for most people to ‘preach to the choir’ instead of reaching for those who actually need it. No, I’m not talking about religion. I’m talking about sharing knowledge with those who are lacking. It applies to any domain and field. It also applies to our role in the situation. Sometimes we are the ones who need to ask, listen, and learn. We don’t know it all no matter how much of an expert we think we are. Looking up to someone to learn something new is not demeaning or humiliating, it is strength of character and a sign of trust.

There is nothing wrong with accepting that we don’t know it all. The opposite is plain absurd, foolish, and unhealthy. Only those recognizing a need will seek for that need to be fulfilled. Denying the need only closes the doors to growth and development. We all have something new to learn. If we let our pride and ego to surrender we will be in a better position to receive attention.

 

Sharing Knowledge as Equals

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When you engage in group interactions and discussions how do you behave? What are you seeking? What are you revealing of yourself? Peer tutoring is one of the oldest learning practices there is. Peer tutoring occurs when matching companions share knowledge while maintaining a status of equals [1]. Are you thinking about those online discussions where people genuinely share knowledge and honestly learn from each other? Yes, that applies as peer tutoring. Co-workers figuring out together how the new data system works? Yes, that is peer tutoring too. Those group activities in workshops where all come together to achieve a common goal? Indeed, that is peer tutoring. It happens constantly in society.

Knowledge resides in discourse and communication among individuals and their relationships. These relationships also influence how individuals see themselves, perceive their social circle, and assume how their social circle sees them. Social negotiation becomes knowledge negotiation, through which individuals engage in the meaning-making process. [2]

In peer tutoring the roles of tutor and tutee are constantly changing and balancing each other. However, it is possible to observe how individuals assume different roles in these interactions. These roles and how they are played out could determine the success in a peer tutoring interaction.  Albert Bandura defines these roles as agentic perspectives of human functioning: direct personal, collective, or proxy (surrogate). Agentic perspectives reflect self-efficacy (personal perceptions of skills to reach a goal) according to social cognitive theory [3].

agentic perspectives

Agentic Perspectives of Human Functioning

For peer tutoring to be effective, all parts must present an attitude reflecting a collective agentic perspective: all share and all learn. Yes, there is going to be a constant shift of roles as learning and teaching occurs. This also requires maturity and camaraderie. Arrogance and insecurities are the opposite of that. One can identify these characteristics in interactions online as in face-to-face situations. When individuals only seek to be ‘right’ and no other point of view counts, and when opposition comes and some resource to personal attacks and harassment, it is possible to identify issues that will put at risk the success of the learning process. Such situations are disturbing specially in environments with professional adults.

When practicing peer tutoring, focus on the goal. If the group is not in agreement towards the goal, then it would be futile to force a learning outcome. Sometimes, the learning goal is to seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge without necessarily reaching a consensus of opinion. However, the process itself and how participants conduct themselves could reveal if there is or not collective agency and if the interaction would be fruitful or else. When you engage in group interactions and discussions how do you behave? What are you seeking? What are you revealing of yourself?

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[1] Topping, K. J. (2005). Trends in peer learning. Educational Psychology, 25(6), 631-645.
[2] Tirado-Cordero, I., Hargiss, K.M.,& Howard, C. (2014).Exploring Self-Efficacy Beliefs as Entry Behaviors for Participation in an Online Peer Tutoring Learning Environment. International Journal of Strategic Information Technology and Applications (IJSITA),5 (1), p. 54-82.
[3] Bandura, A. (2008). Toward an agentic theory of the self. In H. Marsh, R. G. Craven, & D. M. McInerney (Eds.), Advances in Self Research, Vol. 3: Self-processes, learning, and enabling human potential (pp. 15-49). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.





						


					


					


				
					


					


						


							
						


						


							
Passion for Teaching
							
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“I can tell you love teaching.” … I’ve heard that a few times. I do. Teaching is for me a way to give back. If I keep what I know to myself it will die with me. If I share what I know it will live longer in the lives of those who learned. Not only so, what I know will expand beyond me instead of being encapsulated within me. When I teach I can feel this fire burning inside of me. I’m so passionate about it. I don’t pretend to know it all. In fact, I don’t know much, but what I know I share. I also pay attention. I like to learn as much as I like to teach.


“Knowledge not only resides in the head or in the collective mind of a social group, but also exists in discourse and communication among individuals and their relationships.”


Learning and teaching is conscious, intentional, willful, and a balance between old and new knowledge. Learning is also a vicarious experience. Sometimes people don’t know they are learning something until it clicks. This kind of interaction rarely happens in isolation but socially. When people are having fun with others is sometimes when they learn the most. I enjoy when people is satisfied with the results of their time spent. Their testimonials are not to fill my heart or head with pride and arrogance. These are a reminder of the great responsibility placed in my hands. I keep myself in check and seek to humble myself. After all, teaching makes you the servant, not the master.