Please note – I am working on the innovation plan with other teachers from throughout my district. Two of these teachers, Nicole Alexander and Patience Blythe, are in this course and we are collaborating on the work for this course.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
When envisioning a plan to change education as we know it in our school district, the dreaming part is easy. Dreaming is exciting; doing requires planning, communication and execution. The actions and attitudes of a self-differentiated leader set them apart from the madding crowd. They are able to remain calm and anxiety-free when presented with challenges, and they are open to compromise and listening to others whose opinions differ from themselves. These are the thoughtful, committed citizens referenced above: these are the changemakers who remain ports in the storm of change. They weather the rolling tides of fear and uncertainty to persevere into implementing ideas that change the lives of others.
The following highlights the parts of our plan for implementing real-world, collaborative learning projects once per semester for each student in Elgin ISD. The four major components can be viewed in more detail in the links below:
Understanding the rapid change of the world around us, as well as our specific learning challenges, shows why exposing our students to real-world, collaborative learning is critically important.
To organize and implement a multi-step project, we must work with teams of teachers across our district. We are asking each teacher to change the learning of each student. Change is not easy to implement or encourage, so we must learn to look for and work with influencers.
Ensuring that our change strategy is effective and is implemented with fidelity requires a series of goals. These goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. We also must design and review systems that establish accountability to move the project forward.
Change can be difficult to encourage and implement on a scale outside a small team, so being willing to listen and engage with all stakeholders’ opinions is critical to having the consensus necessary for implementation of the change strategy.
References
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2016). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York, NY: Free Press.
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Sandra Negro 