Educational Change
Reading Specialist LE 4
Summary
Perceptions of Change
Jacqueline said
Julie E said
June said
Irene said
Reanna said
Kelly said
Justin said
Fullan's 8 Elements of Sustainability
- One suggestion I would make for our education system is to have, in every school, identified curriculum leaders who are given regular release time to invest in working with the principal, other classroom teachers, other curriculum leaders from schools in the region, and the board-level curriculum leaders, to really work through SMART mid- and long-term objectives. (Kelly)
- By looking beyond the short-term (the time when students are in ELP classroom), FDK can help to set students up for long term reading success. (Chris)
Long lever of leadership
- As an educational leader, we will be in many mentorship roles with new and even experienced teachers. In these roles, we have a responsibility to develop other leaders who will continue to teach and lead with the best practices implemented during our time as leaders. In order to make a long-term impact, beyond what we will even witness, we need to focus on our mentorship opportunities now. (Danae)
Cyclical energizing
- As a reading leader it means being aware and making sure that students are aware of their need to savour the plateaus in their learning. As a school leader it means ensuring that colleagues understand the cyclical nature of growth and engagement. Sustainability requires both energy output and a resting plateau. Besides, sometimes you can't figure out where you are until you stop for a moment lift your head, breathe, and look around. (June)
- As a reading leader we need to push ourselves to search out new research and resources, and we need to try to apply new ideas in our practice as we continually evolve. Finally, we need to incorporate positive energy rituals- find ideas that work for you to stay positive in the profession, and which also help you to keep others around you engaged about education. (Cheryl)
- The idea of sustainability not being a linear process focused on 'upward success', I thought this was the element I most connected with because to me, it meant breathing new life into an idea and breaking through ruts. (Nadia)
- Sometimes I find our job very overwhelming when we look at the big picture. Looking at education as a cycle makes it's all a lot more manageable. (Natalie)
Deep Learning
- What this means to me as an educational leader is the importance of continued growth, and learning as a staff in order to create a community and culture of learning. (Tracy)
- I think this type of learning is made possible by really getting to know my students as individuals and by closely listening to them as they tell me both verbally and non-verbally about what interests them, what does not, observing how they learn and monitoring how they feel. (Jane)
- Lead discussions and activities about reading/new resources during staff meetings. (Jacqueline)
- I think I will connect this to my own practices by remembering to set high expectations for my students and to raise the bar a little at a time based on the teaching-assessing cycle and what the assessment data tells me. I will remind myself that this is a cycle and that with every teaching-learning cycle I go through, the gap will be less for some (hopefully many) students. (Leanne)
Public Serve with Moral Purpose
- The networking component of this idea is key to any successful reform. As we know, there are two forms of motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic. If we want reform to be sustainable we need to foster the intrinsic motivation. Systemic change requires those involved to be invested in the outcome, they need to be intrinsically motivated. (Justin)
- As a leader, I will connect this understanding when I form respectful relationships with students, parents, community members and other educators. i will also challenge students, parents and teachers to adopt high expectations for learning. All students must learn and meet their potential. Through differentiation and motivation, we can reach all kids. (Irene)
This means publicly fostering a commitment throughout the school district on: Raising the bar and closing the gap of student learning, Treating people with demanding respect, and Altering the social environment. (Reanna)
Commitment to changing context at all levels
- Because the element stresses the importance of changing the context, I think it’s imperative that I continue to learn more about the play-based inquiry program and apply it to my practice. I can accomplish this by networking with ELK teams within my school, reading resources suggested by my colleagues, and researching ideas on blogs and other social media networking. (Laura)
- To me this Element means commitment and consistency within all of the school boards and how to change it for the better for everyone involved. (Julie S)
- The idea has to start somewhere, but change won’t occur unless everyone is on board and committed to the change. By sharing, helping, and educating others, sustainable change is more likely to occur. (Julie E)
Your questions about the change process
As reading leaders, you may find you have the opportunity at some point to look at these questions, and perhaps initiate some discussion about them in your schools.
- How do we motivate an entire staff? Not one student. But an entire teaching body?
- How do we keep everyone in the loop about what we are hoping to do and what we are trying to change?
- It is evident that change can have an emotional effect on educators which can potentially lead to resistance. How can we avoid this?
- how do we ensure/build in accountability that all teachers within a team are on board and are putting forth a similar effort to meet goals?
- How do we provide professional development opportunities that are geared towards the goals that we have? How do we ensure that our administrators and teachers feel confident in implementing strategies to support our goals?
- Change is difficult for some people to fully accept and pursue. How does a leader decide when to pursue the change, especially if some people are not agreeing to the idea? Do all stakeholders need to be on board or just a majority? Or does it take the leader to decide and then strive to get all people on board after the decision is made?
- Take the long view; realize that change takes time and should not be forced to occur too quickly. – how long should it take for change to occur? Does it depend on what you are trying to change? What is a reasonable amount of time? What is an example of change that has been implemented? How long did it take?
- How does one change agent most effectively promote change within and across change agents?
- The one question about educational change that I have is how to get the community more involved and make sure that they share the same vision when it comes to educational change.
- What are some ways to create a collaborative school culture ? How can we move away from divisional (or other) cliques?
- How do we motivate educators who are resistant to change? How do we convince them that there is light at the end of the tunnel?
How do you get teachers, parents, community and business partners, administrators and students all on board?
What do you do with individuals who continue to be resistant to change?
How do leaders ensure risk-taking within their team? Are members of the team confident and comfort communicating their reservations about decisions made?
How can we make teachers accountable for change without making it seem like it is being jammed down their throats?
As integral a part we play in the educational change process, how do we overcome a situation where there is a complete and total lack of leadership within the school? When the “real” leader lacks inspiration, organization, and communication? How can we, as teacher leaders overcome that obstacle?
How do we know if, while implementing educational change, we are experiencing an ‘implementation dip’ as opposed to the change just not working? How long do we continue to proceed with a new program/strategy with things getting worse before we concede that it isn’t a temporary dip?
How will every person realize their potential as a change agent and help to drive change forward?
he first website says that problems are our friends and that they are the route to deeper change because conflict is essential to any successful change effort. I am wondering what exactly this means? Is this referring to those who resist that changes being implemented and suggesting that we need to listen to the resistance in order to re-evaluate, improve and re-implement?
How do we motivate educators who are resistant to change? How do we convince them that there is light at the end of the tunnel?
What do you do when someone is really not on board? How do you continue to encourage them? Is it okay to accept that some people simply won't take part of the process? What if you are the one who doesn't believe in the shared vision? How do you respectfully and professionally share you thoughts and ideas on the topic?
BYOD program
Cheryl shared this idea in one of her action plan responses. With all the focus on technology in the action plans, I thought this was too important not to include for everyone to see:
Looking for new apps or programs?
I'm thinking of including a project in the first 20 days of school next year where students must find a useful program, learn how to use it, and then present to the class. I'm hoping that will expose me to useful programs as well.