Technology, and the integration thereof, impacts many aspects of education. Making the shift to personalized environments, integrating technology, and giving greater control to students may be a difficult change to manage.
Below, Katrina Schwarz's article about leading through change really resonated with me and I wanted to share her work with you. Her article entitled Five Ways to Sustain School Change Through Pushback, Struggle, and Fatigue originally appeared in KQED's MindShift.
Diana Laufenberg is the executive director of Inquiry Schools, a nonprofit working with schools around the country. She has come to the conclusion that there are five pillars to sustaining change: permission, support, community engagement, accountability and staying the course.
PERMISSION
Many educators have become accustomed to working in a suffocating system that doesn’t allow room for their professional judgment or creativity. Leaders have to give teachers permission to try new things in their classrooms in order to gain educator support for the changes. It’s easy to say “give them permission to fail,” but much harder to be clear about exactly what that means in a teacher’s daily life.
“Most of these adults have been successful,” Laufenberg said, “so then when you tell them to try things they’re bad at or not successful at, you need to tell them it’s OK, and give them a structure to get better.” She suggests giving teachers specific examples.
'There needs to be a real timeline of three to five years, where you understand you are on a path of change, and you have to hold the line.'Diana Laufenberg, Executive Director of Inquiry Schools
The principal of Enosburg Falls High School in Vermont, Erik Remmers, gave several of his teachers permission to experiment with getting rid of grades in their class. Teachers wanted to do a competency-based assessment model in the hopes it would train students to focus on learning instead of grades. The teachers tested the approach by waiting until the end of the first quarter to give grades, updating students on their progress through conferences instead. Remmers made sure the two teachers clearly communicated the goals and expectations to students and parents, but then he took the heat when parents felt uncertain.
“I like to frame it as permission to learn,” said Zac Chase, a Language Arts coordinator for St. Vrain Valley Schools who co-presented with Laufenberg. “We assume that people are really good at learning, but learning is really hard, especially for teachers because we’re used to making other people do it.” And learning how to teach in new ways often requires teachers to feel uncomfortable and disoriented at times.
Often a leader thinks they are giving teachers permission to try, fail and learn, but teachers don’t trust that the permission won’t eventually be revoked. Laufenberg suggests that leaders and teachers forecast together how the experiment or change might play out, and what permission will be needed down the road. Naming those things early, and getting verbal agreement from a leader, can free that teacher up to confidently experiment.
Thanks again to KQED and Katrina Schwartz! For full article, click here.
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