Taking the Next Step

During this summer break I had the occasion to participate at the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools Leadership Institute. Over the past four summers I have had the pleasure of working with colleagues from all over the country who have been honing their teaching and administrative skills and sharing their best practices. At the end of the first week in July I graduated from Leadership Institute and moved on to what is known as the Next Step program. This is a national cohort of teachers who have a particular change project in mind that will lead to school improvement in their respective schools. I have had a few weeks to mull over the task of of implementing my particular change project, and believe that the most pressing work needs to be done in the following three areas:

1. Mapping- 

Although my change project (Introducing the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program to the Intermediate Division) has been given both board and administrative support, and therefore carries the official imprimatur of the school corporate, it is still very important to map out the terrain. While our school administration is aware of the nature of the project, it will be important to touch base with the leadership team to make sure that my goals in terms of planning meetings, tools and resources, are compatible with the school's scheduling and budget requirements.

Also, in terms of mapping the terrain, I am aware that there will be greater support for the changes that I am anticipating if there are certain resources made available to teachers. As there will be significant curriculum overhaul involved, teachers will need two key supports. The first is time. Early in the process it was identified that the IB demands that teacher planning time be may available and demonstrated to be in place on the school schedule. Before school begins these timetables must be set in place, and it will be important that the planning meetings are not seen as an "add on" to the current schedule. Similarly, a curriculum mapping resource will ease the process of overhauling the curriculum. Funds will need to be made available for such purposes.

2. Marshaling-

There is plenty of urgency for this change project. A formal application to the IB to implement the MYP must be made within the next year to 18 months. Consultation and verification visits need to be scheduled in advance of that, and the school will be inspected for its readiness to implement the program. Collaborative planning, course and curriculum overhaul, assessment and teaching practices each need to be given a closer look in order to be IB ready.

It will be critical to develop a large and healthy coalition of colleagues who are committed to the successful implementation of the program. I know that the change project will impact all areas of school life, and it will be important to have the support of key decision-makers in order for the project to be successful. Changing school culture requires changing the conversation and developing healthy relationships. 

3. Motivating-

Linked to the previous point is the challenge of communicating the message and motivating others to move the process in the right direction. Towards that end, I aim to build upon the bright spots that I have already seen. All teachers at the school have been part of a one day "Introduction to the MYP" in-house workshop. There were plenty of positive signs that the staff is ready to take on this challenge. These are the bright spots.

I aim to work with all intermediate staff in the coming year to further to assist them in their understanding of IB-MYP, and I aim to use the bright spots that I have seen and those eager to support the process in order to bring about greater collaboration. Two sessions- each consisting of two hours- have been set aside during the August start-up period for the purpose of MYP planning. During these sessions I intend to map out the process ahead, communicate the imperative of what we are doing, and motivate colleagues to take ownership and professional pride.

From the time of my submission of the Next Step proposal in the spring, through reading Switch , to the sessions at the Leadreship Institute, it became clear to me that a project that potentially involved curriculum overhaul, collaborative planning, assessment, and school culture was too great. To borrow from the authors of Switch, one of the things that I learned was to "shrink the change". So rather than focussing on all four of the areas listed above, I have decided to focus my change project on collaborative planning. The other three areas will form the basis for the ongoing work, but collaborative planning will be the focus for 2013-14. 

Using the language of Switch, it will be critically important to appeal to both the rider (I know that there is logic in the process that we are engaged in), and the elephant (I feel as though I am part of something important that will improve student learning). The path is beginning to unfold and I believe that success is not only possible, but certainly attainable if we all work together towards a common goal.