CED 527, Week Four

The Systems Thinking, Systems Changing game provided me with some valuable insight about implementing change in any system. While the changes that I implement are not at the district level, I am a part of a number of district changes currently in play. When personally implementing change in my classroom or in my department, I was reminded of the importance of keeping the man in charge in the know. I feel as though I do a decent job of this and sometimes feel like my communication with him is a bit overboard. As Kris reminded us, it's better to share too much than too little! Also, the importance of team work and skills building became very apparent to our team. As I will be informally in charge of bringing a new special education teacher and speech pathologist up to speed on our school's way of doing things this year, I need to be cognizant of the importance of making sure that they understand all of the "Tosa terms" and have support available when they need additional assistance. The simulation was an enjoyable way to reinforce these concepts of change.

CED 527, Week 3

Last week's class put my feelings over past changes I've been involved in into a more concrete and research-based train of thought. The implementation dip shown at the beginning of class reminded me of our recent CMS implementation at school. Many of my co-workers are still at the resistance stage. A few of us are beginning to explore. I'm hoping that as time passes, we slide into the commitment stage quickly. I also particularly likes the chart that demonstrated what happens when we lack vision, skills, incentives, resources, or action plans. This would be a good chart to hang in a classroom or administrator's office. Not that it would necessarily force the leader to resolve the issues, but it makes a pretty good stab at what the causation of the problem may be. What we learned in class last week provided some valuable background for how to better handle my educational assistants next year. We'll definitely be in a transition year with a new special ed teacher, speech pathologist, and 2 aides. With all of this change, I'll need to be proactive and reflective as to why breakdowns in our team occur.

CED 527, Week 2

Last night's class reaffirmed a lot of strategies and topics that our building already practices. I feel blessed to be in a place that is so student-centered and data driven. At points, I take this for granted. As a young teacher, I have learned to argue for points by saying this is what I want, and here's the data to support why. When strategies are supported in this way, the "age discrimination" comments tend to be minimal or non-existent. The information last night that was new to me was in regards to technology plans. While we have a great technology initiative in our building, "a SMARTBoard in every classroom by 2009-2010, our training or plan beyond that isn't apparent to the staff. As a member of the technology committee (which seldom meets), I haven't seen this plan. It will definitely be something that I look for this fall.