KLN—North “Making Connections”January 24, 2013Alabama Best Practices Center

Learning Outcomes

1. Assess where we are in our district and/or school in implementation of CCRS. What have we accomplished? What are the challenges? What are we learning?

2. Think together about what are we doing as leaders to motivate and support the changes in teaching practice required by CCRS.

Learning Outcomes, cont’d3. Review core principles of educational

change, and think together about how we can apply these to current challenges.

4. Continue to build a community of practice with colleagues from other districts.

Warm-Up: Snowball•Use a sheet of blank paper to respond to

the question below:

▫What is the most important support you, as a leader, are providing to teachers as they seek to understand and use the new CCRS standards?

Activity 1: Making Connections—Interview Design•Individually review questions on pp. 2-3 of

your Activity Packet. Jot down ideas that come immediately to mind.

•Take your Activity Packet, a pen, and something to write on.

•Share back in your district team.

Organizing for Your Interviews

•Taking something to write with and something to write on (hard surface) as well as your Activity Packet, move to the area of the room where there are lines of chairs.

•The colored sheet in your chair contains the question that you will ask of 4 different colleagues over the course of the next 20 minutes—and space for you to record your colleagues’ responses.

Instructions for Interview Design

•Ask your assigned question to the person across from you. Use good questioning skills: listening, prompting to encourage more detail, ascertaining the meaning behind the words.

•Record responses provided by the colleague you are interviewing.

•When you are being interviewed, answer thoughtfully. Continue to think until time is called.

Instructions for Interview Design, cont’d

•Move as directed.•Introduce yourself to the colleague

seated across from you.•Ask the same question that you asked

in the first round to the person now seated across from you. Record this colleague’s responses.

•Answer the question posed to you.

Instructions for Interview Design, cont’d

•With your original partner, share and compare the responses that you both received. Look for common themes.

•Summarize the responses; prepare to share with others.

Instructions for Interview Design, cont’d

•Gather at the appropriate station with others who asked your question.

•Together, summarize the responses.•Record the major themes and

responses that you heard.•When you have your list, star the

most significant three or four items.•Designate a reporter to share

highlights with the whole group.

Team Reflection and Planning

•In your team, share insights or learnings from the Interview Design activity.

•What ideas were shared by other districts that may be adaptable to your context?

•How might you use this activity in your home context? For what purposes? With what groups?

•Use the planning template, last page of activity packet, to record team ideas.

 Activity 2: Implementing CCRS: The Role of School Leaders—Collegial Dialogue

Individual Preparation•Decide whether you wish to focus on

elementary or secondary schools.•Scan appropriate action brief, and identify

1 of the 11 school-wide changes that you’re most interested in reading about.

•Read and highlight key ideas. Prepare to share one key idea with others in your conversation group.

Group Dialogue

• Select a facilitator, timekeeper, and recorder for your conversation group.

• Identify someone who will begin by sharing their identified section and a key idea identified. Speaker has up to 1 minute to talk about key idea.

• Other members of conversation group respond to speaker, talking about identified idea for up to 5 minutes.

• Continue until all group members have shared. Use the same protocol for all rounds.

Ground Rules for Conversation

•Focus and task-orientation•Openness and respect all points of view.

•Active listening•Equitable participation by all

•Think time

Team Reflection and Planning

•In your team, share insights or learnings from member experiences in small conversation groups.

•What ideas did you find particularly relevant? Why?

•How might you use this resource back home? For what purposes? With what groups?

•Use the planning template, last page of activity packet, to record team ideas.

The Change Game!

1. Find a partner.2. Stand back-to-back.3. Quietly change 3 things

about your appearance.4. Don’t look at your partner until directed!

The Change Game (cont’d)

• When directed, turn around

and face your partner.

• Try to determine what has changed!

What Can We Learn from “The Change Game?”1. How many of you took

something off? (People often associate change with loss.)

“All real change involves loss, anxiety, and struggle. Failure to recognize this phenomenon as natural and inevitable has meant we tend to ignore important aspects of change and misinterpret others.”

(Fullan , p. 21, The New Meaning of Educational Change from Marris, 1975)

What Can We Learn from “The Change Game?”—Cont’d

2. How many of you added something? (Most of us don’t typically associate

change with gain.)

3. How many of you rearranged something? (Change sometimes feels like we are

“rearranging the chairs on the Titanic!”)

What Can We Learn from “The Change Game?”—Cont’d

4. How many of you borrowed something from someone else?(People don’t tend to look to others for helping during a change.)

“All successful change efforts develop collaboration where there was none before.” Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change, p. 52

Assumptions About Change1. Change is a process,

not an event.

2. Change is accomplished by individuals.

Assumptions About Change3. Change is a highly

personal experience.

4. Change involves developmental growth.

Assumptions About Change• Interventions must be

related to the people first; the innovation second (i.e., diagnose people’s concerns first and address those; then, think about the innovation.)

Examining the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM)

•A framework that embodies all four of these assumptions about change

•A tool that can assist in determining “where an individual is” in the process of changing or adopting a new program or strategy

•Grounded in decades of research focused on educators’ acceptance of innovations

Definitions

•Innovation: process, products and/or programs

•Adoption: learning, implementing, changing

•Concerns: perceptions, feelings, & motivations

Innovations usually fail. Why?

Is it because they are faulty?

Or, is it because they are not properly implemented?

Fuller’s Sequence of ConcernsImpact

Task

Self

Unrelated

7 Stages of Concerns Identified 6. Refocusing5. Collaboration4. Consequence3. Management2. Personal1. Informational0. Awareness

Task

Impact

Self

Unrelated

What stage of concern is expressed by this statement?

“I don’t know how I will get it all done. It’s taking me a long time to understand these new standards and to begin to redesign my lessons around them.”

“I don’t really understand why we need new standards. My students have been doing just fine over the years.”

“I am not certain that other teachers on my team are buying into this, and I am committed to being a team player.”

How Might You Assess Your Teachers’ Concerns?

Engage in conversations with individuals and groups about their progress and concerns. Be a good listener. Probe for concerns when talking about changing expectations in the school.

How Might You Assess Your Teachers’ Concerns?

Provide open-ended prompts for reflective writing.

You might ask your teachers to write a short paragraph in response to the statement, “When you think about you implementing CCRS, what are your primary concerns?”

How might you address Personal Concerns (Stage 2)?

Legitimize concerns.

Provide encouragement.

Connect with others who can be supportive.

Establish realistic expectations.

Do not push; encourage and support.

How might you address Management Concerns (Stage 3)?

Clarify the components of the innovation.

Provide specific “how-to’s.”

Model and demonstrate practical solutions.

Help establish timelines.

Attend to immediate demands of innovation.

Principles Suggested by CBAM

•It is important to attend to individuals’ concerns as well as the nature and characteristics of the innovation.

•It is all right to have personal concerns.

•Change won’t happen overnight.

•One clients’ concerns may not be the same as those of another.

Stand Up and Find Someone From Another District Who Has the Same

Role as YouTalk together about CBAM.Focus Questions:

1. Does the framework “make sense” to you?2. Can you think of examples from your work

that match the different stages of CBAM?3. How might you use this mental model to

guide your conversations with teachers or other educators?

Can you connect this finding to implementation of CCRS? In what

ways?“Leaders focus on the future and all the

benefits that are going to flow to them and the organization. The rank and file locks into the present, focusing on the costs rather than the rewards of change.”

(Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change, p. 42, quoting Jellison, 2006)

Some Key Points About the Change Process from Fullan

•Appreciate the implementation gap

•Redefine resistance

•Reculturing is the name of the game

•Never a checklist, always complexity

Appreciate the Implementation Dip

“One of the most consistent findings about the change process is that successful organizations experience implementation dips as they move forward. The implementation dip is a dip in performance and confidence as one engages in an innovation that requires new skills and new understandings.” (Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 49)

Redefine Resistance“We are more likely to learn something from people who disagree with us than we are from people who agree. But we tend to hang around with and listen to people who agree with us, and we prefer to avoid and not listen to those who do not.” ( Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 52)

Redefine Resistance

“Assume that conflict and disagreement are not only inevitable but fundamental to successful change. Since all groups of people possess multiple realities, any collective change attempt will necessarily involve conflict.” (Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change, p. 123)

Reculturing is the Name of the Game

“Restructuring (which can be done by fiat) occurs time and time again, whereas reculturing (how teachers come to question and change their beliefs and habits) is what is needed.”(Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change, p. 25)

Reculturing is the Name of the Game

“Structure does make a difference, but it is not the main point in achieving success. Transforming the culture—changing the way things are done is the main point. I call this reculturing. Effective leaders know that the hard work of reculturing is the sine qua non of progress.” (Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 53)

Reculturing is the Name of the Game“Furthermore, it is a particular kind of

reculturing for which we strive: one that activates and deepens moral purpose through collaborative work cultures that respect differences and continually build and test knowledge against measurable results—a culture within which one realizes that sometimes being off balance is a learning moment.” (Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 53)

Never a Checklist,Always Complexity•“Solving complex problems on a continuous

basis is enormously difficult because of the sheer number of factors at play. It is further complicated because the sine qua non of successful reform is whether relationships improve; in fact, we have to learn how to develop relationships with those we might not understand and might not like, and vice versa.” (Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change, p. 115)

Five Components of Change Leadership(Michael Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change)

Moral Purpos

e

Under-standin

g Change

Relation-ship Buildin

g

Knowledge

Creation and Sharin

g

Coherence

Making

Moral Purpose—To be effective, leadership has to:•Have an explicit “making a difference”

sense of purpose•Use strategies that mobilize people to

tackle tough problems•Be held accountable by measured and

debatable indicators of success•Be ultimately assessed by the extent to

which it awakens people’s intrinsic commitment—the mobilizing of everyone’s sense of moral purpose

Understanding Change

“Change cannot be ‘managed.’ It can be understood, and perhaps led, but it cannot be controlled.”

(Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 42)

Key Points About the Change Process

•Appreciate the implementation dip.

•Redefine resistance.

•Reculturing is the name of the game.

•Never a checklist, always complexity.

Relationship Building•It is the interactions and relationships

among people, not the people themselves, that make the difference in organizational success.

•The factor common to every successful change initiative is that relationships improve. If relationships improve, things get better. If relationships remain the same or get worse, ground is lost.

Relationship Building, cont’d•Leaders must be able to build relationships

with and among diverse people and groups, especially with people different from themselves.

•Most people want to be part of their organization, to know the organization’s purpose, and to make a difference or contribute to the larger purpose.

•Leaders need to pay as much attention to how they treat people as they pay to structures, strategies, and statistics.

Knowledge Creation and Sharing•Access to the knowledge and skills of

individuals.•People sharing the same set of beliefs about

a learning culture (everyone is a teacher and a learner at all levels)

•Professional-development opportunities in a learning community

•Communication and sharing up and down the hierarchy as well as laterally

•Lateral as well as hierarchical accountability

Knowledge Creation and Sharing“Change will always fail until we find some way

of developing infrastructures and processes that engage teachers in developing new knowledge, skills, and understandings. Second, it turns out that we are talking not about surface meaning, but rather deep meaning about new approaches to teaching and learning. Meaning will not be easy to come by given this goal and existing cultures and conditions.” (Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change, p. 29)

Coherence Making

“Making coherence includes aligning policies and coordinating strategies for changing directions, assessment, and professional development.” ( Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 174)

Making Coherence Involves Both:•Alignment and connection of goals and

programsAnd

•Elimination (or pruning) of programs and goals that are no longer needed

Creating Coherence InvolvesFocusing on the Main Thing

“Far too often when major changes are made we rarely stop to assess what we need to stop doing so we can focus on the main thing. In each and every presentation I have made over the past year to my fellow educators I have closed with a request to let me know of anything the ALSDE is requiring of you that adds no value to your efforts to improve student learning.” –Dr. Tommy Bice, State Superintendent, Alabama Education News, January, 2013

Team Reflection and Planning

•In your team, share insights or learnings about how you can use principles about the change process to support CCRS implementation.

•What ideas and resources might you share with others in your district?

•Use the planning template, last page of activity packet, to record team ideas.

 Activity 3: Applying Principles of Educational Change to Leadership Challenges Related to Implementation of CCRS—Table Rounds

•Listen to overview of four leadership challenges to identify those of greatest interest to you personally.

•Select two topics. Share around your individual preferences in your district team. Each team member will participate in two rounds of conversations. You may wish to make team assignments to ensure that all topics are covered.

Table Round TopicsA. Transition to Standards-Driven

Instruction

B. Transition from Teacher-Centered to Student-Engaged Instruction

C. Confronting Issues Related to Confusion, Overload, and Low Sense of Efficacy

D. Developing Program Coherence

Purpose of Table Rounds

To make connections between what we know about leading change and challenges and issues emerging in the implementation of CCRS

Table Rounds Protocol

• Select a table host/facilitator to keep conversation focused upon the topic.

•Each individual should record ideas on “tablecloth.” Should you record a strategy that is working for you, please note your name and school/district.

•You will have up to 20 minutes for dialogue during each round.

Inferences and Implications •Return to your 1st table. Talk about any

inferences and implications you can draw from collegial conversations.

•Record your conversation topic at the top of a sheet of easel paper. Then list the big ideas and inferences that emerged from the table rounds.

•Someone at your table should be prepared to give a 30 second summary of your table’s conclusions.

Team Reflection and Planning

•In your team, share insights or learnings gained from the Table Rounds Activity.

•What ideas and resources might you share with others in your district?

•Use the planning template, last page of packet, to record team ideas.

Closure and Feedback

Please complete the individual session feedback form before departure.

Safe Travels! See you in March!