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In a recent post , I discussed the importance of sticking with an innovation for at least three years so that the benefits of the change would be noticeable and enduring.   An understanding of the current reality and ongoing communication are required to create this kind of persistence.   Creating change that lasts also requires shared purpose and vision.   Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” (goodreads.com, 2018).   We define what we will be busy about, not by being visionaries ourselves as leaders, but by walking with others, so that together we create a picture of what we hope will be. Envisioning possibilities together energizes action and creates collective commitment for the long haul. We need to know our destination.   Choosing the future doesn’t mean selecting from the paths that are already before us – it means creating that path. When my district started working on a litera...

In a recent post , I discussed the importance of sticking with an innovation for at least three years so that the benefits of the change will be noticeable and ongoing.   Continuous communication is required to create this kind of persistence.   It’s also important to recognize that change that lasts is built on a deep understanding of our current reality. Too often, schools completely alter their course rather than making minor corrections that can result in major improvement. Imagine a train leaving town and taking a branch off of the original track. Initially, there are only a few feet between the old track and the new – but the further and further the train is from the branch in the tracks, the more those tracks diverge. This image demonstrates how even small pedagogical changes, if they are maintained, can result in significant improvement. Rather than making drastic course corrections, appropriate adjustments are suggested through careful data analysis.   We can lo...

In a recent post , I talked about the pendulum swing of education and the ongoing search for the holy grail that will solve education’s ills. I cited research that it takes three years for new initiatives to be implemented sufficiently to produce significant, measurable improvement. How can coaches and other instructional leaders encourage the necessary stick-to-it-iveness? When I faced this problem leading a million-dollar literacy adoption, I dug into the research about change – personal, business, and educational, and I mined a few gems that I could apply.   Perhaps the most important tool for creating persistence is communication . Throughout a change process, communication within and to stakeholder groups is key. “Stakeholder groups” is a clinical term for “everyone who cares.”   This means teachers, parents, administration, and even students.   This means bringing groups of people together to talk, collecting what they talk about, and doing something with it.  ...

A teacher’s day is full of hundreds of decisions: instructional decisions, like, “How should I phrase the next question?” Logistical questions like, “Do we have time to finish this activity before lunch?” Psychological questions like, “What does this child need to feel safe in my room?”   Questions like these have become so routine that they are subconscious, asked and answered almost without our awareness.   Raising these questions to the level of awareness helps us define and refine our teaching philosophy, our values and purpose, and our teaching craft.   As instructional coaches, helping others define and refine their own responses to such questions is a way to support their ongoing improvement. One way to bring instructional decisions to the fore is through a pre-modelling conference.   You know that modelling provides a vision for what an observing teacher’s future instruction might look and sound like.   To turn up the learning that modelling provides, el...