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In order to continue forward and press on teachers will have to experience wins. Grasping at emotion and logic will not be enough. They must experience the value of the change.

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What steps do we take to allow teachers to experience positive changes that are worth investing in and pressing forward with? This will create buy-in.

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Do we work with one teacher team at a time and allow them to say what is working to other teacher teams?

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Permit me a story. Yoga, is not really about the physical exertion that leads to flexibility and strength in the body. Rather it is about developing strength and flexibility in the mind and many, much more deeper spiritual insights. Yet, the physical aspect is what most yoga students in the West desire.  One of the first yogis to bring yoga to the West focused on this physical aspect and when he was questioned by other yogis asking why he was focusing on such an insignificant part of the entire yoga practice, he replied, “I give them what they want so they will want what I have to give.”  Guskey spends a significant amount of this chapter focusing on how to get teachers to “buy in.” The answer is to give them what they want first.  What they want is a faster, more accurate way of grading, one that will communicate more information to students/parents while saving them (teachers) time.  The theory behind SBG (broadly defined), can wait.

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On pg 69, Guskey presents his alternate model for change, which I love. Then he points out that teachers won’t change in classrooms until they are “open to change” thus creating a cycle of change as opposed to a linear timeline.  How do we jump into this circle? Small pilot groups? Volunteers? Book study participants?

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I think this chapter has some great passages that might be useful for whole faculty reading in the future.  I also think he has great questions to include on a feedback form we send out in the early stages of SBG practices in the classroom.  (I’m using the term SBG loosely here.)
I.e. do you see more or less student engagement? Do you see more or less willingness to collaborate? Participate? Are students asking about learning as opposed to points?

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p. 64: "...attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions stem from what people have previously known and experienced, what they feel, and what they want."
We have to craft experiences that are DIFFERENT from what we have already experienced in order to build up a need for change to the new.

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p. 66 "...teachers are willing to take on extra work to help students achieve greater success if the tasks involved are manageable, if those tasks yield tangible benefits for students and their families, and if their extra efforts are recognized and appreciated."
This is a big a statement. It "feels" true. But is is true for our staff right now? This is one of my fears-- we don't have it in us to do the work this will take.

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I saw some important ideas for us in pp. 71-75.
1) We have to make it safe to dabble, to experiment, to tinker.  We aren't designing something in concrete.  If we want people to be willing to give it a try, we also have to make it clear that we'll keep revising to make it better.
2) We need to define success as those who were willing to try.  Teachers like to succeed.  New things don't always work like we think.  Teachers do NOT want to fail.  We need to figure out how to say they are successful as humans, as team members, as educators, even if we try something that doesn't work.
3) That feedback piece is huge. Before we even start, we need to build systems to provide quick (within weeks) feedback. Feedback can be noticing, naming, reflecting, comparing...

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Light bulbs for me...

1) He cites mental manipulation as a negative way to force change, and while I’m sure he’s correct I do think part of the problem with much of how we grade and report is that we aren’t reflective about what we do and couldn’t defend our practices.  I think a reckoning with that has some value.

2) Top of page 66...captures really well what parents need from our reporting.

3) Page 73...”people will continue activities that are reinforcing, and will stop behaviors that are unsuccessful.”  Agree and realize how important this is, but that only counts if the program is implemented with fidelity.  I don’t want to hear about something failing when we don’t fully implement it as a staff.

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I realize that we currently don’t give any kind of paper reports so maybe this would be a huge self-own, but I love the idea of sending a traditional and an SBG report home for parents to see.  I think that would make a huge difference for parents to move the needle on why we’re doing the shift.