Building 21st century schools takes leaders who know how to initiate and sustain change. No easy task!
Initiating and sustaining change is the final topic we address in the School Leader Development workshop. After reviewing some key resources on change management, the participants work in small groups to identify what they believe are the Big Ideas when it comes to leading a change process. They write each Big Idea on a slip of paper. I collect the slips, and then the fun begins. It’s time for charades!
Eyes roll. Grumbling erupts. Passionate protestations ensue. But I am unrelenting. We will do this. We review the basic rules of charades, including the common gestures used in the game. Then each person, in turn, pulls a slip from the box and acts out a Big Leadership Idea until the rest of us figure it out.
There are two reasons I use this particular activity. First, it tends to put the participants out of their comfort zones, which is exactly what they’ll be asking of their staffs. And second, we have a lot of fun; see for yourself!
Below is the list of Big Ideas generated by the superintendents, principals, and other school leaders who attended our most recent workshop. Click here to see a wordle created from this list.
Monitor, Assess And Adjust
Create Strategic Plan
Cast A Vision
Communication, Voice
Commitment To Change
Sustain Change
Share Vision
Collaboration, Deep Discussion, Task Cycle
Sustain Change, Inquiry Cycle, Internalize
Shared Vision
Relationships
Commitment
Model Process, Acquire Skills Yourself
Discussion And Input
Broad-Based Buy-In
Develop Expert Teams
Group Buy-In
Identify Needs
Teacher Buy-In
Tags: 21st century schools, change
What in the world is a wordle? I thought the article was refreshing as it took the “Change” word to a very practical level for we administrators. You know we hear “Change”, “Change”, and more “Change” at every conference. But what is a “Wordle”? How does it link with Change? I continued to read the article as I was not familiar with the terminology “wordle” and as an inquisitive reader, continued to seek out my answer by reading on. A cute “Hook” to entice continued reading. The brevity, practicality and easy reading keep me on track until I just had to click “the invite” to finally find out what in the world a “wordle” was all about. What a cute graphic to represent change for our school leaders!