Bringing Organizational Change to the Music Classroom
creative commons image from audiencestack.com
As I reflect on the past 5 weeks and the different methodologies I have been introduced to have helped me see my own abilities to enact change in my building and district. It is not an easy undertaking and will take a lot of planning and effort. But if I use the tools, techniques and strategies presented to me in this course, I can make great strides in bringing positive change to the music students in my district.
Our first task in this course was to really look at and discover our WHY statement. In order to truly reach our audience's heart, we have to begin with the why. The why statement becomes the foundation for our our true vision and purpose for the change that is being presented.
Then we looked at two different strategies to influence change. The influencer strategy helped narrow down and identify our goals and vital behaviors. I discovered this was a challenge with my innovation plan. Although, my goals fit nicely into this model, I began discovering that my innovation plan goals are too broad which made choosing true vital behaviors quite difficult. This is something I am going to have to continue working out as I move forward with my plan. My original plan was very specific to my individual music classroom. In looking at influencing and motivating others to adopt a blended classroom and ePortfolios in their music or recorder classes, there are just too many pieces to the puzzle. But, I do have a much better understanding of how to use the influencer model and its 6 Sources of Influence to motivate my colleagues. When I fine tune my plan and begin to present it to the other teachers in the district, I cannot forget to plan for at least 4 different sources of influence for each change I want to enact. This is something I had never considered before. I was a big proponent of common sense as a motivation tool. WOW! I could have not been more wrong. Common sense is different for every person. It is based on individual life experiences. It cannot be used to motivate change.
To have even more success in influencing change, the 4 Disciplines of Execution model can be used in conjunction with the 6 sources of influence. The 4DX model focuses on 1-2 "Wildly Important Goals" so as not to add to the whirlwind of daily life. This Wildly Important Goal really made me look at my innovation plan and find what was most most important and what I felt could really convince my colleagues to get onboard with. E-Portfolios in the music classroom became my focus. My favorite aspect of the 4DX model is the accountability aspect. I feel like all too often in schools, we share these grand ideas and changes that really should be utilized, but we never hold each other accountable. We never look back to see if the change is occurring at the same rate for all parties and if the change is actually working the way we hoped it would. However, I do see the need for several crucial conversations to take place along these lines. A scoreboard can't be used as an "I gotcha" tool because it would take away the safety and add an element of fear to individuals that might not jump on board immediately.
The final step I must conquer in presenting and expanding my innovation plan to our elementary music teachers are the crucial conversations that music take place. I understand that not all teachers will be on board in the beginning. I must take a step back and to consider everyone's comments and concerns equally and not negative reactions personally. In the book, Crucial Conversations, we are given a wonderful plan of action in getting started and making it through conversations that really matter. (Pattterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler, 2012).
For someone like me that is an extremely shy and non-confrontational person, this very specific plan for a conversation could change my life. I have always been a quiet leader. As long as things went well, I did great. But the second conflict arises, I tend to step back and let my desires go. It just wasn't worth the difficult conversations and uneasy feelings. But, I cannot be a successful digital coach or leader in a school district if I am not willing to take on those difficult conversations. I look forward to rereading this book and really trying to incorporate some of its ideas not only in my professional life, but my personal life as well.
Resources
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change: 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Kshatri, J. (2016, February 28). Crucial conversations [Blog post]. Retrieved from Pulse website:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ crucial-conversations-jay-kshatri
McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2012). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York, NY: Free Press.
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.) [Kindle].