I suffer from good-idea-itis.  I have trouble sorting out the good ideas from the good ideas that are right for my organization.  Can you relate?  When we work with schools, we see a bunch of hugely motivated people often working on the wrong thing.  Or at least the wrong thing for them.  I find that this is a great time to stop and take stock so we don’t spin our wheels all year long and wonder how on earth it happened!

Here are my most helpful “taking stock” questions:

Question 1:  What are you willing to “go big” on?

What is it that is so important, instructionally, that if every teacher improved it just a little bit would make a huge impact on student achievement?

Question 2:  What will you have to do to “go big” on that thing?

• What will the people need to do?
• What will you need to do?
• What will your leadership team have to do?
• How will teacher teams need to work on this?
• What materials do you have to get this done?

Question 3: What good ideas will you have to leave behind?

Good ideas WILL need to be left on the table to make room for the really great, important ones.  What are good ideas that you don’t want to give up, but need to, so that you can move forward on the excellent stuff?

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Here’s an example of what that might look like in real life!

Question 1:  What are you willing to “go big” on?

We are willing to go big on using instructional aides to teach important skills to the most struggling students during language arts instruction for 40 minutes daily instead of pulling students out to work outside of the classroom teacher’s control.

Question 2:  What will you have to do to “go big” on that thing?

• We will have to look at the data to determine which grades need the most instructional time with aides right now
• We will have to adjust schedules in all grade levels
• We will have to stop using aides to cover classes or duties as needed – will need a permanent solutions to how they “fill in”
• We will have to find co-planning time with aides and classroom teachers
• We will have to train instructional aides on very specific techniques for intervening on the foundational skills with the lowest performers
• We will have to design routines for the aide entering the classroom and getting kids to the right spot so we don’t lose instructional time
• We will plan to reassess this plan every six weeks and make adjustments

Question 3: What good ideas will you have to leave behind?

• That our new program will solve every problem we currently have in bringing kids to benchmark in LA
• That lowering class size/group size is our #1 priority and will make the biggest difference
• That centers are the answer to grouping kids and providing targeted instruction
• That by isolating students outside of the classroom in small groups makes them focus even more than if they were peeled off within the classroom

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If you found this post helpful, you’ll probably really find this and this helpful, too!