One of the things I hear a lot from teachers is, “I feel like my class just doesn’t listen during my lesson, and it takes forever to get through it because I have to correct so many behaviors.”  I remember wondering a few years ago how I was going to compete with YouTube stars for the attention of my 4th graders.  I believe whole group instruction is not an efficient way to teach or learn.  Successful teaching is not one size fits all.  Teaching isn’t regurgitating knowledge to learners, it is standing beside them guiding them to become self-motivated learners.  I believe small group instruction during station rotations will give more focused instruction to students and they will take ownership over their learning when given choice and voice through authentic learning experiences when working at other stations.  

Lev Vygotsky, a social constructivist theorist, believed that human development is a socially mediated process in which children acquire their cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society (Tan, 2002).  Vygotsky’s thinking is similar to Grenny (2013}, where he emphasized the importance of social roles in impacting behavior change, stating it is more important to establish social norms and provide social support and engagement to train and model the desired outcome or behavior.  Just as my students learn from one another as they navigate through math problems or a coding app, I believe the development of teachers is a socially mediated process as well.  Choosing to teach less whole group can be exceptionally difficult or unpleasant to some educators because they know what they will lose (control over student learning), but they are unaware of what they will gain.  According to Grenny (2013), influencers should avoid verbal persuasion, and focus on building trust by modeling the desired outcome within their own classroom while encouraging peers to create their own plan for less whole group teaching. 

In the past, whole group teaching was the norm and every learner did the same worksheet and was told to memorize the same information for the test on Friday.  But, Seth Godin states that there is no need to memorize formulas or historical dates because they are just a google search away.  Long gone are the days of whole group instruction.  Learners are more technologically advanced and we must learn to meet them where they are at, taking full advantage of the insane amount of knowledge we have available to us.  So, how can we be more efficient in education and connect technology into blended learning classrooms?  We can implement station rotations with less whole group instruction.  During Eagle Time (intervention block), students will rotate through three stations, one small group with the teacher, a hands-on station, and a technology station.  The teacher station will have more focused instruction on areas of need and will give the opportunity to build stronger relationships with students that will help them find their passions.  The second station can be as simple as an exit ticket checking for understanding or student choice boards. The third station is an online learning platform where students will take ownership over their learning growth through highly engaging activities with real-time feedback.  As I continue to look at my Innovation Plan. I am excited to see this plan unfold as I continue to fail forward and share my passion for efficiency in not only the classroom but education as a whole. 

Finding vital behaviors:

• Notice the Obvious:  What behaviors are “obvious but underused” (Grenny, 2013, p. 47)? Small group teaching is underused at Armstrong. Our campus has team planning every Wednesday for 1 hour.  This time has been underutilized as a collaborative planning time.  By using this time that’s already built into our schedule, teachers would be able to collaboratively plan for station rotations and seek guidance/training on implementing station rotations,  tools and strategies as needed.  
• Look for Crucial Moments: When does “behavior put success at risk” (Grenny, 2013, p. 47)?   As with any new initiative, team members need to have buy-in.  They also need time to plan and implement which could be 30 minutes of team planning each week.  Offer a time to model expected behaviors, provide social encouragement/support, and set up accountability (Covey, et al., 2012 & Grenny, 2013).  Our principal has decided our primary goal and that is more small group instruction during the intervention block. She attends our planning meetings weekly to make sure we are planning small groups.  My team and I feel less creative during these meetings with her there because we feel like we are under a microscope.  
• Learn from Positive Deviants: Who is facing the challenge, yet finding success (Grenny, 2013, p. 47)?  Positive deviants in my organization include: Paige Korte-Reading Interventionist, Lea Ray-4th Grade Teacher, Laura Rollins-Instructional Coach, Madeline Restrepo-2nd Grade Team Lead
• Spot Culture Busters: Do teachers feel like they can speak up without getting in trouble(Grenny, 2013, p. 47)? Teachers in our school don’t feel comfortable or safe to speak up about something they feel strongly about from personal experience.   For example, Eagle Time is 8:15a-9:00a, M-F for the whole school, and people have spoken up about it not working for their class at that time. They were not allowed to change times.  Teachers need to feel safe to fail forward as they begin to change how they teach and speak up and be heard about what is working/not working.  Principals and Instructional coaches join our team planning every week, and it makes the creative space feel less safe for many teachers on our campus.  Accountability is also a problem when creating new norms.  According to Grenny (2013, p. 179), the strength of new norms is dependent on the consistency with which people are willing to speak up and defend them. They have to have buy-in and they have to feel safe.  Those two things will be challenging because as of now our principal has instructed everyone to pull small groups only and we switch kids and subjects every two weeks. 

 

References

Covey, S., McChesney, C., & Huling, J. (2012). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. Simon and Schuster.

Cross, J. (2013, March 20). Three myths of behavior change – what you think you know that you don’t. YouTube. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from

 

Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change. McGraw-Hill Education. 

Grenny, J. (2013, April 26). Change behavior- change the world: Joseph Grenny at tedxbyu. YouTube. Retrieved January 26, 2022, from

 

Tan, S. C., & Hung, D. (2002). Beyond information pumping: Creating a constructivist e-learning environment. Educational Technology, 42(5), 48-54. http://hdl.handle.net/10497/4735

Utecht, J., & Keller, D. (2019). Becoming Relevant Again: Applying Connectivism Learning Theory to Today’s Classrooms. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1219672.pdf