My innovation plan started my personal desire to increase my knowledge to support my passion of teaching early learners. In my organization, my goal is to improve the service we provide to the learners who attend. So I envisioned improving the existing curriculum by integrating technology and additional instruction in literacy using the SMART method (Horn and Staker, 2014). Reflecting on how I learned I developed my learning philosophy and began the development of my plan starting with determining what factors should be considered while creating my innovation plan. After formulating these considerations I created my ground work for my innovation plan and I began to understand how beneficial the COVA approach was. I finally recognized that I had been working on a project that was my own and I had choices of how and what I would do to accomplish my goal of improving our current curriculum. I used several tools to address these. First I used Finks Taxonomy to create my BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), of having the “Young learners reading on a first grade level before they entered kindergarten” this guided the creation of my preliminary plan with general goals and assessments. Then through the use of the UbD (Understanding by Design) approach, (1) desired results, (2) determine assessment evidence, (3) learning plan experiences (Patterson, Grenny, 2013), I was able to compile more specific ideas to accomplish my goal of using technological integration within the curriculum.
After determining the components that would make up my curriculum I created a plan that would include providing professional development for the staff. During the professional development teachers would be orientated about how the planned change would occur. This would allow for them to voice their concerns and even make suggestions that would improve the success of implementation. I have learned from the DLL program that collaboration facilitates cooperation. Allowing input from teachers and administrators can be the influence for change to occur. After examining the book “Influencer: The new science of change” I associated some of my own challenges I went through when ask to implement new responsibilities as a teacher. Getting proper training and on-going support from administrators was most important to my job performance. I realize that change is not something that comes instantaneously and making sure staff receives immediate and on-going training for support during the implementation process can contribute to a successful transition.
The status of my innovation plan at this time is I have acquired the necessary internet access and four iPad devices to setup a small scale beta learning environment to gather assessment data prior to full implementation. The students who are currently participating are being given pre-literacy instruction to support using my plan in the learning environment. This is one thing I had not planned for in the initial development of my innovation plan. Starting small will help me get a better picture of what works and what does not work in my plan. Adjustments are a part of change especially when you stay focused on the goal of improving results. Initially getting resources (internet and devices) was a concern but after finding an affordable solution, I was allowed to begin working on establishing the small scale learning environment. After reflecting on my plan I learned that starting small and getting only the essentials are what is most important and taking time to reflect will help to fine tune your plan. Staying flexible and not taking critical questions personal is a must when having crucial conversations, because that helps in planning for possible obstacles. Promotion of my plan will include frequent communication with parents and my administrators once implementation starts. Maintaining the focus of T.E.A.M. (together everyone accomplishes more) has helped me to stay focused on the goal. Working together for the benefit of the learners and not my personal agenda is my goal. In conclusion, I have learned from this experience that staying focused on your “why” keeps you moving forward and starting small can keep you from being overwhelmed.
References
Fink, L.D.. (2005). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from https://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf
Horn, M. B. and Staker, H. (2014). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. John Wiley & Sons.
Patterson, K. and Grenny, J. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Empowering Others With Knowledge 