Keep it Simple

After watching the “All Washed Up” video this week, I realized that we, as adults, really tend to overthink things entirely too much. This correlates with what Dr. Cross discussed about our misuse of common sense in her TEDX talk that we viewed last week. I now realize that I have to try to make this as simple as possible for everyone. As much as we all want to believe that we are extremely complex individuals, it turns out that we all respond best to the most simple of influencer cues.

I am going to try my best to use all six sources in my influencer strategy, especially if it will allow for 10 times the amount of “buy in” from my subjects. I really enjoyed how the children in the video were interviewed at the end of the test in order to find out which “influence” made them choose to wash their hands. It was interesting to see how everyone responds to things differently than others, even in younger children. I believe that creating a simple plan with simple implementations will allow for my colleagues and students to adapt and adopt my vision more willingly.

Personal Motivation: I want to motivate my colleagues and my students by challenging them to think about or remember their “why”. Allowing students to use technology to assist in their writing process will create stronger learners (if we show them how).

Personal Ability: Teachers will be allotted time to work together to discuss how they have been implementing writing workshop practices into their classrooms. Teachers can discuss and help each other with which strategies have been working well and which ones haven’t been as effective.

Social Motivation: The use of writing and the sharing of ideas between administrators, teachers, and students will become a common occurrence by allowing ample time for writing in classes and the use of weekly ePortfolio self reflection in each course.

Social Ability: Offer support and examples to teachers and administrators of how they can incorporate more writing into their classrooms.

Structural Motivation: Have students and staff share their learning experiences and accomplishments through video spot on a morning television show once a (week/month).

Structural Ability: Provide training, example lessons, and support for teachers on how they can incorporate more writing into their daily lessons through technology use and self reflection.

We are lucky that all students in our building already have one to one technology access. This will make the implementation process much easier to put my plan into place. It will also make the sharing of ideas between colleagues and students something that can be accomplished with little effort.

One of the ways that I really want to use peer influence is by having actual students come to professional development sessions and share their experiences of using technology in their classrooms to aid in the writing process and what they have learned through their self reflection processes. I believe that if the staff can see the positive outcomes that their students are truly having, that more people will be apt to get involved in the initiative.

References:

Cross, J. (2013, March 20). Three myths of behavior change-What you think you know that you don’t: Jeni Cross at TEDxCSU. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5d8GW6GdR0

Grenny, H. (2009, September 21). All washed up! VitalSmarts Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osUwukXSd0k&feature=youtu.be

Grenny, J. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.