The "Buy In"

Our why should be the reasons why we come to work every morning, spend so many hours preparing lessons for our students, and take the time to get to know how to best help each one of them to achieve at their highest potential. However, as educators, we are constantly challenged by countless district, state, and government level initiatives that seem to stand in the way of the real reason why we chose to become educators to begin with.

John Kotter makes it clear that in order to create change, we have to establish a sense of urgency within the nature of our message in order to get others to “buy in” to what we are trying to accomplish. We see this used every day in advertising. Advertisers know that if they can appeal to your heart and create that sense of urgency and need, that you will undoubtedly be tempted to “buy in”. I know that I have also seen my own administration and guest speakers try to create this “buy in” effect during countless professional development days, but for most of us that have been in this position, their message is always lacking one key component. They never really explain their “why”. So, there is really no surprise, that by the end of the school year all of the new initiatives that were thrown onto our list of “must dos” have been completely forgotten about.

Improving writing skills and scores has always been one of the top initiatives that is placed upon the teachers in my district at the beginning of every school year. We are always given a pep talk, but then there is never any sort of action to make this improvement a reality. As an English teacher, I have decided that it is time for me to step up and help make it happen.

Why: We are trying to prepare our students, by name, for success at every level.

How: We engage students in authentic learning processes and opportunities which allow them to take ownership of their learning experiences.

What: We prepare students to communicate through writing using 21st century and peer relation skills that they will be able to use successfully in their lives after high school, no matter what opportunities they choose to pursue.

I believe that taking on this challenge by allowing our students to take ownership of their writing and giving them a chance to write in authentic ways will actually help both the students and the staff. Students will buy in because they will be allowed to write about topics that they are passionate about. My colleagues will buy in, because they will realize that many of them were already teaching these skills in their classes, they were just talking about it too much, instead of letting the students take over. We all know that we do this entirely too often, because this is how teaching has always been. We talk, students listen, then they show us that they heard and understood what we said. I am over it, and I know our students are too.

I am really hoping that by appealing to the hearts of my colleagues that I am able to create a sense of urgency in them that will allow all of us, as a team, to start challenging ourselves to let our students own their writing. I know that the students are capable of rising to the challenge, we just have to get out of their way.

References:

Kotter, J. Leading change: Establish a sense of urgency. (n.d.). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI&feature=youtu.be

Sinek, S. Start with why — How great leaders inspire action. TEDxPugetSound. (n.d.). https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA