Big Picture Goals
In Big Picture Growth, identifying the goal, 100% of students will self-report growth in at least one of the 21st century skills through a personal reflection compilation by the end of the school year, is the first step in accomplishing my innovation plan, teaching 21st century skills in a blended learning environment. The vital behaviors of engaged participation, reflection, and big world connection will happen as students complete self-reporting surveys at the end of each grading cycle while engaging in teacher and peer feedback to use in personal reflection. The six sources of influence - motivation and ability in the personal, social, and structural means - incorporate specific actions that will be taken by myself, students, and the other influencers of university representatives and business professionals.
To truly execute these tasks and monitor progress towards the big picture goal, the four disciplines of execution must be implemented as we move through the five stages of change. For students, the whirlwind is quite literally everything else going on in their life: other academic classes, extracurricular activities, part-time or full-time jobs, family obligations, mental health concerns, physical health concerns, future opportunities and plans for college and career, etc. Regardless of the whirlwind, utilizing the time in class to focus on learning 21st century skills like collaboration, communication, metacognition, reflection, and feedback in the lens of mathematics can support concerns within the whirlwind without being directly in the chaos. The education system focuses so much on content knowledge on the lower levels of the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy that the higher levels of the cognitive domain as well as the affective and psychomotor domains are neglected, if even considered. You can read more about the three domains of learning in my post Affective is Effective.
Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling wrote about four practices in their book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution (Covey et al., 2018):
- Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important
- Discipline 2: Act on the Lead Measures
- Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
- Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability
As these disciplines are executed, five stages of change will occur (Covey et al., 2018).
- Stage 1: Getting Clear
- Stage 2: Launch
- Stage 3: Adoption
- Stage 4: Optimization
- Stage 5: Habits
Because my vision focuses on partnering with students in the classroom before expanding out to my content team and campus, I am using these four disciplines of execution with students first.
Discipline 1: All Hands on Deck
Taking the goal of 100% of students will self-report growth in at least one of the 21st century skills through a personal reflection compilation by the end of the school year can be presented to students our Wildly Important Goal (WIG): "Growing in a choice of at least one of the 21st century skills from a survey-established percentage to a 50% increase by May 2024” and possibly “Accomplishing 100% of personal WIG goals by May 2024.”
Part of my implementation outline establishes a goal-setting structure:
The WIG for our classroom aligns with my goal to get 100% of students to self-report growth, but each student should also establish their own, having the choice, voice, and ownership to decide what 21st century skill has their most personal growth potential.
Part of my implementation outline establishes a goal-setting structure:
- Determine current understanding of 21st century skills using surveys
- Identify which 21st century skills need the most work
- Write a personalized goal and identify evidence to support goal progress
- Reflect on progress of goal throughout semester and adjust goal accordingly
The WIG for our classroom aligns with my goal to get 100% of students to self-report growth, but each student should also establish their own, having the choice, voice, and ownership to decide what 21st century skill has their most personal growth potential.
Discipline 2: Put Feet on the Ground
We often look at the lag measures rather than lead measures because we live in a NOW culture. The lead measures are predictive and influenceable, and they produce the lead measure results (Covey et al., 2018).
- Lead measure: Learn about one 21st century skill per week.
- This lead measure can be accomplished through a variety of media and structures, such as articles, videos, email correspondence between university representatives and business professionals, etc.
- Quick checkpoints to gauge whether or not the student recognizes a 21st century skill in a scenario can also determine if learning occurred.
- Lead measure: Reflect on how the 21st century skill learned about in that week applies to math content.
- This lead measure can be accomplished through a variety of media and structures as well, such as discussion boards, surveys, reflection videos, and peer conversations.
- Lag measure: Show at least 50% growth in 21st century skill choice.
Discipline 3: Keep Eyes on the Prize
Especially with students, gamifying anything almost instantly increases engagement. Having a visible scoreboard will not only inspire students to contribute to the class success, they will be able to compete against classes to make even bigger growth.
Keeping a compelling scorecard helps everyone know they are on the right track in accomplishing the lead and lag measures (Covey et al., 2018). Because the measures above require active student participation, the scoreboard will include the percentages of participation. As the students move into the later stages of change, the scoreboard could potentially be adapted to meet new needs. I foresee the scoreboard being available digitally through our learning management system, Canvas, and attempting to automate updates after each class period.
Keeping a compelling scorecard helps everyone know they are on the right track in accomplishing the lead and lag measures (Covey et al., 2018). Because the measures above require active student participation, the scoreboard will include the percentages of participation. As the students move into the later stages of change, the scoreboard could potentially be adapted to meet new needs. I foresee the scoreboard being available digitally through our learning management system, Canvas, and attempting to automate updates after each class period.
Discipline 4: Speak Your Mind (and Progress)
At a minimum, weekly accountability is vital to achieving the WIG. The moment inconsistency creeps into the space, the whirlwind takes over and the WIG is lost.
Typically, there is an assessment covering mathematical content at least once a week. Immediately following these assessments, there will be a check-in where students can report on what they have committed to by asking “What are one or two most important things I can do this week to impact the lead measures?” (Covey et al., 2018). Reviewing the scoreboard will be part of that process. Like the lead measure, reflect on how the 21st century skill learned about in that week applies to math content, these check-ins can be accomplished through a variety of media and structures.
As the teacher, my role will be to support clearing the path so students can accomplish the lead measures. I will also identify the models, potentials, and resisters and leverage their mindsets to achieve larger impact.
Typically, there is an assessment covering mathematical content at least once a week. Immediately following these assessments, there will be a check-in where students can report on what they have committed to by asking “What are one or two most important things I can do this week to impact the lead measures?” (Covey et al., 2018). Reviewing the scoreboard will be part of that process. Like the lead measure, reflect on how the 21st century skill learned about in that week applies to math content, these check-ins can be accomplished through a variety of media and structures.
As the teacher, my role will be to support clearing the path so students can accomplish the lead measures. I will also identify the models, potentials, and resisters and leverage their mindsets to achieve larger impact.
Having focus and consistency in these four disciplines, despite any setbacks, will help students progress through the five stages of change. There are certain actions that happen in each of the stages too.
Stage 1: Establish
*Model focus on WIG
*Identify lead measures *Create the scoreboard *Schedule check-ins |
Stage 2: Start
*Maintain focus and energy
*Trust the process *Identify student groups |
Stage 3: Adopt
*Adhere to process
*Hold self and others accountable *Make adjustments *Address issues |
Stage 4: Enhance
*Encourage creative ideas and celebrate
*Recognize follow-through and growth |
Stage 5: Habituate
*Celebrate WIG achievements
*Support individuals to become high performers *Establish new WIGs and go back to Stage 1 |
Being precise is how I plan on addressing these actions. Overthinking leads me to get overwhelmed and shut down, reverting back to what I am comfortable with, but as the leader, I need to be the model and focus on the WIG.
My Why is that everyone deserves access to opportunities that nurture the deeply intrinsic human desire to make the most out of life by learning and growing daily through experiences as individuals in a global community. The Big Picture Growth will lead to Big Picture Goals because students will be engaged in actions that lead to acquiring 21st century skills, skills that will be valuable for them regardless of their future, openings doors to opportunities in college, career, and/or military.
References
Covey, S., McChesney, C., & Huling, J. (2018). 4 Disciplines Of Execution. Simon & Schuster Ltd.