Mobilizing the Essential 8

School District 57

Learning Intentions
Systems and Change highlights of
relevant resources
Innovation why is it important in our
schools?
Change and Leadership examining a
process Recognize the Spark, Fanning
the Flame, Passing the Torch
Seeing it in action CSS-NBC (from an
idea to action)

Innovation in SD57

Looking Back at VOWS 2013

Essential 8

(Pepper)

Each initiative must be an action oriented approach to

innovation with a focus on improving student learning
(VOWS 2013)
Our work is not done we must continue to challenge the
status quo to move our district from good to great
(VOWS 2013)
Our goal is to find processes, on a
systems level, to improve the life chances
of each student (VOWS 2013)

What does Innovation in Education

mean to you?

Innovation
The work of innovation in our schools is not a
program, it is not something we can announce,
proclaim or implement. It is an ongoing shift to
adjust our system to meet the needs of students in
a way that is reflective of the world they are living
in.
Chris Kennedy, Superintendent, West Vancouver, Culture of Yes

Innovation
a major innovation is one that is so successful that soon
after its introduction few people can remember what life
was like before the innovation was introduced.
its about the process by whichnew things take place. I
look at innovation as an approach.
Resource: Creating Innovators (Tony Wagner)

Trailer

Promoting Innovation in SD57

What are the structures/systems in
our schools and district that are
promoting a culture of innovation?

Promoting Innovation in SD57

Our district?
Essential 8
Learning Team Grants
School Plans

Support from C&I, Senior Administration, Board, Parents

BC Ed Plan
District Achievement Contract and District Budget
New Leadership Positions (Essential 8)

Vows
5 Foci
Community Partnerships

and more.

Our schools?
Collaboration and Leadership Groups
Professional Development

and more.

Innovation in Action

Innovation in Action
Real ProgramsReal Schools

Canadian Sport School Northern BC

Polar Performing Arts Program
Project Based Learning Program
Ab. Foci i.e. Youth Leadership Ab. Forganza
Trades
Leadership Programs
DP Todd Band Program
Polar Hockey Program and others
Learning Team Grants
Family of Schools Planning
Essential 8 opportunities to come!

Recognizing the Spark

Question Where did the Spark emerge from in
your schools?
Spark can emerge from:
Educator Driven - An educator with a passion and a specific
skill set
Location Surrounding Opportunities Opportunities of
Proximity

Tradition Torch Passing

Student Driven Demographics
Collaboration and Networking
Need ie. Trades, technology, etc
Listening teachers, students, parents, community, etc
Diffusion (see next slide)

Diffusion
How do we take an idea from one school, which is clearly
making a difference for learners, and replicate it in our other
schools? -> Dont replicate diffuse
Diffuse - spread, scatter, disseminate disperse

Move away from the language of scaling our work, to

networking our work. We are not trying to create
sameness in our classes and schools; rather, we are trying to
support the good work in one site by connecting it to the good
work in another.
Chris Kennedy, Superintendent, West Vancouver

The Development of a Sport School

Recognizing the Spark
Creating Urgency
Help others feel a gut-level determination to
move and win, now - BEGIN the
CONVERSATION!
- Pacific Sport Northern BC and SD57
- Partnership
- Kelowna and Victoria programs
- Senior Administration and C&I

Change and Moving Forward

The Development of a Sport School

Fanning the Flame
Form a Powerful Coalition and Create the Vision

- Key leaders and Stakeholders

- Create a think tank concept - Brainstorm
session
-

What could this look like in our schools/district

dream big and map it out (mental map)

- Begin to play with the idea and examine other

similar programs create your vision

The Development of a Sport School

Fanning the Flame
Communicating the Vision
- Creation of a proposal - research, draft
- Discuss and get support from C&I and Senior
Admin.
- Support from stakeholders (i.e. Sec. principals)
- Proposal to EPPC - approved
- Proposal to School Board approved
- Begin implementation

The Development of a Sport School

Fanning the Flame
Remove Obstacles and Barriers
-

Identify obstacles and barriers solutions/tools to

remove/limit
Hiring a Teacher passion and quality
Marketing the Program creating an identity
Reaching out to student athletes and LSOs and PSOs
Develop good practice/processes application, criteria,
interview process and questions, acceptance process
Communication is key! Make sure everyone is well
informed
Getting to day one!

Sustainability
Keep the fire burning

The Development of a Sport School

Passing the Torch
Create Short-Term Wins

- Nothing motivates more than success

- Chose sure-fire targets that you can
achieve
- Celebrate short term success on your
journey to long term sustainability

The Development of a Sport School

Passing the Torch
Build on the Change
- Each success provides an opportunity to
build on what went right and identify what
went wrong (Sport School Survey)
- Continue to identify and remove barriers
- Keep ideas fresh by bringing in new change
agents and leaders for your change
coalition (Collaborative Opportunities)

The Development of a Sport School

Passing the Torch
Anchor the Change in Corporate Culture
- Talk about progress every chance you get
- Tell success stories
Media requests and stories

Visit by former Education Minister: Don McRae

Presentation to Education Minister: Peter
Fassbender

- Ensure leaders continue to support you

Reported back to the School Board in Year 2

Show it and Sell it

10 Picture Tour

(resource: http://thelearningnation.blogspot.ca/2011/03/my-10-picture-

tour.html)

1) Use a cellphone camera, then you won't have to pack/find another electronic gizmo
2) Take 10 minutes. That's it. Then you won't find a reason not to do it. And it won't be too
"staged". And you won't take a 100 pictures and spend hours going through them (I took 14, and two of
the ones I scrapped had my thumbs in them)
3) Take pictures around your school that you think showcase some pretty cool things. They don't just
have to be of kids learning, we believe you when you say they are...
4) Publish them with basic captions so we know what we are looking at.

Elevator Pitch

(resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvxtC60V6kc)

You get on to an elevator on the first floor of a building. The person who enters is a new
parent to Prince George looking to buy a house and enrol in a school. What is your
Elevator Pitch? Why should they choose you and your school/catchment area? What
do you have to offer?

Passing the Torch

What torches do you have burning in

your schools that you need to sustain?

Passing the Torch Closing Comments

Partnership - The idea of connecting with community resources is a
partnership we are just beginning to figure out, and the community seems
willing and interested
Passion - There is a real interest in depth and specialization to pursue
passions

Community Are there more options for students to stay at their home
school for the majority of their program
Teachers: New initiatives are often guided by passionate teachers
Blending: The lines of school/non-school activities are becoming increasingly
blurred
The creation of new programs/initiatives is an interesting journey, and often,
challenges your own resistance to change. You cant help to ponder whether
some of these programs would gain traction many are booming with
interest, which makes me also wonder, so, what is next?

Mobilizing the Essential 8

Innovation in SD57
RECOGNIZING THE SPARK
(seeing the need)
FANNING THE FLAME (making the move
and supporting innovation)
PASSING THE TORCH (sustainability and
fighting through to the finish)

Relevant Resources

It Starts with One (Black and Gregersen)

Changing Individuals Changes Organizations
Barrier #1 Failure to See

Solutions/Tools Helping People See the Need

Barrier #2 Failure to Move
Solution/Tools Helping People Make the Move

Barrier #3 Failure to Finish

Solution/Tools Helping People Fight through to the
Finish

It Starts with One (Black and Gregersen)

Highlight

The key to successful change is not systems such as information,

pay, or communication, but at the core its people. If you cannot get
the people to see the need for change, to make the needed changes,
and to follow through, all the time and money spent is wasted.
Helping People See the Need the old right thing can be the wrong
thing, paint a picture of the new right thing and a pathway from
doing the new right thing poorly to doing it very well

- People recognize they cant go from doing old things well to new
things well
- Go from doing wrong thing well to the new thing poorly
- People must be able to see and believe in a path that will take
them from doing the right thing poorly to doing it well

The Fourth Way

The Fourth Way (Hargreaves and Shirley)

If a succinct way can be found to explain what a system
does well, it is easier for others to learn what a system
does well
Tangible hope must be evident in entire systems in
whole collections of schools that reveal how profound
change can benefit the many, and can continue to do so
across different leaders and over many years

The Fourth Way, Hargreaves and Shirley, p.50

The Fourth Way (Hargreaves and Shirley)

Six Pillars of Purpose and Partnership
(Supporting Change)
An Inspiring and Inclusive Vision
Strong Public Engagement
Achievement Through Investment
Corporate Educational Responsibility
Students as Partners in Change
Mindful Learning and Teaching

The Fourth Way (Hargreaves and Shirley)

Three Principles of Professionalism (driving
change)
High-Quality Teachers

Positive and Powerful Associations

Lively Learning Communities

The Fourth Way (Hargreaves and Shirley)

Four Catalysts of Coherence
(sustaining change)
Sustainable Leadership
Responsibility Before Accountability
Differentiation and Diversity
Integrating Networks

Integrating Networks
high school students might work in their
home schools in the morning and then
mix with other students across their
local network of schools to undertake
inspiring and enjoyable learning
together in the afternoons (p.100)

Leading Change in your School (Reeves)

Creating Conditions for Change

Planning Change
Implementing Change
Sustaining Change

Leading Change in your School (Reeves)

Four Imperatives of Cultural Change:
- Leaders must define what will not
changes
- Organizational culture will change with
leadership actions
- Use the right change tools for your
system
- Change in culture requires relentless
personal attention and scut work by
the leaders

Leading Change in your School (Reeves)

Every Organization suffers to some degree from
a gap between intention and action. Leadership
can make the difference.
Closing the Implementation Gap
- Create short-term wins

- Recognize effective practices simply and

effectively throughout the year
- Emphasize effectiveness, not popularity
- Make the case for change compelling, and
associate it with moral imperatives rather than

The Six Secrets of Change ( Fullan)

Love Your Employees

Connect Peers with Purpose
Capacity Building Prevails
Learning is the Work
Transparency Rules
Systems Learn

Confidence

(Kanter)

Confidence in the System

In the midst of winning cycles, people naturally gravitate
towards behaving in ways the support confidence
Accountability
Collaboration
Initiative

These behaviours are central to confidence. They

Feed motivation and morale
Create a culture that makes it easier to solve problems
Encourage high performance
Create a cycle of success
Confidence, Rosabeth Kanter

Confidence

(Kanter)

Ultimate Sign of Confidence

A virtually self-organizing system in which
people feel empowered to seize initiative, to
solve problems, and to seed innovations
without being told to do it. They just do it

Confidence

(Kanter)

Important Work
Important work has a clear strategic focus
and significance, so that it matters to
everyones fate; and it offers the
opportunity for everyone in the system to
see where their efforts might make a
difference

Dr. John Kotter

To successfully react to windows of opportunity, regardless of the
focus innovation, growth, culture, cost structure, technology
a new methodology of change leadership is required.

Thirty years of research by leadership guru Dr. John Kotter have

proven that 70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail. Why
do they fail? Because organizations often do not take the holistic
approach required to see the change through.
By improving their ability to change, organizations can increase their
chances of success, both today and in the future. Without this ability
to adapt continuously, organizations cannot thrive.

8 Step Change Model (Kotter)

1. Create Urgency
2.Form a Powerful Coalition

3. Create a Vision for Change

4.Communicate the Vision

5.Remove Obstacles
6.Create Short-Terms Wins

7. Build on the Change

8.Anchor the Change in Corporate Culture

YIELD SIGNS Keep in Mind

It Starts with One (Black and Gregersen)
- Most people, including ourselves, are
programmed to resist change
Example: A simple experiment
- When people feel pressure, almost instinctively,
we resist And the harder the push, can mean
more the resistance
- Unlocking individual change starts and ends with
the mental maps people carry in their heads how
they see the organization and their world at work
- If what is in peoples heads is not remapped, then
their hearts and hands have nothing to follow

The Principal of Change

Stories of learning and leading
Will Smith When Will was a 12-year-old kid, his dad gave him an impossible
task: rebuild the brick wall in front of his business. It took Will and his little
brother a year-and-a-half, but they built the wall.
How did a couple of little kids build a big brick wall? Will explains, You dont
try to build a wall. You dont set out to build a wall. You dont say, Im going
to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall thats ever been built. You dont
start there. You say: Im going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be
laid. And you do that every single day, and soon youll have a wall.

My suggestion for people wanting to change what they do? Focus on one
thing at a time. Look at something you currently do, and ask how you could
do that better, and improve learning opportunities for kids.
Success breeds success, and if you focus on that one brick at a time, soon
you will have something that is so much better than what you started.