Today’s post is rather particular to the world of k-12 school, so those of you who have been so kind to follow so far can take a powder for the next two days if this is not an area of interest to you.
For years I have been frustrated by how difficult it is to enact true change within a school community. I enter the year with good intentions and at least what I consider to be sound plans, but by the end of the year too often I’m finding that nothing or little has been done, and I’m using the language of “next year.” What keeps happening? Well, as I have experienced this yearly frustration, I’ve come up with a couple of ideas about this silent enemy that kills innovation.
The traditional school year begins during the first week of September. Teachers and administrators return from vacation at the highest level of energy and enthusiasm. New programs are introduced with the assurance that as soon as the confusion of the opening days has passed, the real work will begin.
However, after the first couple of weeks of September, schools throughout the United States fall into the “Hallogivingmas” holiday season. Each of the three foundational kid holidays and its “season” become the true focus of every campus. At the secondary level (where honestly i think these holidays have just as much power) there is the focus on a football season, which is really what the first quarter of the year is about. Having experienced this season for many years as a teacher and administrator, I can testify to its power…particularly its power to push things off. It is hard to get anything done in October, more difficult in November, and even calling a meeting after the first week of December is seen as abuse. We are now to the turning of the calendar year, and our project and innovation has not yet taken shape.
Returning in January does not feel like the return in September, people are tired, grumpy, and looking toward the end of the first semester. Plus so much of the routine of the school year is set that change means undoing something already in place. The sameness monster has completely fortified the status quo. February and March pass very quickly, and by April, the best one can do is start to suggest that we will definitely make these changes next year.
As it is unlikely that holidays will become less important or engrossing in our culture (Target wouldn’t allow it), the current organization of the school year, aligned with the agrarian calendar, is a perfect system to resist change. Speakers often mention that a classroom of today would be completely recognizable to a teacher of a hundred years ago. Of course this is true, it is built that way!
What to do about it? Well, I have a couple of ideas, but those will wait until tomorrow (see what I just did there? Two days for one topic.).
As always I welcome your comments.