Module 2 Strand D2

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Module 2 Strand D2
Change
Resistance to Change



Change

As we move toward making schools work for every child, the process of change is inevitable. Knowing and understanding some of the key elements of the change process often helps us to sustain our vision and direction.

Leaders have the role of modeling or showing the way. As a teacher leader the responsibility to demonstrate the need for changes in the delivery of special education has become even greater than it has been in the past.

Imagine!!!

Every 2-3 years the knowledge base doubles

Every day 7000 scientific and technical articles are published

Satellites orbiting the globe send enough data to fill 19 million volumes in the Library of Congress every two weeks

High school graduates have been exposed to more information than grandparents were in their lifetime

Only 15 percent of jobs will require college education, but nearly all jobs will require the equivalent knowledge of a college education

There will be as much change in the next thee decades as there was in the last three centuries

From Leadership and Technology published by the :
National School Board's Associations Institute for the Transfer of Technology to Education.

Exercise #5 Reflection - Leaders' Actions

Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Now think about the 5 people you consider exemplary leaders in special education and write their names down the left-hand column. Opposite each name, in the right hand column, record the events or actions, which you identify for each of these individuals. Reflect upon these actions and consider what difference(s) or change(s) resulted because of them.

(This part is for your eyes only.)

Now consider your personal best leadership experience. What difference/or change resulted? Who initiated the experience that you've selected as your personal best? Respond in a one-minute paper.

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Resistance to Change

"The ability to understand and overcome resistance to change increases when one recognizes and avoids common misconceptions about change." Fullan

Change is not easy - as Rafiki , the baboon said to Simba in The Lion King..."Change is hard".

We never did it that way before.

It was good enough for me, it's good enough for my kids.

I've seen fads come and go, and I 'm still here.

What does it matter, it won't work.

I don't like what we're doing now, but I don't see any alternative.

Exercise #6 - Reflection - Responding to Resistance

How do you respond to people with whom you find are resisting changes?

Now you are going to wave your magic wand again and you are responsible for making 3 major changes in your school to move it toward a more inclusive setting. What would they be?

How will you reduce the resistance to these changes?

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