Make It Happen

Doug Peterson's recent blog post pointed me in the direction of a blog by George Couros in which George shared a flow chart for making initiatives happen:

He proposes four steps to make things happen:
1. Identify what you want to do
2. Find someone else who is doing it and learn from them.
3. If number two doesn't work, figure out how to make it happen yourself.
And most importantly:
4. Want to make it happen.


Doug proposed an even simpler flow chart:

I'm sure that there are people who will say, "Yes but......"

I get that this flow chart is perhaps an oversimplification.  But that's a good thing! If we want to make things happen, then we may have to stop making them overcomplicated.  Not every change requires a task force, a committee, a feasibility study.  Sometimes, to make things happen, you just need a person or a group of people who are 100% committed to making it happen. 

Yes, we need to think about barriers and issues, and there may be policies and procedures that we have to follow, but we don't always have to wait until an idea has been examined from every possible angle, with every 't' crossed and every 'i' dotted, before proceeding. 

Here's one small example:

A grade 6 teacher had a class with many students who seemed to have great difficulty in paying attention in class. They were fidgeting, with a myriad of excuses for getting up - sharpening their pencils, getting a drink, borrowing an eraser from a friend, etc.  After checking with her principal, she used some classroom funds to purchase three large yoga balls for alternate seating.  She discussed the purpose of the yoga balls with the class - they were to help them learn, not for playing. The teacher and the students devised a schedule - the day was divided into three 100 minute blocks so every 100 minutes, three different students could have a turn using the yoga ball as a seat. Students were free to pass, if they didn't want a turn.

The impact on student learning was immediate. Students who were formerly 'wanderers' were now able to stay focused. And students who had been quiet and not participating began to participate when they were sitting on the yoga balls.  It seemed the yoga ball seats helped down-regulate some students and up-regulate others.

After about six weeks, the students wrote to the principal, advocating for funds for more yoga balls and explaining how the yoga balls had impacted their ability to learn. 

This teacher saw a need, she figured out what she thought would be best for her learners, and she made it happen.