Before You Make a Change, Consider this!

I’ve been growing a plant in the office at work for a few months and it began to outgrow its original pot. Not that I’m a green thumb or anything, but I watched my grandmother care for plants my whole life so, if nothing else, I knew it was time for a new pot. After weeks of procrastinating, I finally bought a pot big enough. However, it wasn’t as simple as changing the environment if I wanted to keep that plant alive-- I soon discovered new issues.

My new dilemma was that the pot was now big enough, but the amount of soil was no longer sufficient to supply my plant with the nutrients it needed. Its new environment lacked necessary resources to sustain the growth that was in progress, so you can imagine what I had to do next—get more dirt! Going through this process with a plant made me wonder how this shows up in our classrooms and early childhood programs on a regular basis.

As leaders, we will change our expectations for teachers (e.g., curriculum, assessment, planning time, engaging with families, etc.), but we don’t always provide them will all of the tools and support they need to accomplish the new goal. We think that simply providing new materials or relating the expectation is enough, but it’s not. When you change one part of a system, you have to consider how it impacts others. The truth is…sometimes, we don’t adjust our expectations to factor in reality. To help alleviate frustration for both you and the teachers, here are some things you should consider before making changes in your program:

1.       Does the teacher already have the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to successfully carry out this new task?

2.       Will the necessary tools and resources be available when they need them (e.g., training, technical support, materials)?

3.       How will this change impact their current routine, and what adjustments will they have to make?

4.       What will I need to do to help facilitate the implementation of the new change?

I think it’s safe to say that if you can answer each of these questions, then your new change may be ready to go. If not, it may be a great idea to slow down and spend a little more time planning, or even solicit the teachers’ input to help navigate it. Change is inevitable, and all changes won’t be easy, but we can do our part to show that it’s a shared effort and we’re all in it together.

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