However, the literature has debunked the myth that veteran instructors on the teaching staff would require minimal professional learning to initiate and sustain implementation of the Wits and Wisdom curriculum. Knoster's (1993) 'Managing Complex Change' model was of significant importance when examining the challenges faced by the leadership team at CCB in implementing the Wits and Wisdom curriculum.
Teachers are motivated and energized by their
After generating these themes, I compiled each theme's associated evidence from the data collected. To ensure meaningfulness, I critically evaluated the evidence associated with each theme, and assessed the dialogue and patterns from the data. This may mean that if teachers understand that some of the challenges students encounter with tasks in the curriculum may actually benefit students in general, teachers may find greater incentive to persevere through challenges presented by the Wit en Wisheid curriculum. be offered.
When asked about the reasons for adopting the Reason and Wisdom Curriculum, the majority of teachers and leaders responded that the materials are. They believe that their abilities as decision makers and teachers are not fully trusted, leading to an emphasis on strict adherence to the curriculum. Initially, we received a message of integrity: having faith in the curriculum and adapting it to your needs.
Frankly, if every teacher in this building were to teach Reason and Wisdom to Faithfulness as stated in the curriculum, I wouldn't do it.
There is a lack of alignment between teachers and school leaders regarding the vision for why the curriculum was
However, teachers' perception of this message is a lack of confidence and belief in their ability to make strategic adjustments to maximize learning. This is a key consideration in identifying sources of challenge in the implementation of Wit and Wisdom, as the literature review shows that teachers feel more motivated when they have. This means that teachers must feel some agency in their decision-making within the implementation effort, otherwise they may conclude that they are not trusted or valued as professionals.
Research also concludes that teachers feel more motivated when the change and the associated tasks, work and learning related to the change effort are social and collaborative. Creating a sense of community effort around change can ensure that teachers feel connected to colleagues working towards the same goal and that they have the psychological safety to take reasonable risks in pursuit of the goal or vision (Han & Yin, 2016 ). At CCB, it is clear from the data collected and subsequent analysis that the teachers' assumptions about why they have been asked to teach the curriculum with fidelity are completely different from the rationale given by the leaders at the school.
I went to all the different professional development sessions offered by the district; some of them were better than others.
Teachers want more time to collaborate with colleagues to prepare lessons and higher-quality
Sometimes we go to a Wit en Wisheid training and think we are going to learn something new, and it is exactly the same training. Teachers noted that there are organic opportunities to connect and prepare lessons occasionally, but there is no consistent structure or cadence through which they can work together and the challenges many of them face when it comes to the implementation of the Wit en Wisheid curriculum. The challenges with implementation that teachers experience with the Wit en Wisheid materials appear to be based at least in part on a lack of time and training allocated for professionals.
Teachers reported that they find the content of the Knowledge and Wisdom modules engaging for students, but that they especially find the writing tasks to be. Giving them extended exposure to we can find 4: Teachers value the texts and topics in the Knowledge and Wisdom curriculum, but they struggle to ensure that all students, especially English speakers, can. But there is still much missing in the very scaffolding for students who are aspiring readers and writers because of the demand for it.
Teachers are clear that while they see students benefiting from some aspects of the Wits and Wisdom curriculum, such as their engagement in building cultural and academic knowledge, they are concerned about how to help.
Create a shared vision for
One of the core issues revealed in the data is a discrepancy between teachers and leaders regarding the expectations of curriculum material use and the reasons behind the choice of materials. However, leaders said they feel hopeful about the Knowledge and Wisdom curriculum because of the strategic, evidence-based design of the materials developed to build knowledge and writing skills cumulatively across grade levels. In other words, CCB leaders and teachers should be on the same page about what aspects of the curriculum are non-negotiable and why those elements are non-negotiable.
For example, the texts and topics are integral to the design and objectives of the curriculum and should be maintained. However, there may be elements in the curriculum that are more stylistic and not paramount to the overall strategic design. The leadership team and teaching staff should agree on what changes are permissible and define the ways in which these changes still align with the vision of strong literacy education and act in accordance with the overall goals of.
Teachers reported being dissatisfied with the quantity and quality of professional learning experiences related to their implementation of the Wit and Wisdom materials, and furthermore, they demonstrated a strong desire to collaborate with others in their school and district communities.
Make structured, collaborative planning sessions and curriculum-based
These sessions produce the best results when facilitated by a skilled teacher leader, administrator or instructional coach (Takahashi & . McDougal, 2016), so the leadership team at CCB should discuss how to implement these sessions and plan how to ensure that these sessions are led by a competent facilitator. It may also mean that the leadership team consider investing in further training for some core members of staff at CCB to build their capacity as facilitators of these curriculum-based professional learning sessions. To address this, the leadership team at CCB may consider offering monthly PLCs dedicated solely to the preparation and planning of material for Wit en Wisheid lessons and units.
Because CCB only employs one ELA teacher per grade level, it would be worthwhile for the leadership team to reach out to other schools in the area that may also have teachers interested in participating. Because the entire district has adopted these materials, this type of collaboration is possible and could be the innovation that leads to greater enthusiasm for using the materials and stronger implementation overall. By consistently prioritizing these structures, CCB's leadership team has the potential to facilitate a transformative learning experience for teachers, allowing them to gain valuable insights from the most skilled educators in their community of teachers and leaders.
Using protocols such as those previously mentioned would empower the leadership team to gather tangible results for analysis, allowing for further refinement of their curriculum-based learning structures as the school improves implementation over time.
Enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills in identifying and implementing
Just as teachers want to provide students with frameworks that can be removed over time, teachers need their own professional learning frameworks to be reduced or removed later as they build their expertise in implementation with the Wit and Wisdom materials. Much of the teachers' discourse about the Wit and Wisdom curriculum centered on their concern that students,. Knoster's (1993) model suggests that this anxiety stems from a lack of skills needed to construct appropriate scaffolds.
This kind of professional development needs to happen collectively so that teachers and leaders share a collective understanding of what kinds of scaffolding are appropriate for students to complete the intelligence and wisdom curriculum. This professional learning can be built into curriculum-based professional learning, as described in Recommendation 2, as part of the process of acquiring and testing learning. School leaders should identify and adopt strategies, perhaps from these recommendations, to address the need for stronger support in the implementation of Wit and Wisdom materials.
Attention to how implementation efforts are conducted using both formal and informal data could help the school realize their ultimate goal of improving literacy through the use of Knowledge and Wisdom.
Create and implement progress monitoring tools for continuous improvement of
When I conducted this project at Charles Carroll Barrister Elementary School, my goal was to discover the root causes of challenges that teachers encounter in implementing the Knowledge and Wisdom curriculum. Participants were informed of the confidential nature of the discussion and that no identifying information would be shared in the results. In what ways has the management team at the school tried to support teachers with the implementation of the Knowledge and Wisdom curriculum.
I have for some of the district PDs provided by the vendor, Wit and Wisdom, you know, but they are not very helpful. I think one of the best things to have would be to have a lot of planning support. I remember the first year, the end of the school year, they told us to adopt Wit and Wisdom and that was all they said.
One of the messages I got, like an atmosphere surrounding wit and wisdom, was, as curriculum knows, curriculum writers know. I think just with the wit and wisdom questions, it was too much for me to digest. It is such a struggle for me to figure out how to best support those students using the Wit and Wisdom materials.
