Find the Super School Movers and Shakers
The deadline to enter the XQ Super School Challenge was yesterday. I submitted our application on Tuesday and then I did absolutely NOTHING for three days. I was exhausted!
After I submitted our proposal, I received an email from the XQ people requesting us to email in a photo or something that shows how the team felt when they hit the Submit button. I thought, "what team?"
I've worked in the field of education for a long time in this state, and people are slow to pick up on the great ideas and RUN with them. This challenge didn't allow enough time to get the buy-in we need to run and not just talk about it. I feel like we are just starting to build a great team, and we are trying for a statewide program, not a local one, so team building requires a longer timeline.
Education is one of the areas that is slowest to change. I think it's because people think laws must be enacted and political processes endured to effect change. People don't see that they have power, and it takes time to convince them that they do. Buy-in is everything.
Movers and Shakers
It takes time to get buy-in but if you can get it from even one person who is a mover and shaker, you can get things done.
I have a good friend who is a mover and shaker in Los Alamos. Although she has always listened to my ideas and been supportive, it took a while to get her to actually sign up on my XQ team.
Once she did, however, she simply sent out an email to people she knew cared about learning, and I was finally able to get a meaningful meeting together in Los Alamos and get some more good input from youth there.
I've been an OASIS reading tutor at Tomasita Elementary in Albuquerque and I've discovered a true mover and shaker behind the front office desk. She is already doing with students there what L&LNM is proposing to do as a super school.
She formed a Zumba after-school club, and the kids now visit senior centers and homes to dance twice a week. The kids love it. It gives them a purpose. The senior citizens love it, too. It gives them energy.
So I told her all about what L&LNM is trying to do, and I know I have another person who can help me get things going in her community once we are ready to go.
Then there's the team that we have on the XQ site. I've been sending out emails letting them know of our progress and rarely heard much back. I wondered if I really had a team there. But there were signs.
First, when I wondered in an email why there wasn't a button to hit to email all team members at once, I got a message from one of the team members, suggesting a solution, which I used. I also noticed that some team members had Liked our Facebook page.
The team is there; it just takes time to build it and make it strong. In the L&LNM scenario, there are sub-teams within the whole -- the team we are building through Blogspot and Facebook, the team that signed up on the XQ site, and the team built through personal and professional connections.
I feel pretty good about the L&LNM team but it would be great to get a sign of support from all those around the state reading this blog and liking the ideas expressed.
If you are reading this let me know that you like our ideas in the comments section...a thumbs up, Snoopy dancing, a smiley face, or positive comment. Let me know that L&LNM is going in the right direction.
I'm headed up the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe on this amazingly beautiful sunny day. Go New Mexico!
After I submitted our proposal, I received an email from the XQ people requesting us to email in a photo or something that shows how the team felt when they hit the Submit button. I thought, "what team?"
I've worked in the field of education for a long time in this state, and people are slow to pick up on the great ideas and RUN with them. This challenge didn't allow enough time to get the buy-in we need to run and not just talk about it. I feel like we are just starting to build a great team, and we are trying for a statewide program, not a local one, so team building requires a longer timeline.
Education is one of the areas that is slowest to change. I think it's because people think laws must be enacted and political processes endured to effect change. People don't see that they have power, and it takes time to convince them that they do. Buy-in is everything.
It takes time to get buy-in but if you can get it from even one person who is a mover and shaker, you can get things done.
I have a good friend who is a mover and shaker in Los Alamos. Although she has always listened to my ideas and been supportive, it took a while to get her to actually sign up on my XQ team.
Once she did, however, she simply sent out an email to people she knew cared about learning, and I was finally able to get a meaningful meeting together in Los Alamos and get some more good input from youth there.
I've been an OASIS reading tutor at Tomasita Elementary in Albuquerque and I've discovered a true mover and shaker behind the front office desk. She is already doing with students there what L&LNM is proposing to do as a super school.
She formed a Zumba after-school club, and the kids now visit senior centers and homes to dance twice a week. The kids love it. It gives them a purpose. The senior citizens love it, too. It gives them energy.
So I told her all about what L&LNM is trying to do, and I know I have another person who can help me get things going in her community once we are ready to go.
Then there's the team that we have on the XQ site. I've been sending out emails letting them know of our progress and rarely heard much back. I wondered if I really had a team there. But there were signs.
First, when I wondered in an email why there wasn't a button to hit to email all team members at once, I got a message from one of the team members, suggesting a solution, which I used. I also noticed that some team members had Liked our Facebook page.
The team is there; it just takes time to build it and make it strong. In the L&LNM scenario, there are sub-teams within the whole -- the team we are building through Blogspot and Facebook, the team that signed up on the XQ site, and the team built through personal and professional connections.
I feel pretty good about the L&LNM team but it would be great to get a sign of support from all those around the state reading this blog and liking the ideas expressed.
If you are reading this let me know that you like our ideas in the comments section...a thumbs up, Snoopy dancing, a smiley face, or positive comment. Let me know that L&LNM is going in the right direction.
I'm headed up the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe on this amazingly beautiful sunny day. Go New Mexico!
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