The goal of Phase I is to select materials that support a clear and common vision of great instruction for the subject, with stakeholder participation in the process. Teachers are central to every great selection story and reported learning from the process when it was done well.
More About Phase I
The goal of this key action is to enact the plan you developed in Phase II, observe what works and what does not, and listen to feedback. In particular, this key action is about effectively enacting your plans for supporting teachers that you outlined in Key Actions II.3-II.5.
Plans tend to fall along a spectrum. On one end, they are printed documents, put away in a binder on the shelf and gathering dust, and on the other end, they are living, breathing drivers of the work that are shared across a team. This key action is where the rubber meets the road and everyone begins to enact the plan. It can be difficult to lose momentum or focus when confronted with the daily pulls and pressures of school life. This key action builds on the plans determined at the end of Phase II for progress monitoring, and focuses on consistent reflection. One of the differentiators between successful implementers and implementers who struggled was their ability to support teacher practice. The work of the Three Pillars of Teacher Support is challenging because of the diversity of factors involved such as instructional culture, team expertise, structural support, etc. As you go through this key action, it can be helpful to return to your plans in Key Actions II.3-II.5 to see where to improve. In the next key action, teams come together to compare notes, reflect, and adjust. In this key action, the team’s charge is to do the work, observe the outcome, and listen closely to all involved.
We use the term check-in to refer to a meeting of the Implementation Support Team focused on monitoring progress and solving any problems.