In the realm of education, our busy daily routines often revolve around crafting curriculum units of study, planning lessons, conferencing with our students and their parents, and managing myriad responsibilities. Yet, amidst these demands, it's easy to lose sight of our overarching mission: effectively preparing our students for success. As we navigate the whirlwind of daily tasks, we may find it challenging to create a significant learning environment that genuinely advances the fundamental objectives of our educational goals. This can impede our capacity to implement innovative teaching and learning strategies.
The Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) is a framework designed to refocus our efforts on achieving meaningful change. This model equips us with adaptable strategies to navigate daily responsibilities and empowers us to take control of our educational learning objectives. By setting incremental, achievable milestones, we can customize the 4DX framework to suit our unique professional needs, instilling confidence in our ability to apply it to our unique situations. This sense of empowerment ensures our students will achieve their educational goals.
Implementing the 4DX framework in a second-grade team to guide students in creating online writing journals is a practical application of the framework in an educational setting. This approach can significantly help us achieve the desired results of our educational goals. The following explains how educators can apply each discipline in the elementary school scenario, demonstrating the effectiveness of the 4DX framework in achieving specific educational objectives.
“ Focusing on the wildly important requires you to go against your basic wiring as a leader to do more and, instead, focus on less so that your team can achieve more.” — Sean Covey, Co-author of The 4 Disciplines of Execution.
Discipline 1: Focus on What’s Wildly Important.
The 'Wildly Important Goals' (WIGs) Our main goal reads that 80% of second graders will create digital writing journals within a blended learning environment ( blended station rotation model), incorporating academic vocabulary in their reflections with at least four writing samples throughout a school cycle (nine months). This increases the number of students actively engaged in creating digital journals for authentic evaluation and reflection. Focusing on this critical aim allows educators to direct their efforts and resources toward accomplishing our main objective goal, which can positively impact other content curriculum areas. Achieving these WIGs will bring a sense of accomplishment and inspire us to set even higher goals.
Discipline 2: Act on the Lead Measures.
Lead measures are actions or activities that directly impact the achievement of WIG objectives. Launching the practice of digital journals requires identifying and acting on lead measures. This is a pivotal element of the four disciplines of execution.
These leading measures include:
Teacher Training:
· Ensure educators are comfortable implementing digital journals with their students. Make sure educators understand how to properly integrate them into the curriculum (scope and sequence).
· Set up weekly meetings during PLC sessions to follow up on implementing the online journals.
Digital Journals Development:
· Establish precise targets for the literary genres and number of writing compositions required to be included in each student’s digital journal.
· Set deadlines as a grade-level team to help second-grade students complete their online journals.
· Create uniform digital journal standards consistent with the objectives of the state second-grade curriculum program (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).
Student Training:
· Guide and train students to create digital journals using their grade-level team's online platforms.
· Set targets for the percentage of students who finish this training.
· Prepare students for a publishing party at which they will exhibit and share the content of their digital journals within their school community.
By monitoring these key indicators and setting goals for them, we can guess and shape how well digital journals work, which will help us reach our WIG.
Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
Incentivize participation in your objective by creating an aesthetically pleasing scoreboard, maintaining motivation, and seeking opportunities for accomplishment. Progress visualization is fundamental for inspiring teachers and students alike.
Educators will design a visually appealing scoreboard that shows current information about the lead measures and WIGs that have been identified. All parties involved, including educators, learners, and administrators, will have access to this scoreboard. Consistent updates to this scoreboard will promote transparency and ensure ongoing communication among all team participants regarding the progress achieved.
It is time to engage participants. This scoreboard has to include these requirements:
· Simple
· Visible
· Quickly Readable
· Established Deadlines
Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability
Create an Accountability Framework :
In order to ensure that growth continues, teachers will schedule regular accountability meetings. These sessions, which will focus on scoreboard assessment, problem-solving, sharing best practices, and making necessary adjustments to plans, are crucial in maintaining progress and growth. The commitment and responsibility of educators in these meetings will be a key factor in the successful implementation of the 4DX framework. These weekly meetings are a formality and a vital tool in our journey towards achieving our goals.
· Set up weekly meetings during PLC sessions to follow up on implementing the online journals.
· Set deadlines as a grade-level team to help second-grade students complete their online journals.
· Report results and explore areas for improvement throughout the course.
In conclusion, using the four disciplines of execution to implement “Digital Journals” in Second -grade will help teachers stay on task, use lead measures to forecast success, be transparent with scoreboards, and hold themselves accountable with frequent meetings. This systematic approach can improve assessment procedures, boost student engagement, and successfully incorporate “Digital Journals.”
The “4” Disciplines of Execution and The Six Sources of Influence
The six sources of influence configure people's beliefs and habits, which then determine how they approach situations and difficulties. Our behaviors determine how we respond to and address difficulties in our enterprise. Rather than reacting, the 4DX paradigm helps us structure and organize our activities. Applying the 4DX technique allows us to break down our goals into incremental, manageable steps. For example, in my innovation proposal, Creating Digital Journals within a Blended Learning Environment, I can apply the 4DX tool to transition from macro goals (WIGs) to micro steps (Lead Measures) to execute my proposal. Using the six sources of influence, educators can choose and imitate the behaviors required to achieve lesser goals, eventually leading to the larger goal of the influencer model.
References
Grenny, J., Maxfield, D.,& Shimberg, A.(2013). How to 10X Your Influence.
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition (Paperback). McGraw-Hill Education.
McChesney, C. (n.d.). The 4 Disciplines of Execution Summary & Review (Chris McChesney) - ANIMATED 2021. Www.youtube.com; Successful By Design. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://youtu.be/mFCq87OdBeM?feature=shared
Harapnuick, Thibodeaux , & Cummings. (2018, January). COVA. Lamar University. https://tilisathibodeaux.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/COVA_eBook_Jan_2018.pdf
Horn, M.B, Staker, H., & Christensen, C.M. (2017). Blended: using disruptive innovation to improve schools. Jossey–Bass.
The Behavioral Science Guys. (n.d.). How to Change People Who Don’t Want to Change | The Behavioral Science Guys. Www.youtube.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023, from https://youtu.be/9ACi-D5DI6A
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