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Priorites and Initiatives

One of the most famous lines of teachers is "This too shall pass." My mom, when she was ready to retire after 35 years of elementary teaching, joked that she was going to create a "new" reading strategy with the acronym of "S.S.N.N." - Same Stuff New Name. 

Why does this happen? Without clearly aligned values and purpose, every new shiny object is adopted or everything that does not work perfectly is replaced. But you know better! You know your Core Values, and have identified your Purpose. The One Thing that you are known for. When parents talk about your school to their friends in other areas, they say "My school is the best at..." or "My school really cares about..." When teachers are asked, "What makes your school special/different/unique?" they all give similar answers, with pride.

And this now sets your priorities for action. You have identified the 20% of priorities that make up 80% of your results. Not its time to take action, and align your priorities to your initiatives. Every school has way too many of both. I have done many STOP START CONTINUE type activities, and generally what happens is the START and CONTINUE lists grow, while the STOP list has very little in it. You have to stop some areas, and determine what initiatives are fully aligned with your priorities. Ideally no more than 3 priorities, and ideally one initiative that can work into those 3. 

With those priorities, put them in order of most important to least. Identify the initiative that aligns with that priority, and get to work on that. Pour all your professional development, PLC conversations, and weekly messages into strategies for your initiative, and celebrating each and every little success along the way.

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