Curriculum Changes

SCENARIO: You are aware that your current English department chair, Mrs. Negal, is extremely critical of the changes made to the ninth grade curriculum for the coming school year. She has been outspoken about her dislike of the changes made in reading assignments and the stress placed on portfolio development for students. Mrs. Negal has told several other faculty members that she has no intention of implementing the changes in her classroom. As her principal for the last four years, you have come to value Mrs. Nagal as a teacher, but recognize the need for curriculum changes at ninth grade. What is your plan to make sure the curriculum changes are implemented while still maintaining a good relationship with this teacher. Outline the strategy you will use to hopefully resolve this issue and identify the way you will assess implementation of the new curriculum guidelines for ninth grade.

LITERATURE REVIEW: The work of Hunzicker (2004) entitled: "The Beliefs-Behavior Connection: Leading Teachers Toward Change" states that one of the reasons for teacher's resistance to change is "lack of motivation" and that this is a temporary condition "caused by one of three factors: negative associations related to past experiences; distracting environmental or situational conditions, or negative beliefs about their ability to use particular knowledge of skills in the future." (Hunzicker, 2004) in fact Hunzicker states that changing a teacher's beliefs makes a requirement of new information presented repeatedly to the point that the teacher "begins to feel disequilibrium between current beliefs and new information." (2004) Leading curriculum change in the school is often difficult and requires that the principal ensure a continuous and ongoing dialogue concerning the necessary changes and the positive impacts that these changes will bring about.

RECOMMENDED STRATEGY: The strategy recommended for bringing Mrs. Nagal around to the changes in curriculum that are necessary and required involve first speaking with the teacher and discovering what it is about these curriculum changes that she is so set against and then mitigating the fears and trepidations of this teacher. Bringing Mrs. Nagal more firmly into the curriculum change process is advised and this can be accomplished by appointing Mrs. Nagal as lead over some aspect of the curriculum change process so that this teacher develops a feeling of 'ownership' over the curriculum change initiative.

Works Cited

Hunzicker, Jan (2004) the Beliefs-Behavior Connection: Leading Teachers Toward Change. Principal. November/December 2004. www. Naesp.org