As AIW sites and agencies get ready for this fall's kick-offs, here are some tips to ensure continuing success.
There are three critical components to staying the course.
1) Teams must meet every other week if possible for a total of 4-6 AIW hours per month. This allows the learning to deepen in a job-embedded context and move AIW into the professional routine.
2) Secondly, teachers need to think of themselves as learners this year. Not only is there no expectation for them to bring AIW back to their school to their departments, it is inappropriate in the first year. Let interest build naturally. It will make expansion easier later on. If your site has been involved for multiple years, do be afraid to allow the AIW journeys to vary among staff. The key is that everyone has a stretch goal that keeps AIW fresh and challenging.
3) Lastly, let people grow and transform at their own rates. Overzealous Newmannites (coaches, administrators, or teachers enamored with Fred Newmann’s work) have a tendency to take on an evangelical aura. But the best approach is to believe in the power of the framework and each individual’s capacity to grow and change as the soul determines.