"I Have A Great Idea, Why Do I Need You?"

Being an innovator naturally seems to invite criticism.  I know I personally have had the experience of being very excited about a new idea for chemistry labs, only to be told "You go ahead and do it, and if it works, maybe I will too".  Quite a wet blanket on an idea I thought had a ton of potential.  I went ahead with my ideas, and even though the other teacher never bought into it, I had the satisfaction of seeing my students engaged, and my assessment results soar.  This was a ideal scenario, as it only effected one science topic, and was not large enough to bring in outsider opinions.  These outside opinions can sink a wonderful idea due to the lack of understanding about the vision and need.

Our current situation involved our entire school due to it's potential impact on student success.  Our misstep was introducing a new way to "do" science (all four basic sciences as semester-long classes) without ensuring others understood.  We thought the idea would be embraced, as it very closely mirrored what was already occurring in our International Baccalaureate program successfully.  This turned out to be an assumption that hurt us.  We have spent two years trying to regain ground with our opposition, working to help them see the value in our change.  It has extended from the staff to the parents, bringing criticism from multiple directions.  We learned a lot during this process, the most important lesson being the need for "branding".

Branding is the ability to allow others to see your idea, and associate credibility to it.  This was sadly missing in our first attempt at innovating our science department.  It wasn't intentional, it was simply that we had no experience with bringing change and didn't expect problems.  We are getting ready to introduce a very radical course to our department chairs, and then to our board of education this fall, and we need both groups' approval to continue.  We are taking the lessons learned during the course modification to try and address issues and concerns ahead of time.  Our idea is to bring the ability to students to solve problems using science.  It will not be a "chemistry" or "biology" class, but a blend of the sciences and other disciplines, allowing more of a real world scenario.  It is very different from the concept of isolated courses, and potentially can bring a lot of push-back to those that do not see the value or need for cross-curricular instruction.  Our job will be to help them see our vision as well as the need for this course, to communicate well, and to allow our research and experience to help provide the credibility to make this course successful and meaningful.   A great program can be sunk due to lack of communication.  This nearly happened to our initial course change, and we will not allow miscommunication or lack of understanding to derail an idea that can have tremendous impact on our students.  So yes, even though you are not teaching the course, We Need You!