2020 One Word – IMPACT

IMPACT – My one word for 2020 is about making a difference. When you look up impact, one of the first definitions reads, “the action of one object coming forcibly into another.” While I’m looking to make an IMPACT in 2020 in many ways, I’m not talking about putting my head down and forcing my way through change. Another definition you can find for IMPACT is, “to have a strong effect on someone or something.” I want my influence to be strong, IMPACTful, and purposeful. I want to make connections with students more meaningful and professional development opportunities for our staff more effective.

I am sure this isn’t anything new for a principal. Most of us want to make a bigger IMPACT than the year before or even the day before. I try not to lose sight of my why which keeps me motivated with a positive attitude in making a difference for our students each day. The real question I have now is more about the how. This summer I was introduced to the term Observable Impact from Garth Larson and Cale Birk, authors of PLC 2.0. In their book, Larson and Birk use their success and experience to provide direction, strategies, and tools to collaborative teams. The idea that collaborative teams can help students achieve at higher levels is nothing new. However, providing a framework for teachers and educators to be able to observe the IMPACT that comes from their collaboration (and answer the “how”) is groundbreaking in many ways. I am looking forward to starting a positive change in 2020, with the help of Garth and Cale, which leads us to a place where our collaboration has a definite and observable IMPACT in our classrooms.

Meaningful change takes time, and this will be a learning process for all of us at Little Mountain Elementary. But I can’t help but think about the complete mindset shift that originates with observable IMPACT as the focus. How are the professional development opportunities/staff meetings making an observable IMPACT in the classroom? How are the behavior interventions we put together making an observable IMPACT in and out of the classroom? Will it be easier to discover what is really important for our students and what we can do without when we shift our mindset? Is there a shift in culture when we are purposeful and always looking for results from our actions in everything we do? I’m looking forward to forging ahead and finding these answers in 2020