From words to action: a vision statement can do more than light a path. It can unify and commit a school toward a common purpose--successful students.

A school-wide, shared vision can light the path to a positive school climate. Bringing the abstract concept of a school-wide vision from theory into practice enables administrators to extend a broad-based leadership approach to the teachers (Lambert, 2003). This inclusive method builds upon the knowledge and expertise the teachers possess and stimulates the ever-so-elusive "buy in" necessary to breathe life into a vision statement.

At Viejo Elementary School, our current mission statement offers well-meaning prose that represents the educational pursuit of our school community: "Each student will master basic skills in language arts, math, science, fine arts and physical education. All students will show respect for themselves, others, their school and community. The school will provide a nurturing, caring and safe environment where learning is an exciting, active process. All students will be motivated to challenge themselves in everything they endeavor through academic and creative experiences and develop a lifelong love of learning."

Although the staff and school community accepts the above statement as a worthy pursuit, a vision statement promoting a positive school climate would provide the staff with a unifying battle cry with a succinct ring to it. That was what we were after as we worked to address the changing perceptions of our school due to a recent shift in demographics and resulting Title I classification.

Shared vision

Linda Lambert (2003) discusses the value of developing a shared vision and its contrast from a mission statement or vision that has been thrust upon a staff: "A principal's vision, standing alone, needs to be 'sold' and 'bought into.' By contrast, a shared vision based upon the core values of participants and their hopes for the school ensures commitment to its realization."

Although the idea of a vision may appeal to the administrative team, how does one go about developing a shared vision so that it becomes accessible and authentic to teachers and the school community at large?

Laying the foundation

At Viejo Elementary, it all began with a staff meeting where teacher leaders were selected to lead a discussion that asked teachers the simple question, "What matters most?" Prior to the discussion, teachers were asked to complete a graphic organizer of concentric circles with the following headings, in order from greatest to least importance: What happens? What matters? What matters most?

In small groups that had been pre-arranged to distribute teachers into vertical teams, the teacher leaders led discussions based on the responses listed inside the graphic organizers. As I listened intently to the table discussions, teachers expressed an overwhelming sense of relief by letting go of what happens (discipline issues at recess, interruptions, band-aid applications, no homework), analyzing what matters to them, and finally realizing what matters most. The items listed in the "what matters most" category became the organic ingredients of our vision.

In addition to the teacher responses, the leaders used inquiry questions to explore the list of 14 things that research has determined matter most in teaching, developed by Todd Whitaker in his book, "What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most" (2004). The staff was asked to highlight the top five things that mattered most to them on the Whitaker list and discuss the following questions:

1. What aspects of the statements you chose spoke to you, and why?

2. How can these "things" further our vision?

3. What role will you play in developing our vision?

4. What support will be needed?

Building capacity

Not knowing what would come next, I roamed around the room, anxiously trying to discern whether this would be a colossal waste of time or actually bring us closer to demystifying the concept of a school-wide vision. What happened absolutely amazed me!

By broadening the leadership base to include their peers, teachers lit the spark that would eventually ignite into the creation of an action plan that would move us closer to realizing a school-wide vision and fostering a positive school climate.

Zander and Zander (2000) explore this concept and call it "enrollment" in their book, "The Art of Possibility:" They write, "Enrollment is that life force at work, lighting sparks from person to person, scattering light in all directions. Sometimes the sparks ignite a blaze; sometimes they pass quietly, magically, almost imperceptibly, from one to another to another."

As the ideas were exchanged like wildfire, the teacher leaders articulated the gems from their table discussions, which another teacher morphed into what would become our action plan for mobilizing our vision. As the sparks flew, I had no doubt that the abstract concept of a vision was becoming more concrete to the staff. We were on our way to making it a reality.

At the next Leadership Team meeting, each grade level shared a potential vision statement that had been crafted in grade-level meetings. These statements evolved from our discussion about what mattered most to them. As we compiled the premise of each statement, we ended the meeting with a vision statement that encompassed them all: "Today's Viejo scholars are tomorrow's successful citizens."

We had our statement; now we needed to mobilize it into action.

From a spark to a fire

Our next step at the following staff meeting involved a Guided Language and Acquisition Design strategy, where we used a T-chart to create a discussion centered on these two questions: What does our vision sound like? What does our vision look like? (Brechtel, 2001).

We adapted the language to be more conceptual rather than actual quotes (as students are instructed to do when this strategy is used in the classroom) as we created our chart. As a teacher leader collected the staff's responses on the graphic organizer, it became clear to me that through collaboration and effective communication, our vision statement had done much more than light our path. It unified and committed us to a common pursuit--successful students through a positive school climate.

As the new school year began and our work with creating of the vision statement faded, I began to see evidence of sparks being lit around the school. One teacher had cleared part of the landscaping outside of her classroom for a community garden and solicited a parent to support the effort. Another teacher spoke to the staff about fusing the "attributes of a scholar" (typically reserved for Gifted and Talented students) into our daily language with all students.

The conflict management program was being taken over by two new teacher leaders who decided to do a video that could possibly become district-level training for the program. The principal displayed the vision for all to see as they walk through the front door of the school and promoted its proliferation throughout the school with encouraging e-mails.

Words become action

Who's to say if the above examples have anything to do with the vision statement itself; however, remembering the words of Zander and Zander, sparks may pass unnoticed, lighting fires that were not there before.

I can say the experience broadened the base of our leadership at Viejo Elementary to include many teachers who were content in previous years to watch rather than do. They had "enrolled" in the positive school climate movement for the vision statement project, and brought the abstract to a more concrete level--words became action.

References

Brechtel, Marcia. (2001). Bringing It All Together: Language and Literacy in the Multilingual Classroom. Carlsbad: Dominie Press.

Lambert, Linda. (2003). Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Whitaker, Todd. (2004). What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things that Matter Most. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, Inc.

Zander, Rosamund Stone; and Zander, Benjamin. (2000). The Art of Possibility. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

How great teachers make a difference

Excerpted from the book, "What Great Teacher do Differently: 14 Things that Matter Most," by Todd Whitaker (Eye on Education, 2004)

1. Great teachers never forget that it is people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school.

2. Great teachers establish clear expectations at the start of the year and follow them consistently as the year progresses.

3. When a student misbehaves, great teachers have one goal: to keep that behavior from happening again.

4. Great teachers have high expectations for students but even higher expectations for themselves.

5. Great teachers know who is the variable in the classroom: They are. Good teachers consistently strive to improve, and they focus on something they can control-their own performance.

6. Great teachers create a positive atmosphere in their classrooms and schools. They treat every person with respect. In particular, they understand the power of praise.

7. Great teachers consistently filter out the negatives that don't matter and share a positive attitude.

8. Great teachers work hard to keep their relationships in good repair--to avoid personal hurt and to repair any possible damage.

9. Great teachers have the ability to ignore trivial disturbances to respond to inappropriate behavior without escalating the situation.

10. Great teachers have a plan and purpose for everything they do. If things don't work out the way they had envisioned, they reflect on what they could have done differently and adjust their plans accordingly.

11. Before making any decision or attempting to bring about any change, great teachers ask themselves one central question: What will the best people think?

12. Great teachers continually ask themselves who is most comfortable and who is least comfortable with each decision they make. They treat everyone as if they were good.

13. Great teachers keep standardized testing in perspective; they center on the real issue of student learning.

14. Great teachers care about their students. They understand that behaviors and beliefs are tied to emotion, and they understand the power of emotion to jump-start change.

Jennifer Rion-Gaboury is a learning support specialist for the Capistrano Unified School District