Ready for Anything. Suzette Lovely

an avalanche of new ideas without first letting go of old ideas can cause a brain drain. As schools layer new initiatives on top of old traditions, it leaves little room for the best elements to shine. We hear colleagues talk about initiative fatigue, overload, and burnout. The tendency to launch more changes than any staff member can reasonably handle is akin to education malpractice. Emotional responses to mandated changes are thus rarely positive.

      Conventional wisdom holds that schools are starving from a shortage of good ideas. In reality, many schools are suffering from a bad case of indigestion. Schools tend to implement new initiatives in a fragmented, haphazard manner. Sadly, most new initiatives have a disappointing track record. It takes time for teachers to develop familiarity and a certain level of comfort with untried strategies. With each new initiative, the time and energy to implement it diminish. Initiative fatigue sets in, leading to resistance and apathy.