Develop an Implementation Timeline
Sites will need to begin small and gradually scale up theme integration. A comprehensive implementation timeline will address setting up the teams, creating pilot maps and testing them in the classroom, and sharing pilot maps with the subsequent teams. These steps will help you organize a gradual rollout.
Help teachers understand that, although theme integration starts with the Pilot Team, the subsequent content-area and/or grade-level teams will be expected to learn from and use the pilot efforts as a basis for their own theme integration work.
The time it takes to completely integrate the theme will vary depending on a site’s readiness when you begin to facilitate the process. Make sure teachers have sufficient time to do the work, and help them see how their incremental steps move the larger process forward. Be sure to confirm with school principals and administrators that teams have ongoing planning time to meet, and consider holding a summer institute for intensive, extended planning time.
LEADERSHIP TIP
To bring the staff up to speed, provide a big-picture overview at a staff meeting, discussing how the Pilot Team is conducting the initial curriculum mapping work, and how subsequent teams will continue the work. Introduce the proposed timeline for implementation, and be flexible about modifying the timeline.
