I was thinking this week how fast a classroom teacher can make necessary and meaningful change. There is no consuming process that stalls progress. A problem is identified, a strategy is changed, and the impact is observed. If necessary, it is repeated until the desired result is reached.
Try the same when attempting to impact a larger, more complex group in a school or community and things bog down. When first experienced, this lag time becomes frustrating after becoming accustom to the pace of change/progress in the classroom.
In the past, this frustration led me to isolate my effort to my classroom. However, we must remind ourselves that the pace change in a larger group is not bad, just different. The voice of the classroom teacher must be heard. Incremental chances over greater periods of time can be powerful if we posses the persistence to run a longer race.