The Urgency Bell Curve

What's your sense of urgency related to student success?  How does your sense of urgency affect lesson planning, student response and classroom instruction? During a summer RTI conference, Dr. Austin Buffum discussed student success with respect to educators' sense of urgency.

I believe there's an urgency bell curve. Not enough urgency leads to passivity (teaching as a job, not profession), and too much urgency deters motivation and confidence.  A just right sense of urgency propels optimal prep, response and instruction.

What does a just right sense of urgency look like? Urgency that supports student learning has these attributes:

• Knowing the child well.
• Thoughtful, communicated goals.
• A step-by-step approach to prioritizing and reaching goals.
• Regular response.
• Advocacy
• A team approach to meeting students' needs.
• Constant care and a time to celebrate students' gains.
• A never ending focus on the goals with respect to the whole child--a child does not become a skill-set.

What's your sense of urgency?  Do educators in your environment share a similar sense of urgency?  Do you prioritize goals as a team and determine the urgency related to each goal?  What are your patterns and systems of response to goals that are deemed most urgent?  

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