The Unseen Work of Leading Change

Doc Holbrook presenting on leading literacy change at Southern Westchester BOCES.

Leadership isn’t about predicting change—it’s about staying steady through it.

This was a hard week. The kind of week Michael Fullan would call the implementation dip—that period when the excitement of change gives way to the discomfort of actually doing it. Fullan describes it as “a dip in performance and morale as people grapple with the new demands of change before competence and confidence improve.” I felt that deeply this week.

Our CKLA trainers were in district visiting classrooms, observing lessons, modeling lessons, and debriefing with teachers. I spent the week darting between buildings, sitting in on meetings, and doing my best to be everywhere at once. I prioritized this work over everything else—and still, what I heard wasn’t always what I wanted to hear.

I heard it was hard.

I heard teachers were struggling.

The technology didn’t work.

The pacing felt off.

There were gaps in the curriculum that required more planning.

Teachers wondered why we weren’t focusing more on specific skills.

It felt challenging for our ENL and special education populations.

There weren’t enough parent reports.

Emotions ran high—there was frustration, some yelling, even a few tears. By the end of each day, I went home exhausted, drained, and if I’m honest, a little defeated.

More than once, I sat in my car and said out loud, “I give up.”

But on Thursday, I traveled to Westchester BOCES to give a keynote on—ironically—leading change.

While telling my story and sharing my “why,” I felt something shift. It was the reminder I didn’t know I needed. Somewhere between the classrooms, the feedback, and the chaos, I had started to lose my moral compass. That presentation helped me find it again.

Seeing the Work Beneath the Work

The truth is that leading change isn’t just about implementing a new curriculum or training teachers on a new routine. It’s about holding space for the emotions that come with change—the fear, the fatigue, and the frustration.

Every complaint, every “this is too hard,” every raised voice or tearful moment is really an expression of care. People don’t get upset about work they don’t care about. They get upset when something important feels out of reach—when their identity as a capable teacher is challenged by something new.

So before we rush to fix or defend, we have to pause and listen. Because underneath the noise are real questions about why this matters and how it helps kids. That’s where I want to focus my energy.

Debunking a Few Myths

“It’s too hard for special education and ENL students.” You’re right—it is hard. CKLA and other knowledge-building curricula are intentionally rigorous. They are designed to stretch students’ language, background knowledge, and cognitive stamina. Many teachers doubt their students can rise to that challenge—and then are amazed when they do.

When a child struggles, the key question isn’t “Is the program too hard?” but “Why is this child struggling?”

• If it’s word recognition, the student needs explicit intervention outside Tier 1 instruction.

• If it’s language, scaffolds like visuals, gestures, and videos make complex content concrete.

My colleague Antonio Fierro often reminds us that multilingual learners should be exposed to rich, academic language. Limiting them to simplified text limits their opportunity to grow. The same applies to students with language-based disabilities—preview vocabulary, use pictures, and highlight what you want them to listen for.

In one lesson I observed this week, a trainer told students:

“As we read, listen for clues that show how Rosa Parks felt about segregation. The text won’t come right out and say it, so pay attention to her actions and words that show what she believed.”

That’s what scaffolding looks like—making rigorous content accessible, not watering it down.

“We Need to Focus More on Skills.”

For the past 10–15 years, many teachers have taught comprehension as a set of isolated skills—“finding the main idea,” “making inferences,” or “asking questions”—using leveled texts that students could read at their instructional level.

In “Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives,” Tim Shanahan write, when students can already read and understand most of a text, there’s little need for comprehension strategies. The real learning happens when students grapple with complex text—texts that stretch their vocabulary, syntax, and knowledge. That’s where comprehension skills actually develop.

So yes, CKLA is demanding. But it’s designed to teach students to read and think deeply about content—not just to practice strategies in texts they’ve already mastered.

Reflection: The Problem Beneath the Problem

As I think back on this week, I realize that most of what I heard wasn’t really about CKLA at all. The frustration, the tears, the tension—it was about the uncertainty that comes with change.

When we ask teachers to shift their practice, we’re also asking them to let go of what they’ve known, what has worked for them, and sometimes, what has defined them. That’s deeply personal work. It’s not resistance—it’s vulnerability.

The problem beneath the problem isn’t a curriculum issue. It’s a trust issue. It’s a fear of failing kids, of looking unprepared, of not being enough. And it’s my job as a leader to hold that space with compassion and clarity.

My plan for the coming months isn’t to “fix” it but to stay in it:

• To listen without defensiveness.

• To make space for hard conversations.

• To help teachers reconnect to their own “why.”

• And to remind all of us that the discomfort we’re feeling is actually growth in motion.

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Closing Reflection: Leading Literacy in the Dip

Change is messy. It asks us to question what we’ve always done and trust that the hard work will lead somewhere better. The unseen work of leading literacy isn’t glamorous—it’s the quiet persistence, the listening, the re-centering when doubt creeps in.

As Fullan says, “Educational change depends on what teachers do and think—it’s as simple and as complex as that.” My job is to create the conditions for teachers to keep doing and thinking deeply, even when the dip feels steep.

Because that’s where the real growth happens—for our teachers, our students, and for me, too.

When we know better, we teach better.

See you next Sunday!

References

Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change (4th ed.). Teachers College Press.

Fierro, A. (2023, March). Supporting multilingual learners through phonics and language-rich instruction. [Conference presentation]. The Reading League National Conference.

Shanahan, T. (2018, April 8). Leveled reading: Leveled lives. Shanahan on Literacy. https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/leveled-reading-leveled-lives