The Change Game

Overall, I found the Change Game to be an eye-opening experience. Before the game, I would have never guessed that it would take so long to implement change in a school system! I figured if you get permission from the principal, that that would be all the authority you would need. I’m very aware that some people are rather resistant to change, but I had no idea that it would take so long to convince them to at least try a new idea.
Although my group lost, we still discovered the need to keep talking to people. Not being persistent in talking to people was one of our mistakes. We tried to jump in and give people presentations and hands-on experience before they even really knew what we were talking about. However, one good aspect of the game was the team effort. It was so much more motivating and fun to try to implement change as a group, rather than a single person! Thus, I can see the need to cooperation among the school media specialists, even if it’s simply a band of MS in the district.

This game was an excellent way to teach some of the problems we’ll be facing, some of which I had never thought of before. Not having the authority / resources, running out of time in the school year, dealing with burned out teachers and personal quirks in the staff are all roadblocks my team had to deal with. I found it a little sad that we couldn’t motivate everyone (Assistance Principal Pat…) but I suppose that it is a fact of life that there will always be someone resistance to change, even if it benefits the students or makes life easier. I was also surprised to find that by talking to certain ‘group leaders’, we were able to influence their friends. Most of all, this game taught me that being a change agent requires patience, dedication, and a whole lot of persistence.