As I thought about
a project where scope creep was evident I thought about my fifth grade teaching
experiences. I had been teaching fifth grade for ten years. In this time I
had created and designed effective lessons plans as well as implemented
efficient teaching strategies.
My eleventh year
teaching, I was offered a teaching position in another school district. With teaching jobs being few and far between,
I accepted the job. When I attended new teacher (to the district) trainings, I
noticed how differently this district encouraged their teachers to teach, i.e.,
what strategies to implement in the classroom, what standards and objective to
follow, etc. I had just completed my
Masters of Science in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and with my years
of teaching experience, as well as “effective” ratings I had received from
prior evaluators, I believed I knew what I was doing and felt quite at ease
with my teaching style and lesson plans.
During the first few months we were asked to
submit our lesson plans, including standards and objectives covered, our
teaching methods and how we would differentiated instruction for those children
that needed it. When I first presented the plans they were received with
praise. As the weeks passed I was observed by the principal and we had a
meeting. It was in that meeting that she said my plans and teaching were “effective”
as but she wanted me to make her suggested changes. The changes in my
opinion would unravel everything that I had accomplished so far and were
not in the best interest of my students. This was when “scope creep” came into
play. Scope creep is when a change is projected as a project progresses
(Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer & Sutton, 2008).
The reprimanding
principal reminded me of the strategies and “mind maps” discussed at our new
teacher training and how they needed to be incorporated in the lessons. Her suggestions now, as I see it, were a way
to change my lesson plans so that they fit the styles that she wanted and
it would delay my progress and individual plan for each student. If I had
known what I do now about scope creep I would have been able to stand up and
tell them both that my plan was already in action and how it was working for
each student.
The
stakeholders in this case were the principal and the school district. As I
look back I realize that these two stakeholders were upsetting every teacher
who had already implemented their plans and had their students on track for
learning. If I had the knowledge about project management that I do now, I
would have been able to present my plan again after the meeting to these
stakeholders. Maybe then I would have been able to keep the principal
from turning our school upside down. I had more knowledge and
experience with my lesson plans as they were developed based upon prior
successful experiences and state department of education standards, benchmarks
and objects. My plans were developed for the progression of my students. The
stakeholders were not active in my room on a daily or weekly basis and not observing
what I was doing. I should have had them write down all of their suggestions
and sign that document. I would have taken that document back to my lesson
plans and addressed each suggestion. Then I would have decided if each
change was necessary. After that I would have updated my plan and informed them
of any changes. But since I did not know about the process of a change control
system as described by our class text, I did not have a graphic depiction to
guide me (Portny et at., 2008). If I had this knowledge I could have
effectively controlled and monitored the scope creep that I now see was so
evident.
After one year of
teaching at this school, I resigned. The
state test scores came back and the majority of my kids did well; however, the
school did not and was rated a C-. After
talking with friends who taught at this school for the past academic year
(2012-2103), the state testing results reports the majority of the kids failed,
the school received a grade of an “F” and the school district itself received a
“D”.
References
Portny, S. E.,
Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B.
E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling
projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
