It is obvious that the authors of 4DX never meant their strategy to be implemented with an authoritarian attitude that leaves no room for empathy, mutual respect, and positive relationships to bloom. In fact, that authoritarian or lead by fear approach is the exact opposite of what the 4DX is trying to implement. 4DX was meant to be a rubric or outline for how to create meaningful innovation within an organization to produce the highest quality regardless of extra resources, utilizing only the passion and grit of the existing team members and resources already at their disposal.  I personally believe that the success in 4DX comes from giving leaders a clear vision for what they want to achieve, which can be easily communicated and focused on by everyone in the team while also acknowledging that every team member also has an ever constant whirlwind that they are battling to ensure the whole organization doesn't go up in proverbial (or literal in a middle school classroom) flames. By utilizing this blueprint the focus of everyone is on the same target, so the small efforts made by each team becomes magnified and multiplied like small drops in a bucket, making change not only more possible, but profoundly impactful. 

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Although this blueprint is extremely effective in planning and executing changes within a team or organizations there is still the human component of each teammate that must be taken into account. While 4DX is a great place to start in order to get everyone motivated and moving as a united front to a worthy goal, these feelings won't last long if a leader isn't able to keep the motivation and energy flowing, which is where the six influences of motivation come into play. I think that using both strategies is where you will see virtually 100% effectiveness, yes I think that is possible even in a middle school classroom.

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For my blended learning plan implementation I will heavily utilize the 4DX strategy to outline my thoughts and ideas while keeping each student focused on our goal of increasing the amount of students passing the Mock STAAR unit tests from 42% (historical data) to 80% by the end of the second blended learning unit. This is a very lofty goal for students that don't believe in themselves as many of my students read below grade level and/or struggle with math skills and have never passed a STAAR test. Getting these kids to try in the face of perceived failure is hard and often takes me several months before I can break through their defense mechanisms to get them to reach for that success. A goal is important, but for these kids a relationship and continually showing them you believe in them until they believe in themselves is the most important key to their success. I think this is where the six factors of influence become instrumental in the success of the 4DX strategy, because formal authority will do nothing to help you here. 

 

The most important domain: personal motivation and ability can by built by increasing their freedom and allowing them to express themselves in their work in class, we will the blended learning units automatically harness their personal motivation. We also get to build up each student's perceived ability because they will not think about the content as an entirely new topic, but an extension of some hobby, interest, or natural phenomena that they are already familiar with. In other words, students will already be informal experts, we will just be giving them m ore information to put with their wealth of knowledge and experiences that they already possess. Social motivation is arguably the most important motivation in a middle school, because students' focus is on each other and fitting i, which is why blended learning units that offer many different topics of application will encourage students to share their experiences and content connections more naturally and enthusiastically. If you want to talk to your friends about cars anyway and now the chemistry you're learning about is related to trucks you are obviously going to have much more meaningful conversations about chemistry than you would have otherwise. If you want to stay on topic then the social motivation is built into the classroom naturally, making it much easier for educators to ensure that each student is in a safe learning environment in which all ideas, experiences, and even differences are met with respect and appreciation, thus building a culture of high social ability and motivation. 

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Finally, I will discuss how the structural ability and motivation are addressed since the students are more actively taking on their education, educators are more free to provide support in small groups, through strong feedback on assignments, and even facilitate more open ended conversations, debates, and hands-on activities that will build the entirety of the classroom into a support network. Students will naturally learn from each other, expand on ideas, and work to solve problems together which builds the campus up as a whole because the students are empowered to take risks and not be afraid of "failure". 

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In conclusion, the 4DX strategy must be used to keep students focused on the right thing, while the influencer strategies should be utilized to get student buy-in, because without their buy-in and effort there is very little an educator can do to increase student success on the STAAR test. It's funny,  but kids won't work for or try for teachers that they don't feel supported by or that they don't like. Building a kid up and making them believe in themself is the single most important lesson we can teach any student, and it is my life goal to try to teach this lesson to as many kids as I possibly can, because 8th grade is the last turning point may of these kids will get without serious lasting consequences and we have the power to turn them on the right path or let them wonder onto  the wrong path. We can't force them to change, but with blended learning and undying support we can definitely be the change they needed.