Teaching in the last year has been like riding out a hurricane in a treehouse. As seasoned educators, we tried to come prepared. We knew our student’s emotional needs would be our top priority, we strived to make school feel “normal”, but from the beginning, it was clear that the 2020 - 2021 year would... Continue Reading →
What Makes a Classroom Agile?
Throughout the summer I have answered this question from educators all over the world. While I do not have a definitive answer there are some qualities that distinguish an agile classroom from a traditional classroom. Student Agency In an agile classroom students are the drivers of their own education. This does not mean that the... Continue Reading →
Student Reflections Are The Real Assessment of Learning
The American History Museum was a success. Given true agency in their education the students created their own hands on interactive museum in both a in person and virtual form. All students could learn American history through the work of their peers. After two days of touring the museum, playing, interacting and learning the group... Continue Reading →
Scaffolding an Agile Learning Experience
150 years of content in five weeks? Yeah, no problem. The students were in charge. In a lightning speed brainstorm with the founder of L-EAF, Jeff Burstein, the way unit planning was typically done flipped on its side. Instead of spending weeks meticulously planning every movement and learning path in the classroom I developed one... Continue Reading →
12 Agile Principles in Education
Bringing Agile to education means developing and driving your course with intention. Lessons are not copied from internet sources, or thought up the morning of. There is a level of flow that must be achieved within the learning objectives that builds knowledge and skill acquisition throughout a unit and the year. Being intentional and mindful... Continue Reading →
Bringing Agility into the Classroom with L-EAF.org
In January I was plugging along. My students were using EduScrum quite seamlessly. Our Constitution unit had just launched and I was staring straight towards the bright light at the end of the year. Everything was flowing. I had reduced friction in my teaching. All of my students were interactive and collaborating. Everything was good. ... Continue Reading →
Critical Thinking and Application; Using Constitutional Knowledge to Deepen Learning
With so much curriculum to cover, all of US History and Government, the question is often posed as to why we spend so much time sketchnoting and working through the Constitution line by line. Other teachers find that using summaries, moving through the document with game-like lessons, or graphic organizers work well for their students.... Continue Reading →
Applying our knowledge
As we round the circle at the end of our Constitution unit the room is buzzing with energy. Students are out of their seats, holding their laptops like busy waiters during dinner service while chatting away to their peers on zoom, and pulling through the junk drawer of creative supplies. The time to put all... Continue Reading →
Competition as a way to Apply Knowledge
In our U.S. Constitution unit the students are tasked with sketch noting each article as a way of diving deep into the meaning of each section and clause. The ideas have to bounce around their heads as they figure out how to make words written in 1787 into visuals. The sketch noting forces students to... Continue Reading →
Assessments in Distance Learning
Sitting in a meeting about authenticating assessment, my mind wanders to the overall state of education. Here we are almost 1 year into a pandemic. Our systems have been thrown against a wall and decimated. Pivoting in a weekend our normal flow of life came to a dead stop. Everything started spinning and it isn’t... Continue Reading →