EDgility
We look for student and teacher growth through self-regulated, collaborative exploration and play. We want to cultivate teachers and students to be adaptive lifelong learners who thrive in and uplift our evolving world.
Educational Agility at Schools
Inspired by technology companies creating this in the work environment, we took the time to study Agile and Scrum and bring that to our school’s learning environment.
We prioritize our educational goals and use Agile practices as a secondary concern to help create an enthusiastic learning environment. We call this approach EDgility: Educational Agility.
Values
Four values define the core mindset we are working toward:
- EXPLORATION - Exploration and play over tests and perfection;
- GROWTH - Growth and rework over assessment reports without corresponding mechanisms to improve identified weaknesses;
- SELF-REGULATION - Student-driven reflection and improvement over teacher directives; and
- LIFE WORTHY LEARNING - Learning that supports additional learning over detailed course content.
We understand that there is value in many approaches and we don’t exclude other values, we just prioritize these over others.
Practices
Ten practices that we find that help students with engagement and self-regulation:
- EXPLORATION - Exploration over fixed content
- GROWTH MINDSET - Growth over stasis
- TRUST - Self-regulation over teacher control
- TRANSPARENCY - Visibility over obscurity
- ADAPTABILITY - Flexibility over rigidity
- SMALLIFY - Quick, workable iterations and feedback over big plans
- VALUE - Valuable learning over convenient assessments
- COLLABORATION - Working together over competing against
- REDO - Reflection and progress over right and done
- UPLIFT - Problems as opportunity over problems as problems
Each author of this document implements these differently in the classroom, but as practices we all agree they are helpful.
Additional Ideas
We aren’t finished, we’re just beginning. We are interested in collecting more ideas and updating EDgility.
- Slack
- Choice
- Retrospectives
- Engagement Hero’s Journey
- Feedback Natural and Pixar Style
- Context Learning toward student chosen goal - within the context of the class
Please contact us with your thoughts, experiences and ideas.
