Time is of the essence, especially when you are a teacher. Lesson planning, course creation, grading, parent-teacher communication, emailing students, tutoring, reflective teaching… the list of responsibilities goes on and on and on… ad nausea. And boy am I nauseous (and scatterbrained) at the end of most days.
I value my time tremendously because it is finite. If I do not treat it in such a way, I would never be able to manage it as the sands swiftly move to the bottom of my “daily hourglass”. Luckily, String Theory Schools has collaboration and preparatory time structured into each day. The collaboration time often is a nice chunk (51 minutes) in the middle of my school day where I can get together with my departmental colleagues in addition to any administrators we may need to make decisions. Oftentimes roles and titles are discarded (at least temporarily) in lieu of quick-paced decision-making. As best as we can, our department keeps our Head of School, Head of Operations, Curriculum Director, Innovation Specialist, and Dean of Students informed of everything. (Ah, the beauty of CC-ing admins on emails to keep everyone in the loop…) The process is expedited because everyone knows everything. When there is a need for people to pitch in, most people volunteer because they are “in the know” and feel confident that they can quickly help (with perhaps the notion that a quid pro quo looms after their favor’s completion).
Our once-a-day collaborative get-togethers are only supplemented by a weekly all-faculty stand-up on Tuesdays. These 15-minute stand-ups have effectively supplanted the typically torturous “faculty meetings,” which seem to drag on endlessly as eyes and ears begin to bleed profusely (I only kid). The meetings grease the wheels on cross-curricula integration and provide assistance to those teachers in need of help with outside-of-school events (dances, performances), long-term projects (iBooks series, conference presentations), and in-class fun (Pi Day celebrations, science competitions). The sense of community that can be built within the 15-minute meetings is also surprisingly successful. If other people know what you’re doing, showing public appreciation and offering private congratulations becomes much easier.
Finally, Jeff Sutherland adheres to another belief as it relates to his agile manifesto where great work is completed in half the time. That belief is “demo or die”. Now, having mentored a student teacher this year for the first time, I have obtained a cursory understanding of what this phrase means. At the beginning of her semester, Bella, my student teacher, would strictly observe my day-to-day actions. She would witness my ups and downs, successes and failures on a period-by-period basis. Most importantly, however, she would watch my pedagogical approaches, solutions to classroom management challenges, and instructional habits. Soon after watching, she would then try her best to emulate this de facto demonstration. I quickly learned that all my errors and flubs would be replayed in her own teaching. Bella was making the same mistakes I had made by simply observing my tendencies and copying my movements. Perhaps not coincidentally, as Bella grew and blossomed as a teacher I, too, in turn was strengthened by pinpointing some of her flaws and fixing my own.
Scrum for Schools: An Educator's Scrum Experience 