Scrum for Schools Blog # 7 for Chapter 7

In Sutherland’s Scrum, the explanation of happiness’s essence doesn’t follow the typical Merriam-Webster’s definition. Refreshingly enough, there’s no obsessive correlational to contentment; there’s no image painted of perpetual yellow-faced smiling. Missing is the consumeristic satisfaction in sitting back and swimming through pools of pleasure. Sutherland isn’t writing this chapter as a toast to all the warm and fuzzy feelings that derive from finding a “good job” or landing in the “right spot”. This isn’t a celebration in the guise of “happy, happy, joy, joy” (my apologies to Mr. Ren and Dr. Stimpy).

Professional happiness for Sutherland connects most strongly with three other abstract states of being: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. These three musketeers of marvelousness all correspond directly with the journey and not the destination. As an educator, this was vital for me to hear. Too often in our schools are we consumed by high-stakes testing, standards-based curriculum where end-of-year goals and proficient scores trump everything. The unfortunate sacrifice of this “standardized result” infatuation is, you guessed it, happiness. The ill-founded pursuit would most likely be described by Mr. Sutherland as “soul killing,” or something synonymous to strict adherence to timecards, daily journaling of tasks, or filling out paperwork piled higher than Pisa’s leaning tower.

My intention, per se, is not to decry standards or testing or even today’s common curriculum (although, if you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, I do maintain beefs with all the above). No, there is something to be said for many of the tools within these constructs. People often qualify happiness as being uncountable or immeasurable. Sutherland disagrees with this notion. He believes that happiness should be quantified. So what helps most in this regard? Something that testing, assessing, and results-based activities do a great job of accumulating: DATA. If we as educators wish for our students to get better each day, they need constant and timely feedback. They need to see if and how they’re improving in their understanding of a particular subject. This data should not be, however, taken solely from the typical and tired sources like the endless variations of multiple-choice tests. Instead, engaging projects with specific rubrics and graded checkpoints in addition to focused short answers with clear objectives and scaffolded steps should instead be the norm. Students deserve individual constructive feedback which means workshopping or one-on-one meetings are two great ways to give a personalized experience to each pupil. The yield for this change in assessment and evaluation often is student happiness.

Let’s quickly jump back, though, to teacher happiness. Autonomy is the first ingredient to cooking up the right kind of educator happiness because it is equal parts empowerment and liberation. Although I nearly soiled myself at the beginning of my String Theory Schools experience when they told my fellow teachers and me that we would be building our own online courses, I came to realize that the autonomy granted in this enterprise made me feel respected and trusted as an adept purveyor of all things ELA.

Mastery, the second element of Sutherland’s hybrid of happiness, went hand-in-hand (for me) with autonomy. Having received my bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Northwestern, I was quite proud of the content knowledge I had worked tirelessly to build over years of dedicated study. Creating projects, activities, assessments as well as handpicking novels and poems contributed to this same sense of pride. I considered myself a master in understanding my subject area and the chance to master the education of others in this subject made me feel quite good as I embarked on the journey to transition from dedicated literary scholar to well versed literary educator.

Purpose, the third factor in Sutherland’s “productive happiness,” seems like a no-brainer for teachers. Our purpose is inherently vocational because, let’s be real here, no one gets into education for the Benjamins. We are dedicated to making the world a better place, one student at a time, one day at a time. We follow Mahatma Gandhi’s mantra, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. But our purpose, in what we teach and what we put in front of our students, must be evident and relevant every single time. Without this application, our purpose may be lost on our students, and that can be detrimental to our own happiness.

The last sentiment I’ll end with today comes from two of Sutherland’s last points, “Secrecy is poison; make work visible”. If your door is closed and if your mind isn’t open to change and if you’ve sworn off learning the next “new fangled technology” for whatever reason… your days of being happy as an educator are numbered if not already at zero. Keep your door open, don’t ever close your mind, and try everything (even the weird stuff) at least once. You can count on being much happier as a result.

Scrum for Schools Blog # 6 for Chapter 6

When our High School English Department began creating courses in iTunes U at String Theory Schools during Orientation Week in August 2013, we knew resolutely that we first needed to build the outline. As we began to wrap our minds around laying the roadmap for the entire year’s curriculum, the task was daunting and the outline seemed to be the behemoth standing before us as the key to unlocking the year’s worth of valuable student work. After we completed the outline (and the syllabus with a matching timeline to go along with it), I felt a sense of accomplishment. What I did not realize at the time was something I learned in reading Scrum: The map is not the terrain. As teachers, we can plan until we’re blue in the face. It comes with the “territory” (for the sake of convoluting the aforementioned adage). We all want to go in there ready to face the day and sometimes we even attempt to predict our pitfalls or potential problems, which we then pair with potential solutions. But as first period begins (and as the entire school year gets rolling), I am reminded of two different Eisenhower quotes that coalesce perfectly.

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. 

In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.

As soon as the first student enters the room or the first iPad malfunctions or the first lesson flops (or “the first bullet is shot” in referencing Eisenhower once more), everything seemingly goes out the window. Therefore, it is important to realize that planning only goes so far. The plan shouldn’t be a blueprint written in permanent ink because all moments, concepts, and learners are diverse. There’s no true value to sticking to a plan so steadfastly that it renders you or your department immobile. Yes, there are units that need more effort and preparation than others due their complexities (think: the “dog” sizing of the unit/project/activity and subsequent prioritization). But when you’re in the “thick of it” and in the midst of teaching, one must know how to survive and adapt on the regular. Sutherland recounts one anecdote when his cohort “planned with poker” in a type of random, Fibonacci-sequence-based assignment of timing for required tasks. He makes a point of telling this story because there have been innumerable instances when the day, month, or quarter’s worth of scheduling was so far off that it became laughable.

So what does a teacher do when the plan doesn’t work? What must occur after the lesson book must be thrown out? When the timing goes off, what adjustments must be made? Answers to these questions depend on the “terrain” of the situation. First, foregoing panic in favor of deep breathing is highly recommended. I hate to sound like Lawyer Murphy, but everything, at some point or another, is destined to go wrong. Be prepared by keeping this notion in mind when in the heat of the teaching moment. Secondly, sometimes it’s best to ask an Oracle (or someone with a deep content knowledge, vast veteran years of teaching experience, or specialization with a particular technology or innovation). The Oracle is at the top of his/her mountain for a reason and their wisdom in solving a lesson’s snafu or helping you overcome that snag could be worth the trip to your school’s next floor or the office/classroom down the hallway. Other times, it’s a matter of changing the velocity of the lesson plan to accommodate the proper delivery. This can often be intuitively sensed by your class’s rate of absorption for particular concepts. Exit tickets and informal assessments using Kahoot! or Socrative are awesomely flexible and easy-to-use measuring sticks.

I don’t mean to deride all lesson-planning with this post because it is always necessary, whether you’re building an outline in iTunes U or mandated to fill out of one of those thick and mangled teacher planners. In fact, I “plan” (in one way or another with mind maps, design thinking, and PDACs) now more than ever.

And don’t forget! There’s one type of planning that’s always worth it, and that’s the “goal planning”  (or setting) of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). Without these, there is a limit beneath the sky, and there becomes a hapless direction to your instruction. Without BHAGs, a dearth of inspiration or lack of self-motivation can be a “classroom buzzkill” as a teacher without energy or enthusiasm might as well be a piñata without candy. Don’t be that empty piñata. Be the candy that gets everyone excited.