Last month, the Blueprint Education Eduvators and the VIP team developed and implemented our first Agile in Education Compass Training starting with the compass point of trust. The experience for students and participants was overwhelmingly positive and moving, setting the stage for additional Agile in Education Compass student trainings throughout the year.

Here are several responses to the training shared by students:

My experience at the Trust Training:

I loved my experience on this trip. It allowed me to feel vulnerable. It also allowed me to see and learn more about other HHS students in a different way while also letting me see myself in a different light. The experience taught me a lot about myself. Anahi V.

I went on the Trust field trip and it was a really meaningful experience. I learned to put more trust in myself and that it’s important to tell your story because it’s what shows who you really are. I also learned to fight my fears, because that will make me stronger as a person, I get to know about others and their experiences and learned that even if I think I’m alone, I’m really not, because there are others who have gone through the same things or similar experiences, which is so important to know. The people were all really kind and supportive and I’m grateful I got to go. Deanna Z.

I really liked the whole event. It was a learning experience that I was really glad to be a part of. The staff created a really comfortable environment. One thing I struggle with is public speaking and I ended up speaking numerous times. Overall it was a great experience and I would love to be part of another [Agile Compass] event again. Nayeli L.

Something I learned [during] the Trust field trip was to not always hid my pain and feelings from others. Something else was learning that everyone goes through things even if they try to act cool. It was an experience meeting other people like me and learning how to deal with problems and pain, though it was hard to talk and admit to all of it. Angel S.

Why Agile… in Education?
The Agile framework originated from the world of software development, and a need arose to collaborate on product development in a smarter way. Agile teams work effectively as a unit and can better react to the inevitable changes in innovation and education. The Agile philosophy encompasses a group of methodologies that guide goal development, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
When applied to education, the Agile framework and methodologies look like Best Practices in a system of student engagement, teamwork, exploration, relevance, objective mastery, increasing depth-of-knowledge, 21st Century skills in action, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation. Agile learners iteratively develop and grow trust, collaboration, culture, and reflective practice for lifelong learning and success.
Join us on the journey at blueprinteducation.org/agile.

Author: Marina O’Connell, MAEd, CSM, CSPO, CAL K-12

They were given the opportunity to share with their neighbors and learn from the remainder of the crowd where each individual and their ancestors derived from, gaining a perspective that everyone comes from somewhere different or may have similarities of coming from the same place and/or the same culture.

It’s been a week now that I’ve been recovering from a friendly but harsh league game that turned my eye from normal in all cases to a fine looking “shiner” that became the first conversation piece of each and every new encounter for the week that followed. I think that most people wanted to know if it involved an altercation of sorts…since that’s always something they can get their energy going on.

I wasn’t as creative when it came to my story as it was told over and over and I thought it better to stick to the truth, although it wasn’t as colorful as some of the other stories that folks wanted to hear. So the league where I received my “shiner” is an adult volleyball league, both women, and coed. That night, I was playing on my women’s team. The basic rules are that the other team serves and you have three plays before the ball has to go over the net. That night, the ball was served to us and we made the first pass. Since I’m the setter, my job is to get to every second ball to set it up for my hitter. This time around though, the first pass ended up going way higher than it should have, and then straight up to the middle of the court (where I would normally try to set it). Unfortunately, my teammate was there and attempted the hit it over with the second shot. She reared back with her hitting arm and clenched fist, and all I remember is seeing that fist come back down and “pop!” Of course none of this intentional at all, just a part of the game. It doesn’t happen often but yes it can happen, even on a fully functioning team.

This is very aligned with our organization because we operate in an Agile way through teams. Each team member knows what it is they are doing as part of the whole and what their responsibilities are to the team. There may be times that you overlap your responsibilities and that’s not a bad thing as long as the end product you create meets your requirements. It is certainly something that can be delved into when you have your retrospective. Sometimes having those moments of “whose is it” clarity helps to build better trust within the team. It can certainly bring a team closer. Other times it may make a team create gaps because neither team member wants to end up in that predicament again, depending on the trust level of your team. Higher functioning teams will clarify their experience, work through the adjustments, and turn full speed ahead on the next project. How do you think your team would handle that situation?

As for my volleyball team, we didn’t miss a beat. Even on the next play. We had enough trust with one another that we weren’t going to let this little setback get in the way of our normal high-performance play. We moved on and eventually won.

~ Marmy

Update the Purpose
Updating the purpose for your change helps others understand why the change is occurring in the first place. They may not necessarily agree with your stated reason but you’ve now given them something with which to work. From here, you can create a space for team members to voice their opinions and recommendations. Many times a new purpose is what is needed to push an old idea ahead.

Revitalize your Rally Cry
It’s a great time to reinvigorate your rally cry. What will motivate your team to get behind your push this time around? How can you boost the momentum or lack thereof among the group? What is it that will change your team’s attitude and want to move the meter on this particular project? Is your rally cry aligned with the team’s interest? Does it speak to them?

Lots of TLC
Just like anything else, more care and attention and focus will brighten your team’s energy and perhaps even shed new light and a new perspective on an old idea. Facilitate ways that you positively influence buy-in and empowerment from your team. Show them just how important or valuable this idea could be with their help.

3 Steps to Successfully Use Scrum At the Office

Committed Team Members…in order for scrum to really have a good foundation from upon which you build, the team will need to fully commit to the process and artifacts. This also means that your team needs to have a good understanding and vulnerability towards one another. If they are good in terms of functioning as a whole and are able to be open and honest during the sprints as well as the retrospective, your team will be well ahead of the curve.

Transparency and Reinforcements…it is just as critical to have very tangible and visible reinforcers related to your scrum sprints. It will raise the level of importance and build new behaviors when it comes to how the team should operate. Sometimes what ends up happening is that some team members become frustrated as issues arise whether that’s someone missing a daily stand up or someone not staying focused on how to better the team in a retrospective. Whatever the case may be, keep in mind that these challenges are supposed to come to light. That’s what the process and artifacts uncover. The more things you witness, the better your team will become at addressing them and improving the process and becoming more efficient together.

Culture Support…In the end, your culture will either align with Agile and Scrum or it will destroy it. This is much more than buy-in, it’s a full-blown dedication to the principles and tenets of Agile and Scrum organization-wide. It’s about making collaboration, team self-organization, vulnerability, reflection and retrospect, honest conversations, and a solid continuous commitment to improvement a priority and meaningful.

The Scrum Alliance Becomes Apart of Our Next Iteration

With Hopesquad running on all cylinders, and literally self organizing, it was time to get back to the basics. We reassessed where we needed to put our efforts. We decided to look again at scrum in the classroom.

Wanting to give students more autonomy and the flexibility they needed to find success, we partnered with The Scrum Alliance who sponsored our efforts to purchase one to one Chromebooks for every student in order to support the implementation of a new self-directed curriculum at Hope High School. This new approach to instruction inspired an academic agile culture.