August 8, 2022
Agile is a mindset that makes workplaces and systems more transparent, efficient, and collaborative. When there is widespread adoption of agile, teams work through iterations quickly completing small pieces of a larger project, identifying and removing impediments, and problem-solving on the spot to pivot and keep moving. At its core, agile is defined by its ability to treat all team members like human beings and keep the integrity of relationships.
The four agile values are:
- individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- working software over comprehensive documentation
- customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- responding to change over following a plan
In the current state of education, teachers are faced with more and more pressure to provide differentiated teaching, but with standards, curriculum, and EdTech tools that are mandated by those not in the classroom, it is a struggle to maintain all of the work, build strong relationships, maintain mental health advocacy, and get grading done. All teachers in the classroom feel this struggle, but integrating agile into the classroom clears this task list and brings us back to the human-based interactions that we most need in the classroom and society.
As independent school leaders, we…
