October 12, 2021

Throughout the summer, I answered this question from educators all over the world. While I do not have a definitive answer, there are some qualities that distinguish an agile classroom from a traditional classroom: student agency, the teacher as a guide, and skills.

Student Agency

In an agile classroom, students drive their education. This does not mean that the classroom is a free-for-all where there are no standards or organized curriculum. It is quite the opposite. 

For a moment, think about where agile originates. It developed to lean out (to make more efficient) systems of software development. The technology industry has clear deadlines, objectives and functions. No one hires software developers to create anything the developers like. Agile was conceived for business to be more efficient and flexible. 

The same need is true for a classroom. There is a scope and sequence that must be adhered to, standards to uphold, and a curriculum to be met. When students are given agency, they still have constraints, just like in the workplace. In an agile classroom, the students can choose freely within those constraints. 

In an agile classroom, the teacher poses an essential question. The question helps set…