The New School Year Has Started Admin Retreat

For more pictures see the #bsdempower17  hashtag on Twitter.

Admin Retreat

The Future Ready Team lead two different activities during the admin retreat in the second week of August, the first one was a brief introduction to design thinking, specifically looking at empathy. The second activity was Breakout EDU, in which groups of 10-15 admins had to use teamwork and critical thinking to solve complex puzzles to open a locked box.

Mock Up Cards

Breakout Box

Design Thinking- Empathy

Empathy is a key piece to successful design thinking AND a desired skill for everyone, students, teachers and admin. To start off our intro to design thinking, administrators were asked to turn and talk to an elbow partner about an event that had gone awry. The listener then had to repeat the story back to the storyteller. This is a great warmup for design thinking and empathy, since it puts the listener into the shoes of the storyteller, when s/he repeats it back. Roles can then be switched so that each partner experiences both roles.
The second activity for design thinking used Mock Up cards. These decks are split into User, Constraint and Need, with each group tasked to brainstorm and create a solution for the User's Need. For example, Ancient Egyptians (User) need a way for children to play outside (Need) that is waterproof (Constraint). Each group had a unique set of three cards, paper to brainstorm on, and aluminum foil for prototyping. Interested in trying it out in your classroom? Each building received a set of their own cards that can be used by teachers. We will also have lessons and resources that we will be posting in the lesson category about design thinking, and empathy specifically so look for that in the coming weeks. 

BreakoutEDU 

What is great about Breakout EDU is that it is cooperative out of the box thinking at it's finest. Also, depending on the game you pick you could potentially get some content information and practice. There is quite a bit of set up that is needed, so keep that in mind. Many of the admin loved this, and went ahead and bought some boxes for their own staff. There are some boxes available for checkout from our Innovation Library. Contact your Innovation Strategist to find out more information. 

Innovation Library Breakout Boxes

We were also introduced to the #bsd1thing initiative. Sometimes innovation can be overwhelming. If you can pick just one thing to focus on, it will make things seem more doable. All admin will be reading George Couros's The Innovators Mindset, I have started reading it myself and am sketchnoting all the chapters as I go. Taking just one idea from this book would be great for a #bsd1thing commitment. 

What is “#bsd1thing”? It is the ONE innovative thing you will be taking on this year that was inspired by the Innovator's Mindset by George Courous, or any other number of personally selected goals. By starting small we will lead to a bigger impact for our schools and the district. Ask your Future Ready Team contact to provide support in a way that best suits your needs. This can be scheduled for any day before or after school or would be great during early release on weeks 2 & 4!

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