Welcome to the Agile Teacher. The Agile Teacher Lab was first developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education through the Reach Every Reader grant. The Agile Teacher now located at Hunter College in New York City and operated by experienced classroom teachers. Whether you are a high school student exploring a career in teaching, a pre-service teacher, in your early career, or an experienced teacher looking to take your teaching to the next level – the Agile Teacher Lab is for you.  Join us for professional learning aimed at developing agile teacher thinking required to meet the diverse strengths and needs students bring to every lesson.

Professional Learning Opportunities

Agility (30-60 minutes) https://agileteacher.org/game/ 

A proto-type for an online and paper-based board game to develop teacher critical thinking and problem solving skills while working as a collaborative team. In this game, teachers adjust teaching in responses to students who start learning at different places and then progress at very different rates. While responding to student learning, on their feet, teachers solve unexpected problems such as absences, students with different reading levels, and students with advanced skills or background knowledge. During the game the teacher team works to make teaching decisions that will move all students learn, feel belonging, and are liberated through their learning within the time constraint of a 45-minute lesson.

Through playing the game, teachers  take away: 

1. practical teaching routines that increase teacher time for learning from students and critical thinking during daily lessons, 

2. a deeper understanding of how to apply research on learning, motivation, and culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy to daily practice and 

3. increased agile thinking skills – the ability to rapidly perceive, imagine, and analyze teaching and learning during planning and daily practice. 

Agility is useful for teaching teams and co-teachers to become familiar with each other’s teaching practices and spontaneous problem-solving approaches. 

Mursion Simulations to Learn Research-based Practices through online module preparation and Teaching Practice/Coaching in a Virtual Classroom

Title	Practice	Time	Challenge
Orientation	Learning about Students	30 min	Find out what avatar students read outside of school
Equitable Academic Discussions	Adjusting Peer Discussion Directions	50 min simulation	Adjust peer discussion directions to improve the quality and equity in participation(preparation 3 online modules – 45 to 60 min)
Feedback Grows Student Understanding	Providing Feedback	45 min	Provide feedback on student understanding of a non-fiction text to a small group of students using a ladder of feedback (i.e. value student, correct, and push thinking)  in 7 minutes. Includes practice with one student prior to the group, differentiated coaching, and personalized practice opportunities.(preparation 3 online modules – 45 to 60 min)
Making Meaning with Students	Facilitating student thinking	30 min	Practice orchestrating meaning making after gathering student responses. Skills include clarifying student responses, valuing student contributions, redirecting, providing information, challenging, and prompting specific thinking skills.(preparation 3 online modules – 45 to 60 min)

Teaching with Grace (10-20 minutes) https://agileteacher.org/liza/ 

Pilot and offer feedback to support the development of an Augmented Virtual Classroom Practice Space. This practice space is a replica of the Feedback Grows Student Understanding simulation, but is automated using artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Teachers can practice teaching with the computer playing the students or with other teacher colleagues puppeting the avatars for a small group or whole class activity.

360 degree Video Experience to Explore Help Resources in the Classroom (10-20 minutes)

Version 1: https://my.uptale.io/Experience/LaunchPage?id=TVY1O0OHf0GU7mTia5I6Kw 

Version 2: https://my.uptale.io/Experience/LaunchPage?id=ZYo2v8uGtkWDkQ2l00mx3Q

Try out a 360 degree learning experience using Oculus googles to practice listening to peer discussions and identifying help resources that would improve the academic language students are using and equitable participation in the discussions.