This could easily be subtitled: How Agile saved my ass… and my sanity.
Primary schools by their very nature are whirlwinds of creative chaos! Tornadoes of painting, crafting, coding, building, drama, singing and dancing to name just a few all crammed into busy timetables! During the year various initiatives are dreamed up or bandwagons are hopped upon and a whole heap of work can land on our plates, with a short time frame in which to manage it all. This is where agile working transformed my entire outlook on teaching.
During an already hectic term, in the midst of assessments and my semester long PBL project (and a new baby shaving my sleep time and ability to stay behind after work to prepare!), our school decided it wanted to get involved in Book Week. Each class would have to create an exhibition piece by the end of the week based on a country on a randomly allocated continent… ordinarily, this would be an awesome opportunity to really get our teeth stuck into material, but the timing in this instance was less than desirable to me. I needed a way to turn out an exhibition piece in minimal time, with deep learning, interaction and different perspectives…in order to get my class back on track with our 'Big' projects. What I needed was maximum efficiency!