No Teacher Left Behind
Activities Prototype: Capuchino High School
1) 9th Grade Orientation Planning
Working with teachers to design goals and activities on how to begin the year with the new
team of 9th graders. Discussion prompts can include:
 In the first week of school, 9th graders usually feel…
 Through our NEW team orientation, we hope new 9th graders will feel…
 What orientation activities can we design to support these goals?
 What are our next steps?
Feedback on this activity centered on:
 The thought that we may want to break empathy questions down further, such as
o Before school starts, 9th graders usually feel
o On the first day of school, 9th graders usually feel
o At the end of the first week of school, 9th graders feel
 From there, we could design goals and activities for each of these milestones
2) Feedback is a Gift
This exercise is designed to set new norms about colleagues sharing feedback with each other.
The activity is proposed as follows:
 Brief introduction of feedback as a gift, with emphasis on the idea that non-evaluative,
regular and constructive feedback is rare and valuable.
 “Secret Santa” feedback assignments: each training participant (including facilitators)
are matched to someone in the room who will give them feedback. The identity of your
assignment is only known to you.
 Near the close of the full day, participants fill out a feedback form that prompts positive
and constructive feedback for their partners. Participants share this feedback with their
partner and then receive feedback.
 As a large group, participants debrief exercise and discuss opportunities to engage in
feedback swapping throughout the school year.
3) "Menu" Schedule
I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on this, especially the revised model where we have a set
of core activities in place and then give the teachers a choice as to which optional activities to
do when elsewhere. This is not an activity, but rather a way of structuring activities. For
example:
 9:00 AM – Introductions
 9:30 AM - __________
 10:00 AM - Key Event Thing #1
 11:00 AM - __________
 11:30 AM – Lunch
Etc. with optional events to fill the ________ listed on the agenda sheet.
4) Going outside to see and talk to students
The purpose of this activity would be to build empathy with students. By asking students key
questions (i.e. about 9th grade orientation or what worked well and did not work well about
teams in the past year), we can incorporate team feedback into future plans). I think the key on
this is whether the team leader thinks it would be worthwhile or interesting to the team. If
there's buy-in from her, we could even do a mini "design challenge" kind of thing around going
out and talking to current 9th grade team students. The key here would be timing, and we'd
also need to make sure the teachers would be willing. Feedback I've gotten indicates that buyin from the participants is important on this one.
5) The "Note Taking Cube"
This idea focuses on building a paper cube upon which notes can be taken, and which can be
opened afterward to reveal an inspirational quotation / candy / whatever. I think the
important thing I've heard is that it's a bit too constraining for long-term note taking, but might
be a cool thing for a single activity, especially if we can match what likely goes on to faces of the
cube to what is in the middle.
6) Role Play Activity
Not exactly innovative, but I've also been checking in with people about role-playing and
"Whose Line is it Anyway" style improv situations. Randomly drawing personalities, settings, or
genres to act out some relevant event might help to reveal some of what the teachers believe is
at the heart of those events. For example, acting out a teacher's lounge interaction about a
student in the style of, say, Survivor (we'd let them generate the possibilities, since I'm no good
at it) will likely uncover hidden assumptions. Do the teachers make the interaction about a
failing one, or a succeeding one, for example? Who do they "vote off the island?" Those kinds
of things may not be all that meaningful, but they might help generate expectations. Anyway,
like with other ideas, the feedback I'm getting is that some people really like this kind of thing,
and some people really hate it. Also, it's really important, if we start drawing conclusions out of
it, that we do so in a non-threatening way.
7) A Four-Eyed Monster (Don’t Feed The Beast)
This prototype illustrates the idea of having four outlooks but one function. Each member of
the team looks at the world from a different perspective, but they must become one of mind in
order to act. This can make things awkward and frustrating. Getting things done takes a great
deal of communication and diplomacy. The eyes must focus, if they are going to get anything
done and done well.
Another thing to take into consideration is how people might perceive a four-eyed monster. Is it
a sight to behold, in that it looks crazy and falls down all over the place, or do people stand in
awe of it? Will it hide out in a cave, away from people and potential ridicule, or will it live
amongst the people? What kind of attention will it draw? What kind of powers does it have and
how does it use its powers to influence others? Does the four-headed monster have allies and
enemies? How does it relate and interact with them? Will this monster be seen as a hero or a
beast?
This is a great opportunity for the 9th grade team to formulate and identity for themselves. By
engaging in the act of digital storytelling (or storyboarding), the teachers tell the story of how
they came to be, what it was like growing up, the challenges they faced, what their fears are,
how they plan to go about conquering them and why? They can give themselves super powers
and a sidekick if they like; anything they think they will need to be the hero in their story.
8) An Improv Group (Theatre Family)
An activity to try with the group: Whoosh! Bang! Pow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwXhjg4D_U
I propose the 9th grade team sign up for improve classes, or have an improve coach come once
every two weeks to teach the members of the group how to use creativity to problem solve.
Improvisation is good for team building and can result in result in the invention of new thought
patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act.
It would be great if the group did a performance for their kids on a quarterly basis. The time
could be spent troubleshooting issues most pertinent to the 9th grade in an entertaining setting.
9) Low Hanging Fruit: The Playbook
http://www.jes-basketball.com/
Teachers have a book of plays that illustrate what they will do in any number of circumstances.
The playbook will help the teachers to set goals, determine roles, come-up with the necessary
actions to be performed and how these actions will be performed, to achieve the outlaid goal.
The teachers are given three common scenarios and are encouraged to troubleshoot the
problem, and come up with a game plan (actions to be taken). They should continue in this
practice throughout the school year and start to incorporate the use of the students and other
faculty over time. Everything is documented in their team play book and they can make
modifications as they see the play in need of alteration or not being effective No play is thrown
out unless proven to be ineffective. This process encourages act of experimentation,
troubleshooting, problem-solving and reflection.
10) Visuals
The day will be visually and structurally organized in the following ways:
 AGENDA
o Will be prominently featured throughout all activities
o Will include set times for each activity
 FOCUS TOPIC
o Will be posted with slides or a white board as appropriate
 RESPONSE
o Participants will have an opportunity to respond to each activity visually (as well
as verbally)
o Each participant will be assigned a colored post-it pad one which they can code:
 Pluses (things they like about the activities)
 Deltas (things they don’t like or would have done differently)
 Light bulbs (new ideas that came out of the training)
 Questions (questions that the activity left hanging)
o Here is a visual representation:
o Using such a visual is a way to model open, honest feedback while also inspiring
reflection