Agency by Design Oakland Culmination May 2017

On May 24, 2017 Agency by Design Oakland concluded a one year fellowship with a group of amazing educators. We celebrated at Chapter 510 in downtown Oakland, reconvening in the location where we began the fellowship the year before.

The event welcomed teachers, community members and students. Teacher fellows showcased artifacts, visual documentation, and videos from the inquiry work they completed over the year. Researchers from Project Zero at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education described the research process that coincided with the year and drove the inquiries that educators were trying out in their classrooms. The overarching research questions for the 2016-2017 year were:

• How can learners make visible their ability to look closely, explore complexity, and find opportunity?

• How can teachers qualitatively measure students’ performance within the realm of these three core maker capacities?

• How can we collaborate with students and teachers to design a suite of practical documentation and assessment tools best suited to the development of maker empowerment?

During the event two fellows, Kennan Scott and Robbie Torney, presented Ignite Talks to give the crowd a snapshot of the leadership and work they’ve engaged in at their schools.

Kennan Scott, Engineering and Computer Science Teacher at West Oakland Middle School, presented on making computer science relevant in the hood. Kennan walked the crowd through the lack of diversity in the tech industry and described how he is empowering his students to see themselves in tech leadership roles. Kennan is also in the process of designing a new Oakland school, Coded Academy, which would focus on coding throughout the content areas.

Robbie Torney, Assistant Principal at Lodestar, a Lighthouse Community School, presented his ideas around redesigning schools to create more equitable education. He posed the question: What would school look like if it were built around agency and belonging?

You’re invited to this year’s culmination event, which will take place in the morning of Saturday, May 5th, 2018, location TBD. The current 2017-2018 Agency by Design Oakland fellows have created their own inquiry questions spanning leadership, assessment, curriculum integration, and more.  

Hands-On Empowerment at Oakland International High School

“The idea is that your voice can be heard. You can develop this skill that engages the community, but also there’s a final product that everyone can enjoy.”
-Mallory Moser, Computer Graphics Teacher and Media Academy Director, Oakland International High School

At Oakland International High School, which serves 100% newcomers, regular classes come to a close late May, leaving the last three weeks of the year to Post Session, where students enroll in one physical education or art based class. In 2017 OIHS received a Maker Empowerment Grant from the Abundance Foundation, which allowed for the creation of several multiple maker-centered learning classes, including Careers In Computing, Biking, Mural and Mosaics, and Bag Design.

In Careers In Computing students used Makey Makeys, Arduinos, and Rasberry Pis to get hands-on with computer coding. This was the first time these technologies were introduced at OIHS and at first students were confused, but the physical computing aspect of these technologies soon got them excited and engaged.

“I realized that our students don’t have enough opportunities to get their hands on different kinds of technology, and to not just use them but to write their own programs and think about themselves as agents.”
-Courtney Couvreur, Math Teacher, Oakland International High School

The Biking post session focused on ridership and bike maintenance. Students learned how to ride and repair a bike, enabling their own empowerment in a mode of transportation that they may be familiar with or altogether new. For many students it was their first time using tools, and taking apart a familiar object. As Math Teacher David Hansen described, “I think for some students using tools isn’t a new idea, and they’ve done it before. But for other students, a lot of them in fact, this is the first time they’ve used tools to take something apart and to put something back together. I think that basic skill and confidence is hugely important for a lot of different things.”

Students in the Mural and Mosaics session collaborated and created a permanent public artwork on campus. By learning and utilizing the design process, students learned how to work together, how to implement symbols in artwork, and learn the technical skill of making a mosaic. Students chose to represent butterflies in the mural to symbolize immigration. Alexis Calderon, a 10th grader, described the symbol: “We made butterflies because we think that they represent immigration because butterflies fly together to different countries. That’s the same as us, we came from different countries to this country.”

In the Bag Design class students took bags apart to see how they were made and learned to create multiple styles before designing their own final project. They learned different design techniques, how to hand sew, and how to use a sewing machine. As with all classes at OIHS the curriculum in this post session emphasized language development, with a specific emphasis on vocabulary and verb usage. But the biggest takeaway was being a productive maker. Says the Art Teacher, Sara Stillman, “My students have learned that it’s super easy to make something that they can use, which I think is super empowering.”  

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Oakland International High School is a public high school in Oakland, California, that serves predominantly newly arrived immigrant students from approximately 30 different countries. The school relies on public funding, foundations and community support to keep their work going. With today's political climate and funding shortages, they need your support more than ever before.  Here's how you can help:

Donate: Funds enable us to do the work that we do. All donations are tax-deductible. Donate here.

Buy an OIHS Sweatshirt: The perfect gift to keep you warm and wear with pride. All funds go to buy much-needed bus passes for OIHS students.

Support an OIHS Teacher: Our teachers have listed project and supply needs on Donors Choose. All donations made will be matched during the week of December 8!

Volunteer: Can't give financially, but want to support us with your time? We are always looking for more volunteers! Check out our volunteer opportunities here.

Assessment in a Technology and Design classroom, at Wood Middle School

“I just love the jist of building stuff, and the think, make, and improve process where you have to brainstorm, build, think, and re-design. And it was just satisfying, looking at what I built.”
-Student, Wood Middle School

Sixth grade students in Ngà Nguyêñ’s Technology and Design class are supported with multiple assessment structures that promote reflection and agency. At the core of the class are engaging hands-on projects, like the assignment to build a rocket—in two weeks—that flies over 50 feet. These projects build in other content area skills, too, particularly math. “Everything we do is just a trick to get them to learn how to measure,” says Ngà. To successfully make a rocket students had to go through an iterative process of drafting, building, testing, re-design, and another round of testing. But it’s the additional assessment structures that Ngà has been experimenting with these days that are pushing his practice.

Ngà has collaborated with an on-site colleague and arts integration coach, Lindsey Shepard, to develop a student-centered reflection. At the end of the rocket project mentioned above, students create an artist statement, or “Designer Statement,” in which they choose a Studio Habit of Mind as a lens to reflect on their process. The Studio Habits of Mind is part of a framework developed by the research institute, Project Zero, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Similar to the Agency by Design research project, the Studio Think Framework was developing in collaboration with Bay Area educators, and outlines eight habits visibly evident in the art studio. Wood Middle School has introduced these habits school wide, using them as a tool to invest in arts integration across content areas. In Ngà’s class, the designer statements over time turn into portfolios, an authentic assessment tool used by real world professionals.  

“Engage and Persist is one of our Studio Habits of Mind. You just have to persist on what you’re doing. You’re always gonna fail, that’s just the path to success. Failure is not bad. You have to learn from your mistakes and not avoid them.”
-Student, Wood Middle School

Ngà also joined the Agency by Design Oakland fellowship in 2016, which further pushed his thinking around assessment for maker-centered learning in his classroom. In particular, Ngà was interested in having the students develop more agency in the assessment process, and wanted to create a daily structure that would support students’ work. Ultimately he developed a system of goal setting and reflection, where students would reflect on their own learning process and goals, hopefully making kids accountable to themselves. Specifically he hoped to pass on to students a disposition of always wanted to get better, always looking for something to improve on. He says, “[It’s about] always looking for that motion to move forward. Perfection never happens.” -Tinkering and Making Facilitator Ngà Nguyêñ

The routine goes like this: when students enter the class they pull out a worksheet and quickly begin looking a small white board near the door, where Ngà has listed the class agenda for the day. On their worksheet students respond to the questions, “What’s the day’s agenda? and What’s your goal?” Then, at the end of the class period, students spend time following up on the agenda and goal, responding to the questions, “What did you learn? What do you wonder about what you made today? How did the day go?” This process is reviewed at the end of each week with a 1-5 rating and a longer reflection. Ngà’s system and questions appear simple, but he believes that by making it a routine it will become a habit for his learners to be in control of their own learning.

Wood Middle School enrolls 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and is part of the Alameda Unified School District in Alameda, California.