Heather Cowap, MS, MEd, RSM
Heather Cowap, MS, MEd, RSM
A teacher for two decades, I came to the profession from hospitality and public health. These experiences shaped my teaching, how I interacted with students, and my educational leadership practices.
A registered Scrum Master, I see the value of both Agile managment philosophy and practices for the educational sector. Our leadership training discusses change leadership and other practices, but lacks a formal practice of management systems such as Agile, Six Sigma, and many others used in the business sector. Although this may not seem applicable, my experience of high district and building leadership turnover (not uncommon I know!) underscored for me the value of consistent practices which are flexible and continuous providing a foundation for leadership to run on, consistency for faculty and staff, and improved communication and collaboration when faced with the myriad of challenges we experience everyday in school buildings.
The mission of Strategic Educaiton Systems is to work with educational leadership to establish operational systems for districts and buildings. By providing a blueprint of operational guidelines, we can improve the professional integrity of our teachers, and subsequently craft building culture which strongly supports students and their learning experiences.
These practices include establishing collaborative pracitces to ensure that inclusive teams can develop creative solutions for the challenges faced in your district. These practices are not "one size fits all" but rather embrace and support professional innovation at every level of your leadership, faculty and staff.
After designing my classrooms to follow the Universal Design for Learning guidelines, I turned my focus to student autonomy. As a public health educator, I believe that a crucial role of learning is to motivate individuals to engage with their worlds as critical thinkers and active participants. One way to empower students and tap into their motivation is through choice and voice so...
I began using Agile Scrum team protocols to achieve greater student autonomy, and to embed executive function skills into my classroom management practices. This blend of UDL and Agile Scrum allowed me to craft a fully student led learning experience, supported by me, and allowing me to focus on one on one and small group assistance in understanding and applying the concepts being learned in my classroom.
I quickly began to make use of Agile Scrum with committees I led, professional development offerings I created and to present on my classroom's systems at a number of professional conferences.
Strategic Education Systems
I look forward to talking about these possiblities and more with you. Please consider joining my newsletter list to learn more about what I am offering and how you can use these systems to strengthen your own leadership practices.