Now Seeking New Team Members for the 2021 - 2022 Agency by Design Oakland Teacher Fellowship Program

We are now entering YEAR TWO of a two-year team experience. Most teams will have at least one second year team member—meaning one person on your team has already participated in the 2020-2021 fellowship.

Our Oakland school teams are Bella Vista, Castlemont, Community Day, Garfield, Grass Valley, Fremont, Frick, Lazear, MetWest, Montera, Park Day, and Urban Promise Academy. Some exceptions may be made.

YEAR TWO: During the second year of the fellowship program (August 2021 - May 2022), we will continue cultivating our community and collective wisdom, digging deeper into maker-centered learning & educational equity pedagogies, engage in more formal independently driven inquiry cycles, and design sustainable structures to support student agency.

We will focus on the following areas:

Agency by Design Maker-centered Learning foundations

We will take deep dives into the Agency by Design framework with a particular emphasis on maker-centered learning strategies, thinking routines, and systems thinking.

Culturally Responsive Teaching, Liberatory Practices & Maker-Centered Learning

We know that maker-centered learning, when done well, is a pedagogical tool that is both culturally responsive and liberatory. We will explore the intersection of these methodologies & stances.

student agency

We believe student agency is key to educational equity. We will explore the relationship between student agency and culturally responsive pedagogy, through maker-centered learning, by engaging in flexible inquiry cycles where we test out strategies and practices in our teaching and learning contexts.

TEACHER LEADERSHIP

We want to cultivate your leadership within the fellowship and at your school sites to promote growth and sustainable change. We will be providing you and your team members opportunities to lead elements within the fellowship meetings and support you as your team prepares to lead learning opportunities at your school site.

JOy & Healing

In addition to promoting student agency, we will use making and hands-on learning to center joy, healing, and reflection as we continue navigating through uncertain times.

FELLOWSHIP DETAILS

We are seeking new members to complete our current site teams of 2-4 educators to engage in the 2021-2022 fellowship program. Applicants may include classroom and enrichment teachers, teachers on special assignment, instructional coaches, instructional assistants, community coordinators, and administrators.

We seek to build a cohort of educators that reflects the diversity of the learners we serve. We encourage educators of color and people from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

The fellowship includes:

This year the fellowship commitment includes 40+ hours of participatory, hands-on, professional development, both in-person (safety permitting) and in your own learning context, from August 2021—May 2022. We will have monthly, 3 hour meetings, generally on the third Tuesday of each month from 4:30-7:30 pm. Our first gathering will be a two-day retreat, most likely a Friday & Saturday, in late August or early September. We will also have a daylong workshop in mid winter and an end of the year event showcasing your learning. Site administrators will be joining our gatherings four times throughout the fellowship year: fall, winter, early spring, & end of year, in order to better understand the framework and to be prepared to support the sustainability and spreadability of maker-centered learning practices at school sites.

Team Coaching from an experienced Oakland educator
Action research engaging in self-directed inquiry
When applicable: materials, childcare, hospitality & sub stipends provided
up to $1,100/year stipend for participating teachers
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) available
Access to available grants and resources within our network

Pedagogical Influences

Our approach is based on research. Our work grew out of a research project with Project Zero, a research institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2016 the book Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds was published, which shares this research and showcases Oakland teachers’ case studies.

We use culturally responsive teaching practices, through maker-centered learning, to address equity. We help teachers shift instructional practices to move away from compliance towards curiosity and agency, and we combine our research with equity-centered work such as Zaretta Hammond’s “Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain."