Originally developed as a way to create software, the Scrum framework is now used in many areas, including nonprofit organizations and faith communities. A more complete description of Scrum is available here: http://agilethinking.net/essence-of-scrum.html

Because we are developing this curriculum for high school aged students, we would like to work with a group of 15-20 people who are willing to field test the material with students and provide us with feedback. We are open to working with anyone who has regular contact with high school aged students including: teachers at traditional high schools, teachers at non-traditional schools, facilitators at organizations which work with high school aged students, and people who work on special programs for high school aged students.

As part of this effort, you will receive a free two day training on Scrum led by Tobias Mayer, the Creative Director of the Scrum Alliance. All out-of-pocket costs will be paid.

We expect that this effort will take place over a period of six months. During that time we would like you to provide feedback on 10-15 one hour lesson plans. We would also like you to commit to teach at least one lesson.

If you are interested in exploring the opportunity, please fill out the questionnaire below by June 30 and return it to me at michael.delamaza "AT" gmail.com. If you have questions, please call me at 617-575-9707 or send email.

Michael de la Maza

Questionnaire

1. Name:
Email:
Phone:
What grade(s) do you teach?
What subject(s) do you teach?
At what school/organization do you teach?

2. We are planning on preparing a Scrum curriculum which will have 10-15 lessons. Lessons will be produced at the rate of once every two weeks. We will send you each lesson and expect feedback within two weeks. We may also contact you informally throughout the ~6 month project. Are you interested in this project?

3. Will you be able to field test at least one lesson during the curriculum development process?

4. If you find the curriculum of interest, will you be able to teach it to students on a regular basis?

5. Do you know of anyone else who may be interested in the project? If so, please list the name and email address of people whom you think we should contact.

The People Developing the Scrum Curriculum for High Schools

Helen de la Maza has been working and playing in the field of education for almost 15 years. As a science and environmental educator she has written and taught curricula for K – 12 students, trained adults on instructional strategies for teaching outdoors, and created small explosions in middle school science classrooms. Helen worked for the Orange County Department of Education's Inside the Outdoors environmental education program for nine years as a naturalist, staff trainer, and curriculum developer. She was also a curriculum writer for a statewide project brought about by California's Education and the Environment Initiative legislation, and has recently been working with Orange County nonformal and formal organizations to assist in curriculum development and professional development in pedagogy. Helen's 27 years of education have resulted in a double BA in Biological Sciences and Comparative Literature, MS in Wildlife Science, MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and single and multiple subject California teaching credentials.

Michael de la Maza is an agile consultant and trainer. He has founded several startups and enjoys exploring news ways of working. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT and blogs at www.hearthealthyscrum.com.

Gerry Kirk has a passion for community, for transforming the world of work and beyond. I try to apply Agile thinking in non-software environments, including faith communities. Strong experience working with small, distributed teams. I've experimented with numerous tools and methods to foster collaboration across the digital wire. I discovered Agile / Scrum in 2007 after 10 years working as a developer, QA manager, then project manager. Since then, I've worked to transform teams and organizations as a scrum master and coach/trainer.