This past week, I had the opportunity to lead a full-day professional development (PD) session focused on Productivity & Accountability, one of Iowa’s Universal Constructs. This wasn’t just about introducing strategies; it was about rethinking productivity, breaking free from traditional time management mindsets, and equipping educators with practical tools to empower students.
What made this PD stand out was the foucs on energy and not time, looking inward before outward towards students, integration of Agile and Scrum principles, project management tools, and reflective strategies to help educators move from rigid goal-setting to adaptive, iterative learning—both for themselves and their students.
But the learning doesn’t stop with one day. To truly support teachers beyond the PD, I’ve launched a 10-week PACT Accountability & Productivity Newsletter that offers weekly nudges, insights, and experiments to help educators sustain their learning and implementation. This is an invitation for continuous reflection, action, and iteration—without the pressure of perfection.
What We Explored During the PD
The session was structured around key focus areas that scaffolded a practical, hands-on journey for educators:
- Understanding Productivity & Accountability: Moving beyond “being busy” to identifying what truly creates impact in our classrooms.
- From Time to Energy Management: Applying concepts from Tony Schwartz’s work to help educators and students align work with energy peaks.
- Scrum & Agile for Education: How frameworks traditionally used in tech and business can empower student-led learning and ownership.
- Tech Tools for Student Engagement, Teacher Productivity, and Accountability: Practical applications of Difft, Quizziz, Brisk, Revision History, Napkin AI, Padlet, and Curipod.
- PACT Planning for Real Implementation: Educators developed personalized action plans for small, continuous improvements.
Throughout the day, we engaged in self-reflection, collaborative problem-solving, and hands-on experimentation. But I knew that without continued support, many of these ideas could easily fade into the background of day-to-day teaching demands. That’s where the PACT Newsletter comes in. They designed a 10 week tiny experiment plan before we all come back together again and the goal is not to be doing something each day, but to iterate, test, refine, and experiment with ideas to see what might actually work.
Week 1 Newsletter: Observation & Field Notes
As a follow-up to the PD, the first week of the newsletter challenges educators to step back and observe before making any immediate changes. Why? Because true productivity isn’t about doing more—it’s about understanding what actually works and what doesn’t.
Focus: Becoming an Anthropologist of Your Work
Rather than rushing to “fix” classroom productivity, educators are encouraged to spend a few days simply observing their own and their students’ work habits. The goal is to identify patterns—what’s working, what’s draining energy, and where accountability could improve. It is about reflecting on the ideas we explored in our training and taking time to notice and establish potential systems and barriers that exist currently.
Here is the first newsletter of week 1 of 10
Week 1: Observation & Field Notes
Subject: Start with Observation: What’s Really Happening?
Focus:
- Before making changes, observe your day like an anthropologist.
- Take 24 hours or a few days this week to track patterns—what’s working? Where are roadblocks?
- Identify “Productivity Rain Dances” (actions that feel productive but don’t drive real progress). Explore more on this concept in Cal Newport’s article: Productivity Rain Dances.
Activity:
- Field Notes Challenge: Jot down observations about how you and your students spend time.
- Key Questions:
- What moments in your day feel the most productive?
- What drains your energy the most?
- What tiny moments of accountability (or lack of) stand out?
Action: Update your PACT Document with your reflections, notes, or current plan of action accordingly.
Quote for the Week:
“Notice the vocabulary we use. Setting a linear goal entails defining a target state in the future and mapping out the steps to get there. But what if we played a different game? A game of noticing, questioning, and adapting?” – Tiny Experiments
Invitation to Share: Feel free to share any thoughts, questions, observations, artifacts, etc. that you think would be valuable for our community to consider.
Final Thought:
True productivity isn’t about working harder—it’s about working more intentionally. What’s one small experiment you can try this week to rethink productivity in your classroom?
Let’s build this journey together.
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