Hidden lessons of The Eduprotocols: The Fast and the Curious

 

     Anybody who follows me on Twitter probably knows that I love Eduprotocols as much as I love using GIFs. (You probably know that if you follow me in real life too.) One particular protocol, “The Fast and the Curious” resonated with me immediately.

 It was a “Now, why hadn’t I thought of that!”moment.

     Low entry point, high ceiling, shortened feedback loop, room for all students to grow and improve, it just made so much sense.

       If you are not familiar with the Fast and the Curious, others probably describe it better than I, but essentially:

1. Decide on content
2. Give a short quiz on the material prior to teaching
3. Provide immediate feedback
4. Teach the skills immediately following the quiz using the quiz as a blueprint for instruction
5.  Once you have done that, give the quiz again, and watch the average percent correct improve.
6. Give the quiz again the following day, and the next until students demonstrate proficiency.

      Since I began implementing Eduprotocols, I have observed  significant benefits from using “The Fast and the Curious” with my students. As I implemented the protocol over the first couple of weeks, I noticed that in addition to students genuinely mastering the content, there were other things being taught by simply engaging in the process. Yes, like some of the most engaging 21st century content, there is an Easter egg imbedded within The Fast and the Curious!

 ***SPOILER ALERT: What is the Easter egg?***

   
     First and foremost, no other lesson or activity in my classroom fostered a true growth mindset in my students quite like “The Fast and the Curious.” Each year, I show my classes the video, “Why You Need to Fail” by Daryl Sivers. I love that it gives concrete examples of the value of productive struggle, of iteration, of genuinely learning from failure. I strive to give my kids the understanding that what I'm really interested in is their growth, and that their talents and skills are not finite. Unfortunately, this mindset is often in direct conflict to what they’ve experienced in life and in school.  As educators, we show videos, make posters, we constantly model learning from failure, we read stories, make paper brains, and continually try to impress upon our students the "Power of Yet." Helping kids to truly embrace a growth mindset can be really challenging

     I noticed a shift in my entire class' overall mindsets when I began implementing Eduprotocols, specifically The Fast and the Curious. I realized that nothing drives home the students’ understanding of their capacity for growth and improvement than a real live, real time example. The students were receiving immediate feedback and witnessing their growth over the course of a single lesson and then even greater growth over a single week. It was like the students finally grasped what this crazy teacher really meant when she talked about growth mindset. We started tracking our overall progress on the white board. I was amazed by the level of motivation in my students. Seriously, what kid wants to take an online quiz? The Fast and the Curious brought us closer and helped make us a team in a powerful way. After a couple of weeks, I began to notice students helping other students review the material. I heard students ask, “Have you mastered your vocabulary?” and “Want to do some flashcards?” After each round, the room began to erupt in chants of “We’ve im-proved! We’ve im-proved!” Students were engaged in cooperative learning, on their own, without prompting from me. Some students even created a Google Sheet to track their growth and shared it with the class. Students began to use the "explore" button to create graphs and analyze their progress. My 4th graders were suddenly interested in data and the value of tracking it.

      We are at about 3 weeks into the current school year, and I am already beginning to hear statements like: “It's not about the leaderboard, it's about the progress” or “Hey, I’m improving!”or “I need to work on <skill>,  let’s do some flashcards.” Already, they are beginning to grasp that  we are not a one and done learning culture in our classroom and that we value process over product. For me, those lessons are the most important lessons learned when engaging with the Fast and the Curious.