On Saturday, January 28, 2023, Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA) hosted the Klingenstein Center Head Fellows for a professional learning session on Agile. Developed from a dynamic approach to project management in the software development field, Agile is now an approach to collaboration, teaming, and innovation in the face of uncertainty that is being applied to and transformed in a variety of fields, including education. 

Participants in the workshop included Heads of School from around the country who are Fellows of the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Klingenstein Center, founded in 1977, is the premier professional learning program for independent and international school educator-leaders. Dr. Nicole Brittingham Furlonge is Professor and Director of the Center. Joining the Klingenstein Fellows for the Agile workshop were members of Montclair Kimberley Academy’s Administrative Leadership Team. The group of more than 40 participants engaged in a four-hour hands-on, minds-on workshop designed to demonstrate Agile in action by using over 10,000 Lego bricks to simulate a team project. 

During the workshop, participants used teamwork and collaboration to apply Agile principles to their Lego-building tasks. Through activity, discussion, and reflection, insight was gained for how Agile might foster innovation in schools. 

The workshop was facilitated by Mike Palladino who is the director of the Agile Center of Excellence at Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals and a professor at Villanova University.