FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
See frequently asked questions about the Agilities for Elementary resource kit and other Agilities resources. For additional questions or needs please email agilitiesedu@debruce.org.
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GETTING STARTED
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How can I integrate the Agilities resources into my classroom?
You can create an Agilities classroom in any content area! Start with the resources in Educator Support where you will find video based professional development as well as support guides. Use the resource Creating an Agilities Classroom which features how to use the Agilities in the visual environment, language development, group work, and community involvement. You’ll learn the pedagogy behind Agilities integration into the learning environment.
Within the student support section, you’ll find resources to introduce the Agilities to your learners, tools to lead engaging discussions, and tools for the visual environment.
What age group or grade level are the Agilities resources designed for?
The Agilities are for individuals of any age, but this resource kit was built for Kindergarten to 5th-grade elementary students. In the elementary grades, the purpose of the Agilities Resource Kit is to provide a wide range of experiences for students to support their self-discovery. Students learn more about their strengths and interests while building the early stages of employability skills.
Many of the lesson materials have Kindergarten suggestions to support our youngest learners. In the Educator Support section you’ll find resources to support primary grades learners including the Primary Readability Goal Setting Cards.
Within the Lesson Alignment Guide you’ll find grade level bands a lesson is appropriate for. There are specific K-2, 3-5, and K-5 lessons.
There are additional Agilities Resource Kits available for Middle School as well as High School & Beyond.
What resources are available for teachers to integrate Agilities into classroom lessons?
Each facilitation guide includes the learning outcomes, lesson objects, time and materials requirements, activity directions, considerations for Kindergarten learners, career connections, and formative assessment activities.
You can find all the lessons in the Lessons section of the website. These can be used as is, or you could use these as a model for how to infuse the Agilities in the curriculum and learning activities you already use. In Educator Support, in the Strategies and Tools section, you'll find additional resources to bring authentic learning into your classroom where you can highlight students' Agilities in their classwork.
How do I help students identify their Agilities?
The Agile Work Profiler is the assessment to learn a person's ranked Agilities and is intended for individuals in 8th grade and beyond.
For elementary-aged students, we believe that exposure to all of the Agilities through education and enriching experiences sets the foundation for students making connections to career pathways in the future. At this age, the Agile Work Profiler is not appropriate for use.
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Instead, focus on providing experiences and building students' capacity to use Agilities language to describe their strengths and interests. In Student Support you'll find a variety of activities to introduce, reinforce, and practice Agilities language.
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Use Agilities language development resources in Student Support - Activities to grow students' ability to self-identify Agilities they like to do and are good at doing. As students become more familiar with the language, you'll hear students say things like, "I'm great at managing! When I lead a group, we always get our work done and my group says they like working with me."
In Student-Created resources, you'll find an activity called "Create Your Agility" where students create their own Agilities character and connect to the Agilities of work.Â
Can Agilities resources be adapted for students with special needs or learning differences?
Absolutely! Agilities empower all students with the knowledge of their skills and interests, which gives them confidence. Many of the resources include Kindergarten variations, which can be used for ideas to support students with adaptive needs.
The Agilities Goal Setting cards include a primary readability version, which can help struggling readers.
How can I track and assess student progress in developing Agilities?
In the elementary grades, provide exposure to all the Agilities. This includes providing opportunities for students to try different tasks and roles in the classroom. Rather than assessing students' understanding and ability within each Agility, you can keep track of students' preferences for the Agilities through work samples, reflections, and portfolio development. For your class, you could also track students who have been given opportunities to develop each of the Agilities to ensure you provide opportunities to all.
What are the Agilities?
The Agilities are the set of 10 work skills that are found in every job in the economy. Your Agilities are the combination of skills you like to do and you’re good at doing. These skills can be grown and developed and your top Agilities can change over time. Research has shown that Employment Empowerment comes from the combination of having strong Career Literacy and Network Strengths. That effect is compounded with age, meaning starting sooner leads to more success.
How do the Agilities benefit elementary-aged students?
For elementary students, learning the skills they enjoy and are good at provides the pathway to explore potential careers of interest, build confidence and self-esteem, discuss their strengths and interests, and develop work skills to succeed later in life.
Are there any real-world examples or case studies of schools successfully implementing the resources?
The Elementary Agilities resources are currently being piloted across multiple states. As we receive more feedback, we'll update our resources with additional evidence. See what students think about the Agilities in the video below.
What is the role of families and stakeholders in supporting the Agilities?
Familiarizing families and other stakeholders with the Agilities can enrich your students' experience in seeing their Agilities at home and in the community. The Agilities are for individuals of any age, and the resources on Agilites.org can support family members as well as community stakeholders.
For families and stakeholders to support students, use the resources in Stakeholder Support. The resource "Just Play" is a 2-page or front-and-back resource for families to learn about the Agilities and ways to engage with their child. There are additional resources for community and school stakeholders to explain the DeBruce Foundation's mission and provide an overview of resources.
Encourage families and other stakeholders to take the Agile Work Profiler to help them understand the value of the Agilities in their work.
STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES
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How do the Elementary Agilities resources align with other educational standards, like Common Core or state-specific requirements?
In Educator Support, the resource National Alignment to Standards Guide aligns the Agilities Lessons with the Common Core State Standards for Math and ELA, The Next Generation Science Standards, the National Employability Standards, and the CASEL Core Alignment. As new resources are developed and added to the resource kit, additional standards of practice will be added and updated.
How do I identify the learning outcomes for an activity?
Use the “Lesson Alignment Guide” in Educator Support to see the full list of lessons with learning objectives, primary activated Agility, and the CASEL Core Alignment category. Within the guide are the suggested grade level and time for completion. Use the “Lesson Matrix” in Educator Support to see lessons clustered by category: community building, collaborative learning, student responsibility, and content specific with tags to indicate the primary and secondary Agility being activated.
TECHNOLOGY AND ACCESS
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What do I do if links aren't working?
Clear your cache and cookies/history on your web browser. Then restart your web browser and/or computer. You may also need to try another browser.
If that doesn't work, we may have a broken link that needs to be updated. Please email agilitiesedu@debruce.org for support.
How do new users receive access to the resources?
New users can sign up for an account on the elementaryagilities.org login page by clicking “Sign Up” to create an account.
Please email agilitiesedu@debruce.org for support in this process.
Can I download all the resources to my personal cloud drive or hard drive?
The most up-to-date resources will always be available on this site. This includes corrections or updates to lessons and resources, new videos and new resources, new student and teacher-created resources, and more!
TRAINING
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Are there collaborative opportunities for schools or organizations to partner with The DeBruce Foundation?
Yes! Additional training is available at The DeBruce Foundation to become a Certified Agilities Coach. Agilities Coaches belong to a cohort of over 800 coaches to support innovation and integration in a variety of environments. The Agilities Coach Training is a two-day in-person training in Kansas City that is free to attend, although spots are limited. You'll find additional training information at debruce.org.
What training is available to help me understand the Agilities framework?
There are several training opportunities to learn more about integrating and innovating Agilities resources for your environment with students. ​​​Attend free, asynchronous, virtual training to gain a deeper understanding of the Agilities resources for education!
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The training coursework will take approximately two hours and must be done within 30 days of registration. The modules are self-paced, so you can pause and return as needed. Review the training syllabus for expected outcomes, the value of integrating Agilities in learning environments, course guide by module, and learning pathways with timing.
In the Educator Support tab, you'll find professional development videos to support integrating the Agilities resources into your classroom. These videos can be watched independently or with a group to have deeper discussions about the resources. In addition to the resources included on the Elementary Agilities Resource Site, you can sign up for additional training opportunities on our website. These are free to attend and include our Agilities Tour and Agilities Coach Training.
What is the time commitment for educators to implement these resources into their curriculum?
A majority of the resources are ready-to-use with no additional planning or strategy time. You’ll find complete lesson plans with all the instructions and materials needed to facilitate with students.
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In Student Support you'll find Agilities Goal Setting Cards, Discussion Cards, This or That Activity, and more. These resources can be layered into any learning environment and content area.
For schools that would like to integrate at a deeper level, teams can work together to infuse the Agilities into school and class projects. There are suggestions in Educator Support in the "Guide to Implementation."