After introducing a Gameshifting board at ALC Oahu I decided that my next task would be upgrading Oahu’s Set the Week (StW) board. In Agile Learning Centers (ALCs) we practice cycles of intentions setting, play/creation, reflection, and sharing. Each day opens with intention sharing and ends with reflection. These cycles can actually extend further out into the week (or month, even year). When an ALC sets intention for the week we generally call this “setting the week” because it typically focuses on offerings rather than personal intentions. At the start of each week or, in ALC Oahu’s case, the end of the week the ALC gets together and individuals offer activities for the following days. These offerings are recorded on a set the week board.
Anatomy of a Set the Week Board
A StW board is quite simple. Columns for the days of the week and rows for the hours in each day. In Oahu there are only three days, hence only three columns. We start at 10am and end at 4pm so there are 6 hours in our day and 6 rows .
What is it made out of?
This board is actually a recycled piece of wood I picked up that has been primed and covered with white board paint.
Once the board has been painted into a white board I then use permanent markers to draw the stuff that will stay mostly the same. Like the title, lines, times, and some activities. Of course being Agile means changing anything up if need be. You can erase permanent marker from whiteboard by simply writing over the lines with dry erase marker!
The top most row of our board are the day “column headers”. This is where the days of the week are marked. I left these cells blank so that we could write in the day names due to Oahu’s week shifting to accommodate holidays or other shifts. This makes the board flexible (until Oahu becomes full week!).
Each day column is subdivided into hours. At the top is 10am and the bottom is 3pm with the checkerboard pattern representing the 4pm end of day meeting.
At the top of each day—in permanent marker—are activities we do every week on that day. Above is the 10am hour for the third day of the week (Thursday). It lists check-in, change up, intentions, and trello. These are the activities we always do on our 3rd day’s morning meeting.
Likewise on the bottom I’ve marked reflection and gratitude, our end of day meeting. Above that is the Set the Week meeting where this board is filled out.
Pretty simple eh?
I started the board by sketching it with dry erase markers then drawing over with permanent markers.
Set the Week boards from around the Network
Check out what Mosaic has done at the bottom of their board.
At the bottom there is a row for “see me” or activities that don’t have a set time. What a useful upgrade.
What other upgrades can you think of? Post more pictures in the comments 🙂