At Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy Bronx High School, the instructional planning team identified a critical challenge: inconsistent classroom engagement. While some classes fostered dynamic, high-quality learning experiences, others fell short. Recognizing engagement as a key driver of student success, the team set out to ensure excellence wasn’t the exception - but the standard.
To elevate classroom engagement and instructional quality, I led a multi-part workshop with the instructional team. Our goal was to pinpoint barriers to engagement and co-design a solution that would empower teachers to strengthen their lessons.
Through structured analysis and collaborative problem-solving, the team developed a powerful solution: a curriculum evaluation framework designed to:
Assess and refine lesson plans for engagement and rigor
Ensure intentional curriculum design aligned with their instructional goals
Provide teachers with a clear roadmap for delivering high-quality learning experiences
This approach not only addressed their immediate challenge but also equipped the team with a sustainable tool for ongoing instructional improvement.
ROLE: Service Designer, Workshop Facilitator
DURATION: 6 months
ORGANIZATION: Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy Bronx High School
TOOLS: Fishbone diagram, five-whys, brainstorming
To elevate the quality of instruction and ensure all students received rigorous learning experiences, I designed and led a multi-part workshop that empowered educators to analyze challenges and develop actionable solutions.
Before the sessions, I partnered with school leadership to assemble a diverse team - including new and veteran teachers as well as student support staff - ensuring a wide range of perspectives in our problem-solving process. This intentional approach deepened our discussions, surfacing key insights about instructional barriers and guiding the team toward sustainable solutions.
To drive instructional excellence and ensure every classroom met high engagement and rigor standards, I designed and facilitated a two-part, solutions-driven workshop that guided educators from problem identification to strategic action.
To align the team on a shared understanding of their instructional challenges, I facilitated a structured Five Whys activity using a fishbone diagram to dig deeper into the root causes of inconsistent lesson quality.
After surfacing multiple factors, we categorized them based on what was within vs. outside their control. Through a dot-voting process, the group selected a target root cause—one they believed, if addressed, would yield the greatest impact.
With a clear root cause in focus, the team brainstormed possible interventions and evaluated them through another round of dot voting to identify the most feasible and high-impact solution. The result? A plan to develop a curriculum evaluation tool that would serve as a scalable mechanism for ensuring rigor in lesson planning.
Together, we:
Defined key indicators of a high-quality lesson
Created a tool to assess and refine existing curriculum materials
Applied the tool to revise and strengthen instructional content
The final product was a refined curriculum aligned with the school’s instructional vision, giving teachers a clear framework for designing rigorous, engaging lessons. This process not only improved lesson quality but also empowered educators with a sustainable method for continuous instructional improvement.
The teacher team embraced the curriculum evaluation tool, integrating it into their ongoing work to refine and strengthen their lesson plans. Over the next two years, they tested, iterated, and implemented their updated curriculum, using the tool as a foundation for continuous improvement.
The team's commitment to this process led to sustained instructional improvements and positioned them as a model for other schools. As a result:
They became a showcase school within my company’s network, recognized for their instructional progress
Their curriculum tool became a lasting resource, shaping how they designed and evaluated lessons
Our partnership continued, securing a returning client who valued the impact of this work
The Bigger Win
Beyond the tool itself, this initiative clarified instructional priorities, aligned the team around a shared vision, and created momentum for lasting change. More than just improving lessons - it empowered educators with a structured approach to drive continuous instructional excellence.
Collaboration can require intentional facilitation. While working on this project, I also worked with a different school to support their instruction improvement project. The two teams worked in completely different ways. The other school was an established school team that followed norms that mirrored the hierarchical work structure of the school and excluded more junior voices. In contrast, the team at Schomburg was new and open to co-creating team norms for working together. By designing their own ways of working, they avoided hierarchy-driven dynamics and fostered a space where every voice had power.
This contrast reinforced a key lesson: collaboration thrives in environments that are intentionally designed to support it. In my practice, I create these environments by:
Co-creating norms and consistently revisiting them
Collectively analyzing problems to develop a shared starting place to launch work
Structuring opportunities for all participants to contribute so that solutions reflect diverse perspectives
Anchoring my work is a belief that when we design for collaboration, we unlock the full potential of a team, and allow all of the critical voices that are part of a project to meaningfully contribute to its direction and impact.