Well, I’ve bumped another scheduled post! Yesterday, I enjoyed a great time in the Junior High math-science PLC (Professional Learning Community) that meets four days a week during Period 4. The math-science PLC has been working on lesson studies for PBL (project-based learning). One of the teams created a lesson on the Fibonacci sequence and nature (see Vi Hart’s video about the Fibonacci sequence for a quick taste).
On Monday, we experienced and tested the lesson. We scrimmaged. We rehearsed. The room contained teams of teachers in one math-science PLC. Before rolling out this lesson to students, we prototyped the “need to know,” the content, the methodology and pedagogy, the possibilities for “voice and choice,” etc. We measured our fingers, our faces, our arms, and our legs. We discovered the Golden Ratio over and over again. We had fun, and we learned. And…we practiced!
Don’t we know that scrimmaging and rehearsing enhance performance?! Don’t we owe it to our learners to practice, scrimmage, and rehearse before we play the actual game?!
it's about learning 
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This is one of the critical skill sets that we know to be true, know how to teach, but don’t build into the classroom. I have interviewed several top-performing athletic coaches. Their priorities each year: not winning, but working as hard as possible each day; repeating the fundamentals; getting the best players on the team to bring up the less-skilled players, not because they are friends but because that is how a team wins. Let’s get these skill sets into every classroom!
I loved the scrimmage in PLC yesterday! I wish I could scrimmage every lesson BEFORE presenting to my students. I do have the opportunity to get a second chance everyday, but that means my first try was not as well delivered as my second try. And, it’s my first chance students that take the blow.