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Leadership Huddles: A Bespoke Approach to Innovative Learning Communities with ACS and Kristine Mizzone

As the American Community School of Abu Dhabi (ACS) enters a new year, consultant Kristine Mizzone is spearheading an exciting, innovative initiative designed to empower leaders within the school community. This initiative, called the ACS Leadership Huddles, is not just another leadership workshop—it's a unique and dynamic program tailored to fit the needs of busy educators and leaders at ACS. The goal is to blend flexibility, practical impact, and personalized support, helping individuals grow, inspire their teams, and lead with purpose. Kristine’s work is a great example of how creative professional learning experts are crafting innovative experiences on Huddle Up. The Leadership Huddles are structured to maximize work-embedded learning, offering a unique opportunity to take theory and transform it into actionable strategies. Three Opportunities to Innovate Kristine and ACS collaborated to identify three different pathways for ACS educators to join. Together, they developed a mod...

Founder Derek Luebbe: A guest on the EduTogether podcast

In 2024, Huddle Up Founder and CEO Derek Luebbe sat down with Aryeh Eisenberg, the host of the EduTogether podcast. As educators and entrepreneurs, both shared an interesting discussion on how to innovate the structure and the goals of the educational experiences we offer to students and adults. We've outlined a few of the key topics covered below - and some of Derek's favorite quotes - if you wish to jump to a section of the podcast that most interests you. Huddle Up Founder Derek Luebbe on the EduTogether podcast 0:00-12:02: Introduction and Derek's background as an international educator 12:02 - 15:00: An introduction to Huddle Up Learning "Learning should be collaborative. And it should be about generating new ideas and ... learning from each other." 15:00 - 16:47: How Huddle Up helps organizations implement learning initiatives with shared accountability. "Huddle Up provides an asynchronous space so that we have the time ...

Implementing a Strategic Plan: The Challenges and How Huddle Up Makes It Easier

Once an organization has developed a strategic plan, the next hurdle is to make it actionable. However, even well-thought-out plans often face significant obstacles during implementation. Plans tend to “gather dust,” remaining largely invisible to the wider organization and failing to adapt when conditions change. Huddle Up aims to solve that problem with a new way to make strategic plans dynamic, transparent experiences where evidence and feedback build shared accountability from all constituents. See how Huddle Up changes strategic planning In our previous post , we explored the challenges organizations face when developing a strategic plan. While the development phase presents hurdles in goal setting, stakeholder engagement, and planning efficiency, the real test begins when it’s time to put that plan into action. Even the best-crafted strategic plans can fall flat during the implementation phase, leading to poor execution, missed deadlines, and disengaged teams. H...

Streamlining Strategic Planning: How to “Plan the Plan” with Less Chaos and More Collaboration

Ever been in one of those planning meetings that drag on forever, with everyone talking, but nothing really moving forward? We’ve all been there. Strategic planning is a critical part of any organization—whether it’s a school, a nonprofit, or a business—but it doesn’t have to feel like a never-ending marathon of meetings. We like to think of strategic planning in two phases, each with its challenges for organizations. Planning the plan Implementing the plan ( Go to this post. ) In this blog (the first of a two-part series), we’ll highlight innovative strategies to help organizations streamline the most crucial phase of planning—“ planning the plan. ” This phase is often the most time-consuming and challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. Let’s dive into how organizations can rethink their approach to strategic planning. The Challenges of Strategic Planning: Planning the Plan Strategic planning can often feel like trying to plan a road trip with a car full of backseat dri...

Navigating the Midterm Review in WASC Accreditation

The Challenge of Midterm Accreditation Reports School accreditation is a challenging, important process that requires ongoing documentation and reflection. One crucial component of this journey is the midterm review, which takes place three years after a school's Action Plan has been put into place. During this phase, schools assess their progress toward goals that were agreed upon at the start of the accreditation cycle. Unlike the initial accreditation, which involves input from a broad array of stakeholders and an in-depth, often 100-page Self-Study, the midterm review is a streamlined progress update. Yet, it brings its own unique challenges: Scope and Content: Schools often struggle with knowing how much to report. The midterm report isn’t about re-evaluating goals but documenting progress and lessons learned. How detailed should this report be, and how should evidence from the past three years be gathered? Resource Use and Time: Schools must decide who to involve in the m...

Valparaiso University - Teacher Training with a Focus on "Doing"

Shaking Up Teacher Training: Let's Learn Together! Alright, so picture this: in the old days of teacher training, it was all about comprehension with attempts at application. So, let’s picture quizzes, summaries of learning theories, and the eventual sharing of lesson plans. Sounds familiar, right? But here's the thing - the sharing process lacked the organization and engagement that professor Ben Boche of Valparaiso University wanted. And the feedback? Well, it was either shared verbally or in a jumbled set of comments buried in separate documents - not exactly the most organized way to make sense of the interactions. Hear from Professor Ben Boche Ben made plans to raise the stake. He wanted to set up environments where students could learn from each other. Instead of putting students through isolated sequences of learning, he envisioned equipping them in environments where they could answer: How did <my peer> solve this problem? What did my peers think of my ...