{"id":4746,"date":"2024-05-09T15:47:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T22:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/thehive\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T19:14:34","slug":"on-deck-a-resource-for-teachers-under-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/thehive\/on-deck-a-resource-for-teachers-under-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced HCD \u2014 On Deck: A resource for teachers under pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advanced Human-Centered Design [S24]: <\/b>On Deck: A resource for teachers under pressure\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner: Amplifier \u2014 Nonprofit Design Lab<\/b><\/p>\n

The Challenge:<\/b> Engage and empower K-12 teachers interested in fostering conversations about social justice in the classroom throughout the school year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Design Solution:<\/b> Education Amplifier Activity Deck, a deck of cards designed to put power in the hands of the students and alleviate stress on teachers\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Impact: <\/b>Amplifier\u2019s team launched the Well + Being card deck, which is available for purchase on their website.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Challenge:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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Amplifier is a nonprofit design lab, one of whose key initiatives is Education Amplifier, which \u201caims to help K-12 teachers facilitate non-partisan conversations about social justice issues in the classroom.\u201d Amplifier was looking to maximize the potential of Education Amplifier and better understand the needs of the teachers they served. They saw teachers in their network struggling with bandwidth and lack of resources, and the pandemic only amplified their challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amplifier partnered with our Advanced Human-Centered Design class and gave our student team a design challenge they would tackle over the semester: <\/span>How might we engage K-12 teachers interested in fostering conversations about social justice in the classroom throughout the school year?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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The Research:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Our students set out to gain a deeper understanding of the impact and limitations of Education Amplifier in classrooms. They began with in-depth conversations with teachers from within and outside of the Amplifier Network as well as high school students. The student design team sought stories, asked open-ended questions, and stayed in a place of inquiry and uncertainty to uncover insights below the surface.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They heard a lot of powerful stories. The story of a young, overachieving math teacher who needs to feel like she is not failing her students because she is burnt out and helpless in supporting students who have fallen behind academically due to COVID-19. The story of an art teacher in rural Wisconsin who is unable to effectively teach due to the community members\u2019 racist and politically extremist behavior. The story of a POC middle school math teacher teaching in an underprivileged, predominantly-POC community who needs to support his students in their social and emotional development.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Key Insight:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The student team heard loud and clear from the teachers they spoke with that the combination of school district pressures and post-COVID pressures yielded two significant things:<\/span><\/p>\n