## Phase 0 – Intent and Guardrails

**Goal:** Encode what the Teacher app must never become, and what it is allowed to be.

- Purpose statement
    - “Help adults run Echo Routines, Talking Stick, Tool-Builds, and 6‑week cycles with less cognitive load, more coherence, and no surveillance.”
- Non‑negotiable guardrails
    - No scores, rankings, streaks, or behavior charts. Only descriptive language: “signals,” “patterns,” “tools that helped.”
    - Local-first, user-controlled memory by default: erase-after-window or local-only storage, per site.
    - Teacher views show aggregates and trends, not live student internals or raw logs.
    - Any “advanced analytics” is labeled UNPROVEN, opt‑in, and piloted only with explicit consent.

**Deliverable:** 1–2 page “Teacher App Ethic” that product/engineering must sign, mirroring the EchoThread CSL / 12 harm-prevention logic but for teachers.

***

## Phase 1 – MVP: Daily Beat Helper

**Goal:** Support one teacher running one room through the Daily Echo Routines and one Talking Stick Circle.

### 1.1 Core user stories

- “As a teacher, I can see today’s visual schedule and run Arrival, Warmup, Reflection with minimal taps.”
- “As a teacher, I can run a Talking Stick Circle with prompts and consent language on-screen.”
- “As a teacher, I can jot 2–3 micro-notes per day that feed later cycles without doing ‘grading.’”


### 1.2 Main screens and flows

1. **Today screen**

- Elements:
    - Date, class/group selector.
    - “Today’s Beat” timeline with 3 anchored blocks: Arrival Regulation, Communication Warmup, Reflection.
    - Optional slots for “Tool-Build” and “Talking Stick Circle” if scheduled.
- Interactions:
    - Tap a block → “Run Block” view (timer, step list, script).
    - Quick tags at bottom: “smooth transitions,” “more preview needed,” “student-led tool emerged.”

2. **Run Block – Arrival Regulation (10–15 min)**

- Components:
    - Timer chip (5 / 10 / 15 min presets).
    - Step list with checkboxes:
        - Show visual schedule.
        - Offer 2–3 regulation options (movement, quiet, sensory).
        - Preview any deviations from usual schedule.
    - One-line script hints with reduced verbal load, e.g., “First we check schedule, then we choose a calm start.”
- End-of-block micro-log:
    - 3 chips: “Transitions mostly smooth,” “needed extra support,” “at least one new self-initiated regulation.”
    - Optional free text (single line).

3. **Talking Stick helper**

- Elements:
    - “Start Circle” → sequence of steps:
        - Set intention (1 line).
        - Choose prompt set (e.g., “How did math feel today?” “What helped you feel safe?”).
        - Remind opt-out: script on-screen, plus a visible “Opt-out is always okay.”
    - Optional role cards summary (facilitator, summarizer, timekeeper) for teacher to assign verbally.
- End-of-circle micro-log:
    - Chips: “X learners spoke,” “Y opted out and were respected,” “1 tool or insight to carry forward.”


### 1.3 Data model (MVP)

- Entities:
    - Teacher, Group/Class, Day, Block, Micro-Log.
- Storage:
    - Local device or school node; default retention 6–8 weeks, with a global “Clear history” and per-group erase.

**Done when:** Teachers can reliably run daily beats with the app replacing paper scripts, and report that it reduces, not increases, cognitive load.

***

## Phase 2 – Weekly Pulse and Curriculum Pins

**Goal:** Extend from “run today” to “hold the weekly pattern and link to EchoBraid lessons.”

### 2.1 Weekly view

- “Week at a glance” timeline:
    - Shows which days had Talking Stick, Tool-Build, Literacy Return, and micro-challenge logged.
    - Minimal signal summary, e.g.:
        - “Talking Stick ran 1× this week.”
        - “2 learner-made tools created.”
- Instructions for teachers:
    - At start-of-week, choose:
        - 1 Spiral Strand focus (e.g., Regulation Safety).
        - 1 core routine to emphasize (e.g., consistent Arrival).


### 2.2 Curriculum pinning

- Teacher-facing catalog slice (from EchoBraid.com “Curriculum”):
    - Small subset of starter cards:
        - Echo Routines Daily, All Ages.
        - Talking Stick Circle Weekly, All Ages.
        - ToolBuild: Personal Calm Kit (K–2).
        - Design a Green City (grades 6–8) as an example of more complex Tool-Build plus empathy circle.
- On each card:
    - Duration, age band, strand tags, short teacher instructions, printable PDFs link.
    - Button: “Pin to this week” → adds to Week view and Today schedule.


### 2.3 Teacher PD micro-coaching

- In-app nudges phrased as invitations, not compliance:
    - “This week you focused on Regulation Safety. Would you like a Talking Stick prompt set aligned with that strand?”
    - “You ran Arrival 4/5 days; want to add a 5-minute Literacy Return on Friday?”

**Done when:** Teachers can plan and see a coherent week pattern without feeling watched; curriculum usage is teacher-driven, not forced.

***

## Phase 3 – 6‑Week Cycle Engine

**Goal:** Encode the EchoBraid 6‑week cycle (baseline → one change → weekly checks → showcase → revise) in a way that stays very light-touch.

### 3.1 Cycle setup flow

- Stepper:

1. Choose **cycle focus**
        - From 6 Spiral Strands: Regulation Safety, Communication Literacy, Social Reciprocity, Systems Tool-Making, Ethics Decision-Making, Data-Informed Adaptation.
2. Pick **scope**
        - Whole group, smaller subgroup, or 1–3 focus learners (named or anonymized).
3. Baseline snapshot (5–10 min):
        - 3–5 yes/no or 0–2 scale questions tailored to strand. For example, Regulation Safety:
            - “Learners can use at least one self-chosen regulation tool.”
            - “Transitions between blocks succeed without meltdown or shutdown most days.”
4. Choose **one intervention**
        - E.g., “Add a visual schedule and a choice board for transitions,” or “Add weekly Talking Stick with explicit opt-out script.”


### 3.2 Mid-cycle weekly check-ins

- Once per week, the app prompts:
    - “Did you run your chosen intervention this week?” (yes/mostly/no).
    - “What changed?” with 3 chips matching metrics (e.g., “fewer adult prompts,” “more student-initiated tools,” “no change yet”).
- Visual:
    - Simple 6‑dot strip for each week, colored by teacher self-rating, not by student “score.”


### 3.3 Showcase and revise

- At Week 6:
    - Prompt teacher to choose 1–3 artifacts: photo of a tool, a quote from a Talking Stick, a short note.
    - Reflection questions:
        - “What felt more coherent?”
        - “What do you want to keep, change, or drop next cycle?”
- App then seeds the next cycle with “Keep/Change/Drop” choices.

**Done when:** Teachers can complete at least one 6‑week cycle with records of interventions and impressions, and report that it clarifies their practice rather than bureaucratizing it.

***

## Phase 4 – Coherence Hints from Coherence Map (Careful)

**Goal:** Let teachers see very soft, aggregated signals from the learner Coherence Map, staying well inside ethical bounds and UNPROVEN labeling where needed.

### 4.1 Scope of signals

- Only show:
    - Frequency of teacher-offered pauses versus learner-chosen pauses.
    - Count of “Offer Silence” uses.
    - Trends in “opted to erase session data” (as a signal of safety needs, not compliance).
- All aggregated at block or day level, never per-learner unless explicitly consented and anonymized.


### 4.2 UI pattern

- On the Week view, small label like:
    - “Coherence Map hints (experimental)” or “UNPROVEN signal view.”
- Inside:
    - Short text: “Across this week, learners chose Pause or Silence more often during math blocks than reading blocks. Consider adding an extra buffer before math.”
    - No charts required; a single sentence, plus a toggle “Hide these hints.”


### 4.3 Safety and opt-outs

- Site-level controls:
    - Admin can disable coherence hints entirely.
    - Per-teacher toggle for hiding all signals.
- Logs cannot be exported as behavioral data; only anonymized, aggregated usage patterns for research, with explicit additional consent.

**Done when:** You can run a small pilot where teachers find the hints useful for pacing, and no one feels surveilled or pathologized.

***

## Phase 5 – Collaboration and Teacher Communities (Optional Later)

**Goal:** Align with the collaborative review ethos (Critical Friends, grade-level teams) without creating another social network.

Potential additions (later, not MVP):

- Export a **Cycle Summary Zine**: 1–2 page PDF summarizing focus strand, one intervention, a couple artifacts, and reflections, meant to be printed and brought to a team meeting, not shared in-app.
- Simple “Team Notes” area where grade-level or program teams can list which strands they’re focusing on this term, without attaching student data.

***

## Implementation blueprint (technical + process)

### Platform and stack (aligned with EchoBraid.com)

- Likely Next.js + Tailwind + shadcn/ui, matching the web blueprint.
- Same accessibility and low-stimulus design tokens: large type, single calm accent color, strong focus states, reduced motion default.
- Local-first storage via:
    - For pilots: on-device storage and site-level export to a local node / offline server.
    - For production: school-controlled backend (e.g., a small managed instance) with clear data policies and retention settings.

### Rollout sequence

1. Internal design doc + wireframes for Phase 1 (Today + Run Block + Talking Stick).
2. Co-design: 3–5 teachers walk through clickable prototypes and rewrite all scripts to match their voice while preserving Sovereignty/Safety language.
3. Small field pilot (one classroom, one 6‑week cycle) with:
    - Qualitative feedback on load, pacing, and sense of safety.
    - Simple metrics: “Did the app help you keep routines more predictable? Did it make documentation easier?”
4. Iterate, then layer Phase 2 (weekly + curriculum pins); only then advance to cycles and coherence hints.

