Session 6 Week 3: What makes a hero?

The learning process is inspired by many when everyone in your school is a fellow traveler on their own hero’s journey. Can your heroes change? Spark studio discussed the idea and decided that they absolutely could. Just like friends, it is o.k. to have as many heroes as you like! Maybe your hero changes after reading a book about a passionate journey into space and the challenges of being one of the first female astronauts. Your hero could change after you watch a fellow traveler complete 3 math lessons in a morning, because you want to be able to accomplish that too! ” I am my own hero because I never give up” another hero declared.

Heroes can also be found across the hallway from spark studio in the elementary. Quest work this week included our young gardeners becoming part of a seed team. This meant holding a nail while someone hammered into the wood of a garden bed. It also required compromising on what plants should go next to others in the square foot garden they were designing. They chatted about favorite vegetables and herbs that tasted like soap or smelled good and made them feel calm. While upholding the discussion rules can sometimes be a challenge for our youngest heroes, they are pushed to higher standards and conversations are elevated as they look to our older heroes as leaders.

While looking up to various heroes and developing their own ideas about what it means to be one, each person in spark studio has a chance to share their ideas. Being heard is an important part of community and our heroes value sharing interests and gifts with the world. This takes the form of creative artwork and stories that don’t fit into one book, but instead are broken into a three part series. They collaborate and decide who will write about each zone of the deep sea and they organize thoughts before they delve into topics that they care deeply about. Gratitude is practiced by writing thank you notes grit is exercised as new lessons are tackled. Each day bringing new challenges in social skills and self regulation, our heroes show each other support even when it takes patience. They are each developing the the courage and curiosity needed as they continue on their own hero’s journey.