ES Session 4: Week 5

This is a story of a library book.

January 1st. I grabbed some books from the library and happened to pick up a Young Adult novel based in poetry. Level 6 Heroes explore literary genres (one of which is poetry), so I offered the book to one of the Level 6 Heroes.

This book was checked out on my library card. (And I hate accumulating fines- who doesn’t? For me, it is mostly because of the shame-inducing ping! at checkout that comes when you have fines on your card.) But I trusted this hero. I told her when the book was due (February 1st) and had no qualms about a late or lost book.

Two weeks later, there was an interesting development: the hero enjoyed the book and passed it along to another hero. The plot thicked- would the library book get returned on time?

Again, I gave it no thought until the second hero asked me an interesting question, “Do I actually have to finish a book to count it toward my badge? I’ve passed the 150 page minimum.” I was surprised. This hero loved reading and was meticulous in completing her work with excellence. 

I could have asked questions about excellence standards and persevering to the end. But I’m glad I didn’t.

“Why don’t you want to finish the book?” I asked.

She replied matter of factly, “This is your library book. It’s due February 1st. I want to finish it but I don’t want it to be late so I’m bringing it back.”

That is how great freedom and great responsibility go hand in hand.

(And yes, I renewed the book and that hero happily finished the novel.)

Session 4: Week 4

This week was a perfect representation of The Village School: heart & joy.

These journal entries are part of the Character Traits Badge. Heroes give 10 character call-outs for different traits to fellow travelers and then write 10 reflections on the character traits. In true Socratic fashion, they posed questions and answers.

“Courage is when you either face your fear or stand up to people. Courage comes from you, you just have to believe that you have it and use it. Keep moving on even when you don’t believe you have courage because you do. Courage inspires you to do things. Courage would not exist if we didn’t face our fears. without courage innovation would not exist.”

“What is supportiveness? To me, supportiveness is encouraging others and helping others. My ideal supportive community is when everyone is helping each other. I think I am pretty supportive by helping others and encouraging others. I could be more supportive by helping others and encouraging them more. I think that supportiveness is important because without it no would want to work, no one would be kind and no work would get done.”

“What is leadership? Showing compassion for what you do and care for others. What does an ideal community with leaders look like? There are both followers and leaders.  If there were only leaders there would be no one to lead. How can I be more of a leader? I could have more care for others.”

“What is motivation? To me, motivation is keeping going when things are tough. What do you think of motivation? I think that it is important to have so you don’t give up on the first try. How can motivation affect a community? I think that it makes communities get more work done so, therefore, makes them better. How can you have motivation? If you fail you try again and keep going if things get hard.”

Many schools focus on character growth. At The Village School, it is not just a focus; it is a way of life. Heroes live character in every interaction.

Session 4: Week 3

Organization is hard for adults. Is it crazy to ask of children? Maybe not.

For 4 months, this hero had struggled with organization. She misplaced writing notebooks and her grammar book. She lost important papers and was frustrated when she had to redo her work. She started the day with a clean desk and by the 3 pm, her stuff was overflowing and spilling onto the floor. She left trash on the floor and consistently forgot to clean up her lunch placemat to the consternation of her fellow travelers.

Cue Session 4. This hero walked into school with a color-coded binder. There were neat, color-coded labels for “Quest”, “Writer’s Workshop”, and “Core Skills”. It almost brought tears to my eyes. 

The change did not happen overnight- it took many, many baby steps (as well as a few steps back). I saw her not try and fail, try and fail, try and find a tiny bit of success but then trip over another obstacle. It took heruclean patience to watch the process play out and almost always I wanted to jump in to help. The moral of the story: personal experience makes change possible.

Thank you parents for being on this great adventure with us, allowing your heroes to fail and try again!

ES Quest: Session 4 Week 2

This week in our Architecture Quest, the heroes continued to make design plans for their very own Acton Academies. Mr. Christian came in to introduce them to the concept of scale—shrinking real world measurements down to fit on a drawing.

With scale rulers in hand, the heroes started sketches of their very own Acton Academies. They had fun dreaming up the spiral staircases, rooftop gardens, and mini-golf courses that would make up their ideal learning environments.

Working in pairs wasn’t always easy, but the heroes brainstormed about all the good that comes from teamwork, and talked about how they could address the challenges that come with collaboration.

ES Session 4: Week 2

The Studio was a mess (again). Papers fluttering on the floor, trails of crumbs from snack, chairs lost from their desks. It was time to take action.

I had heard rumors of Acton Austin’s legendary Studio Maintenance Competition. TVS had tried a modified version in Session 3 with some success but I needed to raise the stakes. 

Beginning Session 4, the game has changed: the competition happens on random, unannounced days and the studio that accumulates the most points will win a pizza party. But I needed a physical reminder of each daily win. A little searching on the Amazon trophy section and enter- the Top Banana Award!

Day 1, the motivation was a little higher. Day 2, a Spark judge gave out the first Top Banana Award and motivation sparked. Today, one week later, the Wonder Studio is pulling ahead 3 to 1 on the Explore Studio and motivation is soaring.

Moral of the story- we all wish our children loved to clean. That they appreciated their beautiful places and intrinsically wanted to keep them that way every day. But let’s face it- cleaning up is not the most fun part of learning (or most things). Sometimes a little extrinsic motivation is, well, motivating!

Step back. Trust the process to play out. It is all part of a Hero’s Journey. And yet, stepping back is not akin to passivity.

Successful Heroes often have active parents who do step in. They step in by asking really great questions. Here are the top 5 questions that you, as a parent, should feel empowered to ask (and ask often!)

1. What were you excited about today? What was most challenging for you? All parents want to know, “How was school?” and often receive an automatic response. Try a question that requires a specific answer.

2. What is your goal for the end of the year? Step 1- show that you are willing to walk alongside your Hero. Usually, he/she will open up with problems to solve or need your help to breaking the goal into manageable steps.

3. Does (insert subject here) get harder if you don’t practice? A parent recently checked in with their Hero and noticed he wasn’t doing any math. Asking this question, they were able to have a conversation relating math to a muscle: muscles atrophy if you don’t work them, but they get stronger if you practice every day. There was a  natural conclusion from both parent and hero that 30 minutes a day of Khan would be beneficial. To keep the Hero on track, if he didn’t finish the 30 minutes in school, he would do the 30 minutes at home before anything else.

4. What did you discover this week? Emphasize the excitement on learning and refocus the conversation from points, badges, etc.

5. What did you do last week that you plan to do differently this week? There are times when your Hero is smarting from a failure. Give them time to cool down and when they are ready, asking this question helps them focus on specific choices to change. Positively reinforcing successful habits is always useful too!

The most important part of a great question? Ask with genuine curiosity. You might be surprised what you find!

Welcome to Session 4, the Heroes were excited to see each other again after our holiday break.

This session is all about building and integrity. Theater and process. Letter-writing and stories.

Monday began with a brand-new project: Process Drama. In process drama, the heroes work together to create a story through a mix of improv and acting. At the end of the session, they’ll perform their plays for Spark Studio.

In the Architecture Quest, the heroes will design a dream Acton Academy: learning about measurement and scale, creating blueprints, and building a final 3D model of their building. 

In the Letter to a Hero Writer’s Workshop, the heroes will write letters to someone they admire. They’ll inquire about their hero’s life story and share their own journey, asking deep and interesting questions. Voice is the focus writing trait: how can you craft a letter that speaks true to you?

These themes are all tied to the big question, “How do I use my voice to build? How do I use my voice to deconstruct?”

“Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” – Bob Kerrey

Couldn’t we all benefit from a little more kindness? The ES Heroes are practicing intentional kindness this session, and making the world a better place in the process! In Squads, they have devised projects to bring joy to others whether family/friend or stranger, local or international community. Some projects include: filling a backpack for someone without a home, making dog treats for the humane shelter, and designing cards for family and friends. One group showed great creativity by attaching kind notes to chilly ice cream bars for firefighters who, granted, have to deal with a lot of heat!

The Heroes will also be able to show their gratitude for each other in the Secret Snowflake Book Exchange. A fun tradition- each Hero secretly picked a book for a fellow traveler and when the books arrive, they’ll write a dedication to that Hero and wrap up the present for gifting on the last day of the session.

A thought to leave with you in this holiday season: is it better to be kind or honest? One Hero tackled this question with the concise answer, “Can’t you do both?”

After a restful Thanksgiving break, the Elementary Studio jumped right back into Session 3: our 3 week sprint! The overarching question this session, “How do people in different communities use their voices?”

The Heroes will explore this question by traveling the world in the Cartography Quest. To break it down, there are 3 parts to this Quest: voyages, the World Fact Book, and a hand-drawn map. 

• Weekly, the Heroes will go on a “voyage” where they explore a specific topic (like longitude and latitude)
• Daily, the studio will travel to a new continent and Heroes will explore 1 country in-depth (completing a World Fact Book page for that country)
• As a continuous project throughout the session, the Heroes will draw a map of a continent by hand

Should we have a pet in the studio? In Writer’s Workshop, the Heroes will choose a pet, conduct research, and then write a persuasive pitch. Their goal is to convince the community to choose their pet. 

This Writer’s Workshop is a Hero-driven workshop in that, each Hero will be responsible for developing a timeline to complete the work: research, outlining, drafting, revising, and practicing the pitch. This is a great opportunity to build time management and organizational skills, but even more importantly, it empowers the Heroes to truly own their writing!

In Civilization, the Heroes are playing “Take Over the Nations!”, a new game that follows the Story of the World. Each Squad is in charge of a country and will have to make strategic decisions for their country. There are helpful hints in the history each week.

How do you perceive color? Ms. Jeneen, our Art Guide, led a launch on this topic. She introduced the Heroes to ideas like color can express feelings and why primary and secondary colors co-exist. They also saw a world class example in Joseph Albers work where he extracted pigments from objects and turned them into abstract art. Throughout the session, the Heroes’ challenge is to experiment with color!

All in all, it will be a busy session. And we haven’t even got to our character trait of the session (kindness) and the community service projects the Heroes are devising in Project Good! Look for more on that next week.