Week 10: 11/3-11/9

From the Spark Studio

From Miss Anna: Our highlight this week was holding our first ever Spark Election! Our poll workers were prepped, eager, and performed their duties honorably. We had two ballot counters, a poll watcher, a sticker hander-outer, and someone in charge of setting up the polling station. While they held the election, we had Maryam and Luca work on our Election Results poster, which included detailed drawings of the Presidential candidates. I was so happy to see the excitement and chatter about getting to vote and/or getting to be a poll worker. What a simple and meaningful way to connect our Heroes early on to the joy of civic engagement!

Another highlight of this week was a new outdoor material – a giant tire! After constant pleading from them for me to help them maneuver the tire where they wanted it (I respectfully declined), they explored a myriad of other options and eventually found success all on their own. They tried to pry it up by using a long pipe and explored putting different amounts of weight on the end. They tried different combinations of multiple Heroes hanging off the end, balancing tires, stumps or heavy bricks… the tire didn’t budge. Finally they figured brute force was their best option, so they bravely recruited the help of some kind, elementary Heroes and they were finally able to lift the tire! Group cheers and dog piles inside the tire ensued. It was a meaningful, team-building challenge that lasted all week!

From the Elementary Studio

From Kara: We had cases to solve involving cats, candy, and concentration this week! We’ve learned that some detective work is exciting and suspenseful (investigating a crime scene for clues, arresting a candy caper!), while some is more tedious (filling out reports, keeping track of files). The most successful detective work is done when there is attention to detail, focused effort, and sustained collaboration.

From JeVonne: Thursday morning from 9:00-10:30 you could have heard a pin drop in the Elementary studio. It was silent – except for the quiet whisperings of heroes doing awesome projects together (math). We had made no mention of noise level, but silence was the result when nearly all the heroes were engaged in hard work possibly for the first time. Our discussions previous to Thursday focused around our “big rocks,” holding up “mirrors” to evaluate our progress, and developing consequences for the heroes to hold each other accountable. Self management is possibly one of the greatest challenges along our Heroes’ Journeys. Thrilling hardly describes how it felt watching the Elementary heroes begin to apply these concepts to their core skills efforts and even their studio maintenance. Even more exciting than a clean studio (at last!) was watching heroes begin to discover that they can do hard things!

“What are you talking about? I don’t have anything on my face!” – JeVonne just before introducing the mirror concept.
Focus

Whether it is working together to lift a big tire or clean a studio, or struggling individually to focus on core skills, tackling real challenges is why we come to CHOICE every day and our heroes are up for the challenge!