7/8-7/14

From the Spark Studio

From Miss Anna Throughout the school year, I’ve been curious as I’ve watched our young heroes explore the idea of goal setting and mastery. It’s been interesting to see the heroes interact with their mastery books – there’s been an ebb and flow of interest in them as the year has gone on. It was always important to me that I let badges be their thing – ownership over their learning is paramount. 

With the last session winding down, I’ve seen their interest in their badges reignited. Heroes of all ages are recommitting to finish what they started. With that self-awareness has come some overwhelm, stress and procrastination. As I’ve thought about how I can support them, I felt empathy for them. How common those feelings are in adulthood! It can feel so difficult to tackle daunting tasks, especially with a deadline. 

The question then became, how would I motivate myself if I were in their shoes? I had flashbacks too many late nights in college and realized that there’s no silver bullet to motivation. Sometimes a break to eat a snack would help, while other times I just needed to turn on some music and dig in. Depending on the child and depending on the circumstance, we can tailor our support to help center these children to their challenge zone, instead of their panic zone. 

Although the support has been unique to each hero, the theme that has consistently risen to the top has been “perseverance.” Our school is hard! It is liberating and joyful and fun – but it is hard. It’s hard to make good choices for yourself day in and day out. Our mantra throughout the year, however, has been this: heroes persevere! 

From the Elementary Studio

From Kara: I witnessed so many allies and helpers this week! The heroes have created a beautiful community dynamic where, as conflict arises, they quickly access the tools they’ve learned for solving disputes, de-escalating emotionally tense situations, and helping other heroes to be responsible while still knowing they are valued and loved. Their maturity in this regard is astounding! 

From JeVonne I echo what Anna said regarding perseverance. Some might postulate that the last weeks of school would bring complacency. I have witnessed the opposite. Core Skills time continues to be a delight as heroes willingly chose to sequester themselves from distractions and dig in and work hard.

And as mentioned by Kara, the heroes have truly become each other’s allies and helpers. We reviewed some of our experiences as allies and helpers this week.

A challenge similar to “Chubby Bunny” was hilarious to watch before we discussed the affects our words have on each other as allies and helpers. This hero had 5 marshmallows in his mouth and was still trying to say “May I have a Moolah please?”!

I loved observing the Saran wrapping challenge before we discussed how allies and helpers have been a great tool this year in helping us get out of stuck situations.

Along with the hard work, fun is an essential ingredient to learning and developing close relationships. We had a lot of fun last week!

I have no idea what their play is about, but watching the heroes create their sets has been a blast!

Another engaging civilization challenge: Creating rock art

A day at the pool; simply fun and bonding!

Another visitor demonstrating their passion! The number of questions that the heroes had for this mad scientist was impressive.

With only two weeks left of our first year I am treasuring the memories, cheering on the hard work and delighting in the community the heroes have created.