Session 1, Week 4
After a hero accepts the Call to Adventure, Crosses the Threshold, and enters the Special World, a critical component on their journey is to find their allies, helpers and mentors. As we enjoyed week 4 in our “Special World” at CHOICE, we found many allies, helpers and mentors.
In the Spark Studio we are delighted each day as we watch the heroes choose to be allies and helpers to one another. Sometimes they take on guide inspired challenges which are designed to practice working together and being allies and helpers.
Working together to spell the word CAT. Do you see it?
Bettering our community by cleaning up garbage around the school.
Creating their Contract of Promises.
These are promises that they feel will make their studio a better learning environment. Promises are only posted if everyone is in 100% agreement. Heroes signed their names to show they are willing to keep these promises. They are helpers and allies to one another as they hold each other accountable to these promises.
Alongside guide’s challenges, Dumbledore’s challenges continue to provide opportunities to be allies and helpers:
One of Dumbledore’s challenges this week was to create potions to help the tribe. Heroes thought of potions for things like: kindness, helpfulness, and creativity. Perhaps the potions worked, because they certainly were helpful as some needed assistance to write a recipe, they were kind as they took turns, and they felt creative as the recipes were used to create a new potion.
Another Dumbledore challenge was to stack notecards two feet high so Harry Potter could reach the winged key. This challenge ended up being even more ambitious than intended. It was difficult to fold note cards straight and keep them all balanced as they were stacked. Many heroes kept trying over and over, curious to find out if it were even possible. As they placed each card, they talked through it as if to coach and cheer each other on
It was refreshing to see how the heroes handled the setback when the cards fell over. Even though they were just inches from achieving their goal, when it fell over, they LAUGHED! That started a conversation noticing how they were handling the “failure” and that it helped them keep going until they finally succeeded!
This realization earned a key sticker to add to our banner. When I handed it to a hero to put on the banner, she felt it was a privilege to place it on the banner, and made sure every hero who had contributed to that tower was able to hold a corner of the sticker as they placed it on together.
Later in the week, a hero was feeling emotional and defeated from a minor failure, until he reflected on how the heroes handled failure earlier in the week. He thought about what would have happened if they stopped trying. He thought about how meaningful the victory was after working so hard, and he decided to try it again!
Perhaps even more inspiring, is when we witness heroes being allies and helpers to one another in situations that were not created by the guides (or Dumbledore) to practice working together:
One hero was very skilled at constructing paper airplanes. Everyone wanted him to make one for them. The hero said, “I won’t make you one, but I can show you how to make one for yourself.” He then proceeded to take the time to guide the heroes through each step of the process. How beautiful that he empowered rather than enabled his friends!
“I can help you roll it up!”
How beautiful that he helped him rather than doing it for him!
The Spark heroes are strong helpers and allies when it comes to supporting one another’s emotions. We often witness heroes looking through their “toolbox” to offer another hero a “tool” to help solve their problems.
“Will a calming jar help?” “How about an I-Message?” “Breathe in ‘whew’ and out ‘whew.” – Spark heroes
Our Spark heroes are fortunate to have one another as their allies and helpers, and the FS and DS heroes as their mentors! They see one another at recess on a regular basis. A few times a month the DELTA studio “guides” the Spark Studio during the lunch hour. During Montessori work cycle, as part of their Mentor and Servant Leader badges, the FS and DS heroes can come in a listen to a Spark hero read or do a work with them. The Spark heroes adore these older mentors.
In the Fire Studio heroes will sometimes struggle or feel stuck on their journey… and that’s okay. The Road of Trials is the road of every hero—but no hero has to go it alone. This week during Jolliness heroes discovered they have a whole toolbox of resources to use when they’re stuck. Allies, helpers, and mentors are invaluable in a hero’s toolbox and thankfully, CHOICE is full of them. Just a few examples we saw this week:
- As Running Partners, returning FS heroes guide new FS heroes through the FS culture and routines.
- An older hero puts his arm around a younger hero and encourages him to join a discussion.
- Our youngest heroes are always first to offer band aids or a sympathetic hug when tears appear.
- Many Fire Studio heroes love to offer a listening ear to new readers in the Spark Studio as part of their Mentor badge.
- The DELTA Studio has offered support to the Fire Studio as heroes become familiar with computers.
- The DELTA Studio (as part of their Servant Leader badge) will be offering mentoring in math and writing to the FS heroes.
- After finishing their personal Studio Maintenance jobs, at least 4 FS heroes looked around and volunteered to do the Studio Maintenance jobs of the FS heroes who were missing that day.
- After listening to “Room on the Broom” and being invited to think about who they can “make room on the broom for,” 1 FS hero climbed on a broom and invited another. Within seconds they had formed this broom!
The Acton Film Fest is a yearly event sponsored by the Acton network. Our first year we thought we wouldn’t participate. Two weeks into school we changed our mind, and we have participated ever since! Guides are not allowed to design, plan, or record the Film Fest; it is a totally hero led production. As such, it is an incredibly valuable tribe building experience and an important piece to our first session each year. In the FS division, the Film Fest looks like a Lip Dub. The first week of school this year, the heroes brainstormed and voted on a song. Sometimes this is a hotly debated decision. This year however, the winner was pretty unanimous – “Centuries” by Fallout Boy (you have probably heard them humming or singing it the last few weeks). In the FS division, editing is not allowed, every hero in the studio must appear on camera at least once and their video must honor their campus’ Question of the Year. Thus, after the song was chosen, the FS heroes had to decide how to split the song among their Harry Potter Houses, and how to create a continuous flow between all the groups. They decided to come together as a whole studio for the ending chorus, all stacked in pyramids, holding signs that spelled out our Question of the Year: What Makes a Culture Flourish? Heroes’ then spent hours in their houses choreographing their part, and deciding on costumes and props. After each houses’ part was practiced individually, they began rehearsing as a full studio. The deadline for submission was this Friday night. Due to our Thursday field trip, our studio’s deadline was this Wednesday. It was crunch time this week – and fun to watch what happens under pressure.
Throughout this process, we had great discussions about what is Excellence and how do they know when their Lib Dub is the quality, they would like it to be? The overarching answers were that excellence is reached when they individually give their best, and quality is achieved when the final product produced has improved with each attempt. We were able to watch the first recording and compare it to the last and they are quite proud of their final recording – which they should be! Creating and producing the Lip Dub takes so much thought and practice. It is astounding when you think about all they accomplished together! And through this process it builds the tribe, practices communication and striving for excellence, demonstrates how each individual matters to the whole, and provides a fun opportunity for the heroes to develop into allies and helpers to one another!
Outside of the Lip Dub, the FS heroes had some time during Quest to work more on Perspective Creative Writing. They all sat alone to look at clouds, waited until they saw a shape, drew the shape, and wrote a creative sentence using the shape they saw. The key was not to show or discuss their image with anyone else until we all gathered back together. We had a great discussion about how important each creative mind is to our beautiful world. Some heroes claimed they could not see a shape at all at first (and if they had had another Hero share what he/she saw, it would have influenced what was seen), but all had an image by the end and something to share. This will build on their writing throughout the year of how their OWN moments are what make their Story/Journey magical.
In the DELTA Studio some ally and mentor roles seem to come very naturally to the DS heroes, while others are a work in progress. The Delta Studio meets each week in writing squads of 3-4 heroes to share and receive feedback on their writing for the week. For this weekly experience to actually lead to improvement in their writing, heroes need to come prepared and be willing to share warm and cool feedback on another hero’s writing. There was a lot of variation in the preparedness of the heroes this week, and the experience highlighted the integral need for hero mentors and allies in a classroom without traditional teachers. We anticipate lots of growth in the writing ally role.
The heroes participated in a lengthy discussion where they determined both the positive and negative consequences for accomplishing (or not accomplishing) their year, session and week goals throughout the year. It was encouraging to see how they really want to hold each other accountable at each step, in order to support one another in accomplishing their yearlong goals. They desire to be strong allies and helpers to one another.
The DELTA Studio also completed their Film Festival submission this week. Their rules are a bit different than those of the Fire Studio. They can do a Lip Dub or a skit, and they are allowed to edit. Same rules apply for guide intervention, participation of every hero, and honoring the campus’ Question of the Year. As the DS film submissions get more complex, the planning becomes even more involved. There are definitely bumps in the road as the heroes struggle to work together to plan and film their video, but the conversations that can ensue from those bumps help everyone become stronger allies and helpers. And what they created in the end was awesome!!!!
Which is better… the fact that the DS heroes include younger heroes in their lunchtime fun without a second thought or that the FS heroes feel comfortable coming up and asking to join?
As we continue to discuss and find opportunities for the DS heroes to serve for their Servant Leader Badge, it is fun to see how some heroes know instantly how they would like to be a mentor, and others aren’t so sure yet. One hero who wasn’t so sure, found out this week that there is a Spark studio hero who looks up to him and desperately wants to spend time with him. This Spark hero could benefit from some one-on-one mentoring from an older hero during Montessori work cycle. This DS hero could benefit from seeing a need where he personally is needed. It was a beautiful moment highlighting how mentoring can benefit every hero involved.
As we prepared to walk to the Freedoms’ Light Festival on Thursday afternoon, it was purely delightful to see how second nature acting as a mentor can be to our heroes. The FS heroes and DS heroes were in groups and were matched up with a SS hero to walk to the park. Afterwards, in talking with one of the presenters, he asked how chaotic it was walking 70 young people to the park. When I described how seamless, and non-stressful the effort was, he was amazed. Watching our young people embrace the opportunity to serve and watch over younger heroes is a gift that comes from our mixed-age school.
Once at the Freedoms’ Light Festival we were blessed by non-CHOICE mentors who did a delightful job bringing to light stories from our nation’s beginning.
The Fire studio Heroes had to complete a Scavenger Hunt of Information at the Freedoms Light Festival in exchange for their “Ration” reward. Ask your Hero what happened to Molly Pitchers’ skirt? or How many yards of yarn it took to make one Petticoat?
The DELTA Studio heroes participated in a “Black Spot” challenge that included choosing, listening to and answering questions from at least 8 of their favorite presenters. Most every group did far more than that. Ask your hero who was their favorite presenter? or What was one thing they learned from a presenter?
The Spark Studio heroes simply walked around and enjoyed.
As we reflected on the walk to the Freedom’s Light Festival, observed our heroes of every age engaged and enjoying the Festival, saw our heroes being respectful to the community mentors, and watched our heroes help each other, there was a sweet moment as we witnessed a snapshot of the joy that the gift of allies, helpers and mentors brings on our Hero’s Journey. We need each other and these heroes are learning how to become allies, helpers and mentors.