Session 2, Week 2
I have been mildly obsessed with the fall leaves this year. It the most colorful fall I remember in Utah in the past decade. I have tried to get myself, and anyone who wants to come, up to the mountains to enjoy the colors and smells. As I walk and gather leaves I am astounded at the color of each individual leaf. Different shades of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and pinks. Some leaves are all one color, some are speckled, some have veins of one color while the rest of the leaf is another color, some are splotchy in pattern. Each leaf has a unique beauty that I enjoy individually. The effect of all those individual leaves is stunning. I walk through the mountains and enjoy a truly spectacular walk. Similarly, there are so many beautiful, individual moments at CHOICE each week; moments with individual heroes and moments with studios at large. The collective effect of all the beautiful individual moments is stunning. A walk through a week at CHOICE is a spectacular walk!
In the Spark Studio none of the Spark heroes would be able to make a large fort alone. But when they come together with a variety of ideas and are willing to work together, they can build an awesome structure with all the building materials.
This hero has been working so hard to write a letter E. Later that day he excitedly exclaimed, “I can finally write an E!”
We love when other studios come and show us their explorations. 
These heroes exploded with imagining, creating, and planning. With very little materials they created a game to include more and more heroes.
Every time a hero completes the quest challenge, a little bit of sand goes into the jar. It is so fun to watch our mountain grow!
We had a lot of fun exploring air and how it can move things! 
As we explored more about geology, we experimented with erosion and chalk. Heroes discussed how small, tiny changes can have a big impact over time.
We ended our week with an outing to Woodland Park with the Fire Studio. That afternoon exploded with individual stunning moments of joy, exploration and appreciation of nature.
It was so fun to see the two studios creating, exploring and strengthening friendships together. The Fire Studio squad leaders took their job of including and looking out for the Spark studio heroes in their squads very seriously. It was beautiful to watch!
There were 5 nature challenges squads could choose to engage in.
Each squad’s unique nature art and invented nature game was as varied as the individual fall leaves.
Maybe it’s the crisp morning air, the gorgeous colors dancing outside the window, or the way the sun was peeking over the mountains and landing on our building at exactly 8:30, but the Fire Studio had four incredible mornings this week.
For our hero story, we learned about Dimitri Mendeleev and discussed his contribution to our understanding of the elements. Sometimes our greatest contributions might not be new knowledge, but rather the organization and defining of what we don’t yet know.
On Tuesday we launched Collaborative Works time. After an opening Socratic discussion and a check-in on their weekly goals, mornings begin with Silent (individual) Works for 70-75 minutes. Many heroes relish the quiet time to focus on core skills and make good progress towards their unique goals. But just like each amazing fall leaf is enhanced by the variety of colors around them, heroes also relish collaborating with their fellow travelers. Collaborative Works (25-40 minutes) is a great time to mentor each other in core skills, to form study groups, to enjoy the Explore tables with a friend, and to play learning and logic games together.
Wednesday heroes led a fascinating Socratic discussion about the value of spelling skills in a world of auto-correct, or other benefits they may desire to gain from participating in a Spelling Bee experience. Fire Studio Spelling Bee launched this week—participation is totally optional, and many heroes are looking forward to the event at the end of this session and a few other sessions this year.
In Jolliness, heroes practiced recognizing and naming emotions using clues from other heroes’ tone of voice, body language, or actions. It was so much fun they elected to borrow a little time from PE to finish the game.
This week was the first hero-led PE. Learning to direct, divide, and even just speak loud enough outdoors to a group of 31 energetic young people is no small task, and a skill that heroes will develop throughout the year!
During quest the Fire Studio heroes are owning their new systems. As heroes ask to take over birthdays and Studio Maintenance audits it allows the guides to hand over more and more responsibility. Heroes know the guides roles and hold us accountable to them. It is magical to witness.
Monday heroes discussed how Minerals play an essential part in our survival; where they come from, different make-up and stages, uses, their importance within soil, how they travel, and how they are absorbed into our food for our benefit. Each Squad worked together to gather random soil from the school grounds to test the soil health. They will add and feed the soil over the next few weeks to see if the soil health can be improved upon. It is joyful to watch their teamwork and communication improve.
After watching a video that explained and showed weather, erosion and deposition, the heroes created all three stages themselves. They had a chance to taste volcanic mineral water with mint leaves (also full of minerals). Ask your heroes what they thought about the water and mint! With the visual/auditory learning followed by hands on experimentation, we are listening to heroes remembering and using terms and meanings during discussions before and after each Quest!
The only thing better than heroes engaged in a meaningful quest challenge, is a hero creating and leading their own meaningful quest challenge! The Fire Studio got to enjoy that this week as a hero taught the studio how to cut a feather tip to make a quill and then how to use mica and gum arabic to make their own container of ink. We tied in how Mica is used with other types of rocks and minerals to create color for painting, ink, textiles, and we explored an artist who takes samples of different rocks and minerals from all over the country to make color palettes.
The DELTA Studio started the week experimenting with a five minute activity that would help them jump into flow. So fun to watch young people of this age find joy in blowing bubbles and putting together puzzles.
Even more fun to watch heroes who went outside to shoot hoops or kick a soccer ball, regulate their own time, come in after 5 minutes and with no prompting from any adult settle into an extremely productive Core Skills time.
Stunning moments during Core Skills include watching the DS heroes mentor the younger heroes. I love hearing about the different ways the DS heroes invent to motivate the FS heroes; as well as listening to the DS heroes work together to figure out who can best help when there is a particularly challenging problem. DS heroes are truly using their superpowers to serve others.
Watching the engagement of heroes as they work on a project they truly love and that you (the adult in the studio) have zero idea how to do – is pretty awesome!
Taking young people of this age (who chose to go) on a 15 minute walk in the mountains and listening to them talk about how beautiful the leaves are, and gather leaves to bring back to school, is a treat I wish more adults had the opportunity to enjoy!
Observing heroes plan their own Core Skills time based on their own goals is inspiring. Most heroes work on their math, NRI, reading, and Civ first, and then after completing those goals enjoy working on their Ex Works such as Lego robotics, Cosmetology, Shoe design, and Stop Motion. Heroes love their Ex Works!
Some heroes use their deliberate practices to mix up their Core Skills time. I love that they have the autonomy to do this and love watching what they practice!
Watching young people of this age engage in silly challenges (where they discovered the difference in outcomes between focusing on oneself vs focusing on the group),
engage in simple games,
organize themselves to play a P.E. game,
and take part in truly difficult discussions such as how to divide the cost and profit of their recent eclipse sunglasses selling (it didn’t seem appropriate to take a picture of this highly divisive conversation) –
never loses its magic! (and amazingly happens every week!)
Our week in quest started with some electricity training with David Farnes who works for Bountiful Power and Light. The heroes went prepared with questions about the power grid and left with more thorough understanding, as well as safety tips, animal accidental electrocution stories, and a backstage peek at the warehouse that houses many of the power grid components we see around us every day.
The heroes spent the rest of the week solidifying their understanding of the relationships between voltage, resistance, current, and building small circuit projects on breadboards. It was beautiful to see heroes working and helping each other all week. One hero, stumped by a certain concept, was told by another hero that so-and-so (another DS hero) was a most excellent teacher of that concept and she should ask her for help. Another hero, stumped by a circuit component that seemingly wasn’t working, was informed by another hero of a doable workaround. Experimenting with electricity produces visible, audible, and otherwise sense-able results. Experimenting with an unconventional, teacherless classroom is also producing results–independence, initiative, and confidence!
Each week as I write this blog I am so grateful for the never ending supply of beautiful moments that create every stunning week at CHOICE. Each high five we get from a hero celebrating a failure OR a success and their recognition of both in the process of growth, each little moment we get to witness of individual focus or fun collaboration, each Socratic discussion where we see a hero open or even change their mind on an issue, each time we see a hero reach out to another to ask for or offer help, each laugh as heroes create community together, each tear as heroes create their identity, builds the beautiful kaleidoscope of color each week. And while I am mildly obsessed with the incredible fall leaves this season, they pale in comparison to the beauty of these your heroes all year long!
