Session 5, Week 5
Week 5 was a celebration – a celebration of overcoming dragons, of hard work, of Exhibitions, and of where we still want to grow and improve!
This week the Spart Studio reflected on what our dragons are and what we are doing to conquer those dragons. Some discovered that to conquer a dragon requires additional kindness, others discovered they needed added strength.
Heroes celebrated the beautiful weather this week! Excited energy was in the air and heroes were so happy to be using water in their play again.
Even with the beautiful weather and high energy, heroes worked hard during Montessori work cycle and cooperated well together during CHOICE work cycle.
We celebrated routines being run entirely by heroes and the fact that their studio maintenance has improved immensely! Heroes are so quick to get their jobs done, and eager to help others with their jobs.
The preparations for Exhibition were taken care of completely by the heroes. They organized themselves into groups and went to work. Heroes were vulnerable as they talked about certain aspects of Exhibitions that made them feel nervous: singing in front of the parents, worrying they will forget something. All discovered that with the support from one another they are powerful.
As parents arrived the learners were beaming with pride. As we watched them say their speeches, sing their song, and show their parents around the studio it was inspiring to reflect on how much they have grown – how many dragons they have conquered.
While Exhibitions celebrate academic progress, they also celebrate progress in bravery, pride, friendships, self-confidence, and perseverance.
What a fantastic week of celebration in the Fire Studio! The heroes exhibited innovative and well-planned models of their new Acton Academies. They presented their mockups with clarity and humor – and had much to celebrate in their portfolios. Event planning for an Exhibition is always something to celebrate. It is an incredible feat accomplished by incredible young people. Reflecting afterwards, heroes were proud of the event they planned and executed, but also found several areas they could improve next session.
As the Architecture Quest concluded, heroes reflected upon their learning styles, favorite activities to participate in, how to be a strong partner, and how successful many of them were in overcoming challenges in their partnerships. They reflected on newfound passions and some newfound friendships, as well as their successes in learning new skills like using a scale ruler, creating blueprints, and building models.
Throughout this session, Fire Studio heroes recognized their dragons, named them, and collected a tool bag for slaying (or training!) those dragons. Some heroes overcame dragons of distraction or resistance. Others battled the dragons of victim mentality or fear. During this week’s reflection, some of the tools heroes were proud of using were grit, moving their work areas, growth mindset, and gratitude. Heroes also relied on each other, as allies and helpers, when facing their dragons. In reflecting, some realized they could use their tools more next session to stay on better track with their journey goals.
As a studio, their trip down to view the Roots of Knowledge stained glass window display at UVU was an opportunity to celebrate both the beautiful design elements of light and color and their learning from Civ this year. Playing at the park afterwards was a great way to celebrate beautiful weather and a lot of hard work this session!
It almost feels redundant, but the DELTA STUDIO also had so much to celebrate and reflect on this week.
We celebrated a lot of growth in our chemistry knowledge – thank you parents for playing with us even if it has been a while since you’ve studied chemistry!
Just as important as an increase in chemistry knowledge, was the increase in hard work and finishing through to the end we saw in Quest this session. It was hard work, some were tempted to quit and not finish… but they fought that dragon and finished!
We celebrated those who 100% finished their session goals
We celebrated good weather and hard work at Misogi. Some heroes reflected on how much harder they worked this time we were at this park as compared to the first time we were at this park- that progress is so important to recognize.
I personally celebrated as after Misogi they organized themselves into a volleyball game and a basketball game. I love that young people of this age are choosing to PLAY!
I also love how willing these heroes are to mentor younger heroes!
Our final reflections of the session focused on our media question (Will AI and media use you? Or Will you use it?) and our session question (What’s the Real Dragon?). They each shared ways they want to change their media use. They each verbalized what one of their real dragons is (fear of not being good enough and fear of caring what others think were our two most common dragons). The insight and vulnerability of this tribe of teenagers is truly something to be celebrated.
Celebrating and reflecting helps heroes learn from their strengths and weaknesses as they move forward on their journey. We see the importance of recognizing and fighting our dragons. We celebrate where we have come and where we want to go. And we have a lot of fun doing it!