1/3/22-1/6/22
The Entrepreneur quest is foundational to an Acton Academy. There are so many valuable lessons to be learned from entrepreneurship. Each studio took a different approach to it this year.
In the Spark Studio… We will experience the entrepreneurship and business quest through our exploration of creativity. As we learn the basics of an economy and create our own board games, learners will be challenged to think creatively to solve problems. We will explore punishments and rewards and what influences us most as individuals.
We will read fables and create our own fables. At Exhibition, we will share our own fables and play the games the heroes will create.
Heroes spent this past week joyfully exploring many of the new works. Our small world play for this session is a puppet theater. Asia is our continent of study this session too, so naturally the Heroes combined the “Chinese dragon puppet” work into their small world play. The puppet shows have been amazing!
Other works around the studio invite heroes to create structures with loose parts, express innovation while completing a simple task, and generate a story using a few random objects.
The highlight of this week was our show and tell on Thursday. Each hero showed a special item they had brought from home. Heroes were challenged to ask descriptive questions; questions that didn’t have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. They also could not ask a question that had already been asked.
In the Fire Studio… we are on a quest of LIFE! We are learning finances, business, and realizing our dreams this session! The concrete goal at the end of this quest is for each hero to have developed a business to run online or at the Children’s Business Fair that CHOICE will be hosting in May. The interim and ongoing goals are developing financial literacy, business savvy, and the soft skills necessary to operate in a complex economy and global marketplace. The heroes are running a studio postal system, convenience store, and general services company to keep the quest running. Completing challenges earns turns on a giant LIFE game board. Thorough completion of the challenges should get each hero into retirement in the LIFE game and to a solid business plan for the business fair.
When we can pull the heroes away from their businesses we continue discussions about passions and gifts, growth mindset, and self-reflection. The heroes’ ability to self-reflect, honestly evaluating their effort and performance, and enact change is inspiring! For example, in an effort to continually improve their focus during Core Skills, the heroes voted this week to establish a silent room and a collaboration room (so that running partners can hold each other accountable to their respective freedom levels and to experiment with meditation before starting Core Skills).
Also inspiring is the way our heroes work together. Sitting back and observing the authentic conversations during Math Power Hour this week was delightful. Groups of heroes were genuinely working together, trying to figure out problems, explaining concepts to one another, and struggling together. It was the ideal of any math educator!
During civilization the heroes celebrated Russia’s Christmas Day through folk dancing and it was pure a joy.
When describing CHOICE to someone this week, I spontaneously used the phrase “a glorious experiment in motivation and joy!” No matter the quest, heroes daily experiment with and develop internal motivation and all the companion skills of time management and focus. Joy is a result as they use their creativity and passions. Each glorious day we revel in the growth of these budding entrepreneurs!