Session 2 Week 2
Session 2 arrived with a new question for heroes to wrestle with: what is worth sacrificing to be extraordinary? It’s the kind of question with no tidy answer, and heroes spent the week discovering exactly that. From Olympic pools to lunchtime spelling bee practice, to spiders, spoons of water, robots, and a few firsts on the kickball field, here are the highlights.
In the Spark Studio
The Spark Studio did a launch this week that involved a spiderweb and a giant spider named Wednesday. Heroes rolled a ball of yarn back and forth across the rug while holding on to the yarn to create a web. We placed the spider on top to see if the web would hold her up. Next, we experimented with what would happen if several people let go of their portion of the web. We discovered that Wednesday the spider would fall off her web.
We likened this to our contract of promises. When only some of us keep the promises, the web doesn’t hold the spider. When we signed our names to the contract, it also meant that we promised to hold others accountable, so heroes explored ways to politely hold others to the promises they made in the studio.
And CHOICE work cycle was filled with art…
and games…
and indoor and outdoor play.
In the fire Studio
The Fire Studio launched the session question by introducing Michael Phelps and telling his story of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympic games. Heroes learned that Phelps sacrificed holidays, free time, and experiences with friends and family in order to train in the pool. They discussed whether there is anything that is not worth sacrificing to be extraordinary. During this session, the Fire Studio will meet athletes who sacrificed to become extraordinary, and heroes were challenged to not simply decide whether sacrifice is good or bad, but to decide which sacrifices are worth making and which ones are not.
Some heroes are already putting that question into practice. Grit began this week, and heroes sacrifice some of their lunch time to participate. A council member leads Grit, and heroes are challenged to do three minutes of a difficult physical activity. All heroes who participate excellently 80% of the session will have the opportunity to do a fun final Grit challenge to celebrate their hard work. Heroes also started practicing for the spelling bee this week, and many chose to sacrifice collaborative game time with many friends to study the spelling bee words with just one friend.
Last week we discussed Galileo, and heroes considered what can feel like two competing ideas: is it more important to be curious or to be careful? This week we discussed Magellan and the seafaring nations of Spain and Portugal, the race to discovery, and whether that warrants the risks involved. It was really cool to see the courage heroes displayed in discussing the sacrifices that can come when we step outside of our comfort zones, and in balancing many competing ideas around such topics. They are thoughtful and wise, and it’s amazing to be with them each week!
This week, tour guide training continued as heroes zoomed in from the solar system to explore our own planet, Earth. They learned about Magellan and Elcano being forgiving and persevering in their trip around the world, learned how to read and create different kinds of maps, and created their own paper mache globes.
In the Delta Studio
The DELTA Studio was introduced to 10 athletes during the first week of the session, along with their greatest accomplishments and the sacrifices they had to make along the way. Heroes were asked whether or not they thought the sacrifices were worth it. Each week from here, the studio is focusing on one athlete in particular and going more in depth into their accomplishments and their sacrifice. Sometimes an accomplishment had little to do with athletics and more to do with personal beliefs. It has been fascinating listening to the variety of opinions, and there hasn’t been one example where everyone agreed. Most were split right down the middle. Transitioning to what is worth sacrificing for our heroes themselves is what is most interesting.
Jolliness has been beautiful the last two weeks, with a focus on vulnerability and envisioning futures. The willingness of these heroes to be vulnerable with each other, and the way they support one another, is extraordinary. It is not a “typical” gathering of young people their age, and it is an honor to sit in on these discussions. DELTA heroes also have an ability to play more than a lot of their peers, at lunch time, sometimes during Core Skills, and during launches and landings. They are willing to sacrifice “coolness” and step out of their comfort zones to have fun together, which is probably part of their secret to the vulnerability they are willing to share with one another. This week brought a fun statue game at landing.
The Culture Committee planned a fun challenge for the end of the day on Monday: heroes had to walk around the school with a spoonful of water held in their teeth. Among other lessons, it was a reminder that slow, steady progress is usually better than fits and starts.
The robotics quest is well underway. Heroes using the VEX kits added new sensors to their robots, including an “eye” sensor that can actually distinguish between different colors. Heroes using Arduino kits mostly worked on controlling their robots with an IR remote. In the process, they found that adding additional components to a robot can be difficult, and they’ve had to adapt and persevere when things don’t immediately work the way they expected, like when they realized that IR remotes being used at the same time interfere with each other. As promised, this quest is turning out to be an interesting mix of “fun” and “frustration.”
In P.E., DELTA heroes found some sunny weather outside on the turf and played some good old-fashioned kickball together. Believe it or not, that was a first for a few of them.
House Games
Monday was another installment of House Games. DELTA heroes led out with games to bring everyone in the house together. Some houses played games out on the turf while others stayed in to play board games together, and heroes earned points for their house just by participating.
Nobody expects heroes to settle the session question in a single week, and they didn’t. Athletes’ stories split opinions right down the middle, spelling bee partners traded game time for study time, and DELTA heroes traded a little coolness for a lot of fun. Heroes are already deciding for themselves what is worth the cost, and we’re looking forward to seeing what they decide.