All posts by sandefer

Real heroes never give up

December 13, 2012Consequences, Culture, Hero Story, Hero's Journeysandefer

Yesterday, five Eagles failed to finish their My Hero’s Journey project on time, and thus suffered the consequences of their choices by missing the class celebration. Some missed by a little; some by a lot.

This must have hurt, because failing publicly always hurts. But at Acton Academy, not everyone wins every race – just like in the real world, there are successes and failures.

Real heroes know it isn’t about winning or losing, but about having the courage to fail, get up, dust yourself off and try again.

Winston Churchill knew this when he said during the depths of World War II:

“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Churchill fought depression all his life. His political career seemed all but over when he was blamed for 44,000 British deaths at Gallipoli in World War I.

But by 1941, Churchill said at a Harrow graduation : “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

We want our Eagle to try mightily, and when they fail, to feel the sting of temporary defeat. To know how hard it is to fall and get back up and try again. Because it is through effort and failure and rebirth that character is formed.

At the entrance to the Acton MBA is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Our Acton Academy Eagles’ place will never be with those timid souls, because they are heroes who will change the world, even if it means knowing the bitter taste of an occasional defeat, and the courage it takes to get back up and try again.

Motivation and Public Exhibitions

December 12, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

Why are the Acton Academy Eagle middle schoolers so motivated to learn and deliver high quality work?

Is it the inspiration that comes from knowing you are on a Hero’s Journey that will change the world? A strong sense of community, grounded in covenants, contracts and promises to a Running Partner? The lure of points, badges and competition?

Yes, all of these are important. But there’s one sure fire way to inspire and motivate Eagles to do their best – the looming deadline of a public exhibition.

You might be able to postpone learning a few skills on Khan; forget to write in your journal, and hope you aren’t called on to recite in public; bluff your way through a critique of your latest project.

But when the stage lights come up on a public show, with your work on display for all to see, there’s no escaping responsibility. That’s what makes the very real deadline of a fast approaching public exhibition such a powerful motivator.

Soon our Eagles will be showing their Dragon Art at Amy’s Ice Cream, so there’s a scramble to complete paintings:

Game critiques take on a new urgency when Eagles realize that next week the school will be filled with real customers, deciding which games have the most commercial potential.

Film crews are hard at work, putting the finishing touches on editing, preparing for Wednesday’s film festival.

MS Eagles can even attend a public exhibition of elementary Eagle Process Drama at the Zach theater today.

Four public exhibitions in less than two weeks. No better way to prepare for a “calling” that will change the world.

Having Fun versus Working Hard

December 11, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Core Skills, Critiques, Culture, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Quests, Smart Goals, StorytellingClaire, Crayton, Hayes, Sarahsandefer

So how do you inspire Eagles take control of their own learning? Not an easy question.

Here’s a start. Today’s launch featured three stories:

1. 18-year-old Stacey Ferreira saw a tweet from entrepreneur Richard Branson about a charity event he was sponsoring , flew halfway across the country to meet him and left with $400,000 in funding for her new website.

2. Harvard Education professor Richard Elmore, who has observed over 2,000 classrooms, writes a blog post blasting traditional schools as “custodial institutions, designed to hold adolescents out of the labor force and to socialize them to adult control” adding that the “only other public institution in our society that works this way…is the prison system.”

3. A group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs announces a new school where “every child is a genius,” giving credit for its inspiration to Acton Academy.

Stacey Ferreira is a hero who shows what our Eagles can accomplish. Professor Elmore paints a dismal picture of the educational alternatives. The Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are proof that what our Eagles’ efforts matter in the world.

During the day, progress continues in Core Skills, including an early glimpse of math in spring, where Eagles will choose independent paths in either Geometry, Algebra or Trigonometry. We also debate a change in self-governance designed to simplify SMART goals.

One Eagle pays off the loan she took out to start the school store:

In the afternoon, Eagles work hard on their Game Quest, some creating board games, others making electronic games, all knowing that next week’s public demonstration is fast approaching:

Story lines and critical thinking are stressed below.

Near the end of the afternoon, two Eagles demonstrate their game prototypes and receive formal critiques.

The end of the day discussion asks what advice our Eagles would offer to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Is “hard work” or “fun” more important for creating the right learning environment? Which should be stressed first? Should the approach in the elementary school be different than the middle school?

No two students can agree. And that’s exactly the point.

Intuition, Martian colonies, and expensive scissors

December 8, 2012Communications, Core Skills, Culture, Film, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Journalling, Smart Goals, SocraticAna, Claire, Elliesandefer

What are the differences between logic, emotion and intuition? Can you imagine circumstances where you’d be wise to use one over the other to make the very best decision?
After pondering these questions in a Socratic discussion, Eagles dove into their core skills work, paying extra attention to their SMART goals tracking as they prepared their end-of-week wrap-ups. Jack won our Friday journal reflection contest, with his response to “What’s the hardest thing you did this week?” (finishing the production leg of The Bandit film; he was lauded by peers for his excellent word choice, details, and dash of humor).

The morning ended with a debate about whether or not humans should colonize Mars, a la Elon Musk’s long-term vision for SpaceX. Eagles implemented terrific discussion skills: “Building on what Mason said, …” “I STRONGLY disagree with Charlie…..”, “I agree with Jack, and I’d like to add….”. One usually vocal student stayed silent until the end: “At first I didn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other, but after listening to the points everyone’s been making, while I really see the value in what Charlie’s saying, I agree with Mason, because…”
It’s inspiring to observe these young men and women listening intently to one another, learning from their peers, and ultimately forming their own opinions.

While most of the Eagles played outdoors during free time, two – then three- then four as the desire to pitch in spread- stayed in to surprise their classmates with a pop-up dance and cupcake party, complete with streamers and helium balloons!
This session’ s theme of celebration seemed to have struck a chord. Special thanks to Ellie and Ana for their thoughtfulness.

After lunch, special guest filmmaker Brandon Dickerson joined us for an editing workshop- not a teacher lecturing to class about how to edit, but a professional bringing in his current project for a hands-on work session. The Eagles prepared by reading over the bit of screenplay (Scene 41) that corresponded to the footage they were going to watch, and examining a set diagram to imagine how the actors would move through the scene. After introducing his fancy new editing software while reminding us that all editing tools are basically “expensive scissors”, Brandon screened his footage. (Heated, of course) discussion ensued regarding which takes to use and how to cut them together to best tell the story.

Afterwards, during an abbreviated version of our usual Friday game time, a guide became so involved in an intense Boggle match that she forgot to keep an eye on the clock…. fortunately one of our student leaders realized it was five minutes past time to clean up for the weekend, and the Eagles worked together to get the job done.
Cooperation, respectful disagreement, spirited competition, and community celebration made for a fabulous Friday at Acton Academy!

Anxiety versus fear

December 7, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Core Skills, Culture, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Questssandefer

How does a hero differentiate between healthy fear and anxiety? That was the subject of today’s launch, and a continuation of our exploration of risk as we ask: “Does the past determine the future?”

We started with video from Gavin DeBecker, the world’s leading expert on predicting violent behavior; an adviser to Presidents and celebrities and author of The Gift of Fear, one of the best books I have ever read on any subject. Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgNuw-YlBxA

The basic messages:

Trust your instincts. If you sense danger, respect that warning.
Fear is in the moment; the prospect of serious and immediate harm.
Anxiety is worrying about the future; a waste of time and energy.

After listening to DeBecker, we role played various encounters with strangers. Did it have an impact? Just ask your Eagle about the risk versus reward of getting into a “soundproof metal cage” (an elevator) if your instincts suggest otherwise. Or ask how you should handle an approaching stranger, if something doesn’t seem right.

Some schools build walls and create a virtual prison. That’s unlikely to deter determined criminals, and just makes students feel like helpless victims. Our goal is to empower courageous leaders to make difficult choices in the real world, and especially when the stakes are high.

Lots of hard work in Core Skills followed, then a Skype “hero call” with Scott Rogers (shown below), one of Hollywood’s most famous stunt men, to continue the theme of “risk versus reward” in the real world.

The room was buzzing with energy in the afternoon, as Eagles worked on Gamestar Mechanics to design, build and play test their creations, in preparation for the Game Expo in less than three weeks.

Rumor has it that the Acton Elementary Eagles are confident that their games will triumph – a challenge not taken lightly by the Middle Schoolers, who have redoubled their efforts.

Showing up

December 6, 2012Culturesandefer

Last night we held an information session for those interested in joining Acton Middle School. The room was packed.

Without being asked, current MS Eagles and parents showed up in force. Some of the Eagles had gone home to dress up; others stayed after school to prepare the classroom. All the Guides were all in attendance too; eager to answer questions.

During the session, several Eagles gave beautiful and honest testimonials – a courageous act in a roomful of strangers; a number of parents gave direct and moving testimonials too.

Afterwards, in the classroom, MS Eagles were showing their work to interested parents and applicants. All without anyone asking them to do so.

Why? Because they care. Because it’s their school, and it matters who we allow into the community. Because they know they are going to change the world, and that means every admissions slot is precious, and should be treated as such.

If you want a glimpse inside AA MS: http://youtu.be/-jotk4mhQOU?hd=1

What an amazing group of human beings, and an honor to work with them.

Learning to set your own standards

December 4, 2012Critiques, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Town HallCharlie, Coby, Hayes, Pace, Sarahsandefer

At Acton Academy, we turn over the governance of the classroom to Eagles. Above, the past Council met with its recently elected replacements to discuss ways to inspire their fellow travelers to even greater heights.

Why do we trust the setting, encouragement and enforcement of maintaining incredibly high community learning standards to a group of students? Because they govern themselves far better than if lorded over by adults. And because we want our Eagles to be leaders, not rule followers.

So how does a beginning author or artist or game designer set their own standards of excellence? By looking at world class examples and comparing those to his or her first attempts.

Below, photos of Eagles creating and comparing prototype games.

And most importantly, the criteria they developed to judge whether or not a game is “world class.”

Here, an example of a group critique in action.

Because if you can learn to set your own standards; set them high; judge your progress draft after draft, gathering honest critiques as you move towards excellence, you are well on your way to the mastery of any skill, craft or art.

“Is that the best you can do?”

December 4, 2012Civilization, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Dosandefer

What do the lottery, Will Smith, El Dorado, Edgar Allan Poe and the question: “Does the past determine the future?” all have in common?

Answer: A day in the life at the Acton Academy Middle School.

Our focus this next few weeks is celebrating all that we’ve accomplished, as we prepare for the spring.

We started the morning with a launch that contrasted lottery winners – who against all the odds win millions, and then all too often are miserable afterwards, with Will Smith, an actor who through hard work and “loving life” became an international star.

Why does someone choose a Hero’s Journey and “loving life?” What causes someone else to choose a “small life” instead? Is it genetics? Upbringing? Or personal choices?

The theme continued in history, reading the story of El Dorado and the Spanish conquistadors in South America, Edgar Allan Poe’s El Dorado story and how people can spend their lives seeking the ultimate treasure of gold, true love, happiness or success in vain – the lure of seeking gold/quick money/winning the lottery/ can lead to despair (at best.)

How do we help someone choose to “love life” rather than “mail it in?” The Eagles decided it was asking each other: “Is that the best you can do?,” and not being satisfied until the answer is “yes.”

What would you do?

December 1, 2012Culture, Launches, Socraticsandefer

Morning launch is an important time at Acton Academy.

The AA campus opens at 8 AM; the launch of the day begins at 8:30 AM sharp. Many Eagles arrive at 8 AM and play hard on the play field, but everyone is seated and ready for group no later than 8:29.

Launches are “brief huddles” – no more than fifteen minutes total — that set the tone of the day. Just a few sentences to connect to the last few days; a brief glimpse of one of the maps on the wall to locate “where we are” (the Hero’s Journey; our current Quest or the trajectory of a major project) ; and then a foreshadowing of the immediate challenges ahead.

Almost always the launch is framed in terms of a question; often connecting to the “overarching question” for the year, which for this year is: “Does the Past Determine the Future?” Sometimes we show a brief video clip; other times we feature a governance question or behavior that’s challenging our community norms; more recently we’ve been focused on difficult ethical dilemmas.

For example, this week we explored the difficult question of how you would decide who lives and who dies, if faced with the choice of a speeding train that you could direct down one track or another. Either way, someone will be killed, but by changing the scenarios, we explored the value of individual human life and how it differs for each Eagle.

What does this accomplish? First, a focus on the difficult decisions our young Eagles will face as leaders. Second, it sharpens their ability to reason and persuade, as we work hard to hone their Socratic process and rhetorical skills. Often the discussion leader will pause to point out a Socratic technique that Eagles may want to use when they (soon) begin to lead discussions on their own.

Framing the day; putting the week, month and next six week sprint in perspective; reinforcing group learning norms; honing thinking skills; setting the tone for the day.

Quite an important fifteen minutes.

Asking the customers

November 30, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

Customer feedback matters a lot at Acton Academy. So we continually question our Eagles about what matters to them.

This week Ms. Laura spent time in the Yurt asking what were the most important parts of AAA to preserve for the future. Here, unedited, are the Eagle’s responses:

Keep discussion time
Keep the Socratic method
Keep the students in charge of writing the guidelines
Guidelines – not rules
Have more interviews with heroes – people sharing their stories to us
Keep letting students work at their own pace
Keep freedom alive
Create a separate space for town meetings – like a council room
Have proof that we can do things in the real world – we can contribute and think and make good decisions
Attract more students – grow! Advertise with sweatshirts and lawn signs J
Get more space
Have more outside time
Don’t spend too much money
Keep the morning launches with great video clips
And of course, one Eagle really wants sports teams and a cafeteria!

Power tends to corrupt

November 29, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

“Power corrupts” is the phrase often associated with Lord Acton. But what Lord Acton actually wrote was: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

There’s a big difference between the first quote and the second – the words “tends to” and “absolute” and “absolutely.” Our Acton Eagles understand the difference, because they actively lead their own community.

Yesterday we elected a new Council, in accordance with the governing principles drafted by the Eagles.

Under the terms of the governing constitution, three members are elected; each Eagle has three votes to cast; there must be at least one male and one female on the Council; term limits are enforced and no member can serve a second term until every Eagle has a chance to serve at least once.

Before the vote, a discussion. Which is most important when electing a leader: character, skill or charisma? What criteria will you use to evaluate candidates? Should the quality of the campaign speeches count a little or a lot?

Six nominations; six speeches; 42 votes. Each candidate had read chapter 17 of Machiavelli’s The Prince, and would address in his or her speech whether it was better as a leader to be loved or feared.

Pictures from three of the speeches below.

The new Council members each were elected by a one vote margin. In other words, we had no shortage of leadership material.

Next came the post election discussion. Did you use logic in casting your vote? Emotion? Intuition? Did you stick to your criteria or abandon them?

We celebrated the outgoing Council members, who will be passing along a notebook of “lessons learned” to the new council , a form of institutional memory, our own version of The Prince, a voice of experience to help in difficult times.

Then, a rich discussion about power, and why absolute power “tends to corrupt.” What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a servant leader in politics?

If only some of our grown up politicians could have been there to hear their advice.

A group of self governing ten, eleven and twelve year olds. In charge of their own learning. Establishing their own rule of law and civil society. Profiting from mistakes.

As a society, we expect far too little from young adults. They are capable of great things, and these small lessons of daily life and community are going to serve them well when the stakes are far larger.

Inspiration, learning and storytelling

November 28, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Art, Communications, Core Skills, Culture, Energy and flow, Guides, Journey maps, Quests, Storytellingsandefer

One of the biggest surprises about guiding Eagles has been the realization that people learn at a 10X rate when they are inspired, and hardly at all when simply instructed to do so.

Of course, this isn’t surprising when you think about your own learning. Who cares about learning something simply because you are ordered to do so? It also explains why most corporate training fails. Training is for guinea pigs; human beings want to be free to accept or reject challenges, not to be trained..

As Guides, much of our energy goes into creating challenges that matter to Eagles. Difficult, meaningful – and yes, fun challenges. Our goal is to “inspire,” a word whose root means “to breathe life into.”

Long lasting inspiration requires an important quest or journey – a clear path to a worthy Grail. We need an end that matters to our Eagles and a map we can continually refer to update our progress as a group, as in “you are here” and “here’s where we are going together.”

Below is an example of such a map from this section of the gaming quest.

In the gaming project, Eagles have entered design mode. To unlock the final challenge of designing a game for the Game Expo, this week students are working through a series of mini game creation challenges.

Yesterday they designed simple, single-player games of luck, and then manipulated the rules to make their games easier or harder to win. Today they designed games of skill, then added an element of luck to these games to see which version playtesters enjoyed more.

Tomorrow Eagles will get a taste of online game design on Gamestar Mechanic. Next week, students will choose whether they want to design an online or offline game for the Game Expo at the end of the session, at which they will pitch their games to parents and fellow eagles.

Is creating games a trivial skill? Not in the 21^st century. Arguably, being able to weave a compelling story and keep people engaged may be one of the most important 21^st century skills of all.

In storytelling, images can be even more important than text. And in the Hero’s Journey story, dragons are not only possible, but to be expected. That’s why Eagles have been working in Art on drawing dragons. As they create, Eagles have been listening to “A Tale of Two Cities,” immersed in images drawn with words, as they create visual metaphors of the challenges each will face on their hero’s journey.

Here’s a sample of dragons in the making.

Inspiration, storytelling and maps – keys to learning in the 21st century.

Celebrate!

November 27, 2012Communications, Core Skills, Critiques, Culture, Math, WritingClaire, Coby, Ellie, Mason, Pace, Sarahsandefer

Our theme for the next four weeks is CELEBRATE!

Celebrate living in Austin; celebrate the holiday season; celebrate learning with friends at Acton Academy.

We started the day with dancing to Cool and the Gang – CELEBRATE!

Then we quickly settled into Core Skills, because fun and hard work aren’t mutually exclusive. All Eagles are now up to speed on Khan, with many approaching the 107 skills needed by semester break.

Towards the end of Core Skills, Claire and Jack held a Zombie story critique session with their with fellow writers and illustrators.

Then followed PE, lunch and Project Time with Ms Anna, where Eagles created new prototype games, in preparation for the public Acton Game Exposition to be held three weeks from Friday.

At closing group, the following exchange took place:

Guide: “What’s your biggest lesson learned on the first day back from Thanksgiving break?”

Eagle One: “It’s good to be back. It’s boring when school isn’t in session.”

Guide: ‘How many students in Austin do you think feel the same way?”

Eagle Two: “Fourteen.”

Eagle Three: “No, more like forty, because you have to count the (Acton Academy) elementary students too.”

No Boredom allowed. Fun. Hard work. Celebrating with friends.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Learning to Gamble – Not!

November 19, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Exhibition, QuestsCharlie, Claire, Hayes, Kenzie, Mason, Sarahsandefer

Friday was Casino Day at Acton, as Eagles spent the afternoon putting their new found probability skills to the test at Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and other games of luck (and some skill.)

Each Eagle traded in Eagles Bucks for chips, and kept careful track of the number of plays, amount wagered and won and lost at each game. The goal was to decide which game offered the best odds, and why.

The overall lesson – games of chance are not a good bet. Eventually, the law of large numbers means you will lose!

from Luddites to Las Vegas

November 16, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Civilization, Collaboration, Core Skills, Culture, Eagle Buck-Pts, Math, Quests, Reading, WritingCrayton, Masonsandefer

Are you more likely to be disappointed by your laptop or by your best friend? Does it feel worse to be disappointed, or to disappoint someone else? If you don’t keep yor commitments to the community, who are you letting down- your running partner or yourself? Tough questions met with candor and courage by our brave Eagles.

So, back to that laptop… or not. The middle school experimented with 30 minutes of Luddite time, focusing on (analog) reading and writing, before plugging in for their SMART goals,daily check-in and their online work. Collaboration reigned, writers brainstorming monster story plots and presenting drafts for informal peer critique, and math geniuses unleashing their exponential powers of encouragement.

Sometimes it’s Yurt time, and the MS is always grateful when that time rolls around. Ms. Laura launched with the news that scientists have discovered a powerful correlation between happiness and gratitude. After a quick survey of Thanksgiving fun facts, including info about the persuasive letter written to President Lincoln that helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday, students eagerly shared their family Thanksgiving traditions and had the opportunity to write their own letters of gratitude. Those that chose to tackle History Challenge #2 took us back to ancient Rome for some detailed analysis of similarities and differences between their culture and our own, and earned a treasure from the Yurt Treasure Box for their efforts and courage.

Ms. Anna launched today’s probability quest with a video addressing the Monty Hall problem. Initially as confused as the general populace, the Eagles has a collective Aha! / Eureka! moment as they absorbed the implications of the probability swap. Then they got to play games to further their insights, poor things. At the end of the day, Mr. Jeff asked: If you take a chance and lose, is it gambling or investing? What about if you take a chance and win? What if you break even?

Eagles will have a chance to test their hypotheses tomorrow afternoon, when the classroom is transformed into a casino, complete with free sparkling cider for all players. Do you have to be in it to win it? Who knows when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em, and can they back up their instincts with evidence?

And most importantly- who will hoarde/hold out out to cash their accrued chips in for an Eagle buck, and who will choose to spend them on donuts? All bets are off, from this blog’s point of view.

Rock, Paper, Bayesian Data Analysis

November 14, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

Lots of high fives in the room during core skills today! As students sprint towards Thanksgiving break, enthusiasm for acquiring math skills is running high. Several members of the class have passed the 100 skills mark on Khan Academy, putting them ahead of schedule for the class requirement of 107 skills by the end of 2012.

Diving into their Independent Learner Badge pamphlets, Eagles are looking to one another for suggestions about engaging yet challenging books to add to their to-read Shelfari shelves, testing their typing skills, and gearing up for the other missions they’ll have to accomplish to earn this very important milestone.

In art, more work on dragons while listening to stories of mythological beasts (today: Theseus and the Minotaur ).

MyHJ brought a lively discussion about flow- what is it? How do you know you’re in it? Can you get into it at will?
A very special presentation followed the MyHJ work session: one of the students chose to contact as a potential guide a former financier who lives on the other side of the world and retired from his illustrious career to dedicate his life to helping the less powerful – animals, children, the poor. Ana gave an amazing, inspiring presentation, and even incorporated Socratic discussion techniques. After a heartfelt round of applause, students commented that they felt as if they’d been in the live audience for a TED talk!

In project time, Ms. Anna introduced Pavlovian behavior theory with a hilarious (and memorable) clip from the series “The Office”, followed by a brief intro to some of Dan Ariely’s work on behavioral economics. Students were then unleashed to learn about tree diagraming and the principles of Bayesian probability.

Pairing up to play (and chart the results of) Rock, Paper, Scissors provided a practice in calculating percentages, a chance to create and analyze tree diagrams, and a visceral introduction to Bayes’ theory. The debriefing session afterwards yielded opinions about whether or not one can “win” at R,P,S using probability and logic. Jack explained the Bayesian theory beautifully, based on his own interpretation of his tree diagram results.

Decisions, decisions

November 14, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

When does a young adult accept full responsibility for their own actions, and truly make (and experience the repercussions of) their own decisions? Today, the students called a town hall meeting to discuss two items important to the community, first a vote to revisit whether to mandate a full hour of silent work time during core skills, second a return to the stubborn issue of poor sportsmanship on the playing field. Important questions arose: am I being listened to? who do I ultimately answer to? what are the ramifications of error? who gets to decide?

The student council ran the meeting as a streamlined huddle, showing respect for all points of view yet honoring their commitment to stay on topic, avoid repetition, and keep it to fifteen minutes. Grievances were aired, solutions proposed, disagreements weathered. Perhaps a stronger community emerged from the wobbles of dissent.

The cold didn’t stop the Eagles from playing hard during their lunch break; a mentally refreshed class regrouped for art, working on their watercolor paintings with intense focus. Half the students introduced their drawn dragon by (often Latin) name, wowing their peers with the creativity and thought they put into the backstories for their paintings.

A larger group, including some Acton 3rd-5th graders, came together for more decision making at the end of day, as the Green Light panel reassembled to hear presentations from the film crews working on The Bandit and The Thing in the Dark. “Asking us questions will make our work stronger,” one student advised. Ellie did a fabulous job moderating, the presentations were professional and engaging, and once again the projects received green lights all around.

Curiosity and hospitality

November 12, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Culture, Distraction, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Place, Questssandefer

How do you judge the health of a learning culture? Two good measures might be curiosity and hospitality.

Our MS Eagles showed the first when recently sending a letter to the Elementary Eagles, asking various questions about why the ES learning culture works so well. The ES Eagles today graciously responded with a long and thoughtful letter, complete with attachments.

Hospitality was showcased today when the Eagles greeted Mia, a recent applicant who was shadowing before joining us this summer. Without any request from Guides, the MS’ers created a sign to welcome Mia, who as you see below, was well liked by all.

We are trying out a new trick in room design, cardboard “walls” that can be rearranged in moments to create semi-private focus space for one or two Eagles in core skills, and also provide more personal portfolio space. Just one of many experiments as we continue to design the interior of the new campus.

Finally, today we introduced normal and lognormal-power curves, and how “discovered” probabilities from each could be used in two challenges involving oil exploration and “guessing the height of the next person who comes into the room.” As you see below, lots of energy in the room.

Which challenge was investing and which was gambling? (The answer was deceptively complicated.) Which of the five heroes: Gauss; Galton; Pareto; Bezos and Hastings, made the most fundamentally important discoveries? Which ones used power curves and the internet to build large businesses? Which one will have the biggest impact on the world? Which one owns a spaceport?

All questions we will continue to explore and debate the rest of the week.

and the light is…. GREEN!!

November 9, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

What habits can you develop, starting today, to strive towards excellence in everything you do? The middle school students grappled with that question and committed themselves to developing the following four habits, put forward by their classmates:

1) Pay attention to details 2) Take small steps

3) Keep your mind on what you’re doing 4) Keep the space around you clean

Reflecting on how well they stuck to that commitment today, Eagles gave themselves high marks for the most part- while acknowledging that, when a squadron of F-16s appeared in the sky north of river, most of them failed at habit number 3.

Sarah pointed out that habit #2, taking small steps, helps her as she reads Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The language is “difficult but worth it”. She disciplines herself to only read a few pages at a time, and digests before moving on. Her journal reflection about that process (“Hardest thing I did this week?”) won the Friday reflection writing challenge- her classmates admired her perseverance and sense of adventure in taking on an classic written in the style of a different era.

What qualities make a presentation persuasive and strong? After watching a few videos of examples of what to do/what not to do, Eagles came up with their own set of standards and tried them out at the end of the day when two film crews appeared before a panel of Elementary School peers to present their pre-production documents to a student-moderated panel, hoping to get the green light to move into actual production.

The elementary students provided thoughtful feedback and raised important and challenging questions. The crews were able to synthesize their effort, their genuine enthusiasm for their projects, and their ever-improving powers of persuasion to receive honest and unreserved GREEN LIGHTS to go, go go forward into production! Congratulations on a week well spent.

Quick MacGyver, the Secret Code

November 8, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Quests, Socraticsandefer

Terrorists are threatening to attack the City of Austin. You have to decide whether or not to evacuate the city. Luckily, you have intercepted a coded message. If you only you can decipher the code, you have a chance to save the day.

You decipher the code by guessing at the frequency of various letters, and where they occur. This leads you to a clue, and one chance to draw from a collection of beads – the frequency of blue beads equals the probability of an attack.

Then you realize, the more groups who crack the code, the more draws of the beads, the better probability distribution you can create, the better the odds that you make the correct decision. But the only way you can help is by asking A/B questions – no direct hints.

Welcome to another day at Acton Academy, preparing the Eagles with the tools to answer: Does the Past Determine the Future?

PS. Our Eagles determined that the odds were against an attack – and they were right (this time.)

Football, film and gifts

November 8, 2012Apprenticeships, Collaboration, Communications, Core Skills, Culture, Film, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Math, Reading, Socraticsandefer

Reading, writing and arithmetic – critical, fundamental skills, and our Eagles continue to progress faster than most middle schoolers – and thanks to Khan Academy and Shelfari, we have proof of their efforts.

But there’s much more to life, and thus should be much more to learning than the basics.

Like playing sandlot football before school starts.

Or in our morning discussion, exploring the right way to hold a film crew huddle, so you don’t waste your time in meaningless meetings (something I wish I’d learned a long time ago.)

Or as a task preparing Eagles for finding the right spring apprenticeship, having our My Hero’s Guide Mr. Temp inspire them with his drumming gifts as he asks: Are you born with powerful gifts or do you have to develop them?

Or having Allan Staker give his Hero’s story about the entrepreneurial ups and downs of starting a video-game company, a twisting tale about the risks and rewards of believing in yourself.

Yes, there’s far, far more to learning in the 21st century than simply the basics.

dragons and an election

November 7, 2012Art, Communications, Core Skills, Culture, Film, Math, ReadingCharlie, Coby, Kenzie, Pacesandefer

Tuesday mornings are core skills intensive, with an extra hour for students to work on foreign language, math, reading, and writing. Today they also used some of that time to meet in their film crews as the deadline for getting their projects green-lighted for production approaches.

Art provided a change of pace as students worked on their dragon drawings and studied dragon mythology.

It was election day, and a buzz of nervous energy permeated the room especially during project time when Ms. Samantha presented the opportunity to vote for or against an extra 30 minutes of morning silence in the classroom. Many students were surprised when, despite some preliminary polling that indicated a likely majority against that extra 30 minutes, the final count was in favor of a full hour of silence during core skills. Lesson learned: a poll is a snapshot of the present rather than an accurate predictor of the future.

Self-directed, self-aware

November 5, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Civilization, Core Skills, Culture, Distraction, PE, Questssandefer

Students entered the classroom to find a new desk arrangement, inspired by their own ideas about reducing distraction and enhancing productivity. This tool served them well as they applied themselves to core skills with quiet intensity (well, not so quiet after about an hour when the Rosetta Stone headphones went on… but they quickly worked out a plan that allowed the few who weren’t doing foreign language learning to still have the quiet they wanted for their own goal-striving).

PE offered a well-timed physical break. After the tough (but getting a little easier as we get a lot stronger) Acton Insanity work-out, volleyball was a chance to merge focus and sweat into a happy competition.

History came alive in the yurt post-lunch, when a special guest archeologist (and Acton mom!) inspired the Eagles with tales from her own Hero’s Journey, digging up the past to try to solve the ongoing mystery of pre-literate human culture.

During Project Time students were challenged by the probability quest projects as well as the basic human problem of sharing space and addressing your own needs without compromising those of your community. “I’m really disappointed in the way I acted,” one student volunteered during a quick critique session on classroom behavior during the Quests. (Her offense? Getting a little too enthusiastic about probability assessment!)

“This will help me later in life, when I’m trying to decide whether to take a risk,” another offered unprompted, as the lessons learned debriefing moved from behavior critique to real world application of concepts.

Last but far from least, this wonderful group of young adults modeled curiosity, self-management, and terrific discussion and critique skills for a young visitor who skipped kindergarten to learn more about what happens in a real middle school (and find out what the heck his mom does all day)- and were the most gracious hosts imaginable. Go Eagles!!

Inspiring entrepreneurial heroes

November 3, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

It’s easy to make learning too difficult. To focus too intently on curriculum or rubrics or teacher training, and not enough on the learner.

I’ve found that lighting an entrepreneurial spark in children is relatively simple; entrepreneurial curiosity and creativity are as natural to children as breathing.

The experience doesn’t need to be any more complicated than:

Make something with your own hands;
Sell it (safely) to someone you don’t know, for more than it cost to make;
End up with some extra cash in your pocket.

Case in point, today’s Acton Children’s Business Fair, attended by many Acton Academy Eagles: 97 businesses; 189 young entrepreneurs; over 1,000 satisfied customers.

Above – a picture of an Acton Eagle selling 25 cent chances to shoot his little brother with a paintball gun. A double entrepreneurial bonus!

Critiquing critiques

October 31, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Communications, Core Skills, Critiques, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Film, Hero's Journey, Journalling, Questssandefer

Today, along with Core Skills and our Gaming Quest, we worked on critiquing skills.

Abigail began the day with our Halloween clad Eagles by asking: “Is it more important when pursuing excellence to practice hard or have a world class example?” and demonstrated how feedback improved a butterfly drawn by a six year old child.

We then each critiqued writing from the Eagle’s journals, so students could practice the art of writing as “re-writing.”

Ms Anna continued the day with a workshop on critiquing itself, using fresh baked zucchini bread as a tool to practice the four rules for critiques: (Be kind; Be specific; Be helpful; and Critique the work and not the person;) as well as a procedure for giving powerful feedback: (1) Presentation of work (audience is silent; presenter asks a focusing question); (2) Audience feedback (warm; cold; warm) and (3) Presenter reflection (comments on how and why the feedback was helpful.)

Eagles ended with a story boarding exercise, sequencing and editing photos to hone their storytelling and story boarding skills for the film project.

In between, Mr Temp held court as Curious George’s Man-in-the Yellow-Hat, discussing this week’s MyHJ “look-in-the-mirror” experience on loyalty (look closely, and you’ll see George in the background.)

probability and the choices we make

October 30, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Culture, Quests, Troublesandefer

This afternoon, Ms. Anna launched a new series of probability-based Quests for the MS’ers. After discussing the concepts (and even the morality) of games of skill vs. games of chance, students relished the opportunity to expand their own informed opinions based on their Quest discoveries.

Meanwhile, back on the Commons… The Elementary School, with its rigorous yet self-generated standards of decorum (specifically in the areas of focus, sportsmanship, and cleanliness), has threatened legal action against the Middle School for a perceived defamation of brand image. The MS will meet tomorrow morning in a Town Hall format to discuss these accusations and formulate potential responses.

As they weigh the potential outcomes of various possible actions and reactions, they will likely indulge in the quintessentially human hobby of also considering probable counter-moves by their fellow travelers/adversaries.

Stay tuned!

Friday at AA MS

October 28, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Core Skills, Culture, Journalling, Quests, Smart GoalsEllie; Kenzie; Jacksandefer

Friday started with videos and a discussion about the power of compounding – both in terms of the compounding of interest on money and the power of good deeds to spread throughout a population.

The morning included an intense focus on Core Skills and MyHJ, as Eagles worked hard to catch up on SMART goals before Monday’s deadlines. Ellie also won a close contest for the best “end of week written reflections,” barely edging our Kenzie in voting for the weekly honor and then besting Jack’s entry last week.

Eagles reading and critiquing weekly reflections.

After lunch, there was a mad dash to the finish for the 3 D Game lab challenges on “the past determining the future.” Next week we begin a new quest on probabilities and statistics.

Friday winds down with an hour of Game Time.

Tragedy of the Commons and de Tocqueville

October 25, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Communications, Core Skills, Culture, Distraction, Film, Questssandefer

Why can a few distracted students infect an entire learning community? Why is it so hard to keep the classroom clean?

Today we opened with a video on the Tragedy of the Commons and a discussion about why public spaces so often are abused. This was followed by video on Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, followed by a discussion of how a civil society helps intermediate between individuals and government, civilizing the first and restraining the latter.

These discussions, and observations by our MS Eagle “industrial spies” of the alien culture in the AA Elementary School, led our Eagles to propose changes in the classroom architecture and governance. Now we have “quiet zone” three sided cubicles (see http://rubble.heppell.net/places/ ) in one area and two other dedicated classroom areas, each with its own Mayor in charge of maintaining “focus.”

All of this led a a burst of productivity: in Core Skills; in 3D Game Lab and in the Film Project.

Intense focus in Core Skills.

Working on story boarding the Film Project (thanks to Matt Hovis for yesterday’s expert advice!)

Working hard to unlock the final “Does the past determine the future?” challenge in the 3D Game Lab quest.

Distraction, Focus and a Yurt

October 24, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

We opened today by playing video clips of Top Gun pilot Maverick (Tom Cruise) panicking and spinning his F14, killing his best friend Goose; juxtaposed by a clip of the calm voice of Sully Sullenberg, as he safely guided US Air flight 1549 into the Hudson, saving all aboard

The topic: Distraction versus Focus. The difference between faux heroes like Maverick, full of blusters, and the quiet, real heroes like Sully, who train hour after hour in the simulator; who are focused and diligent; who prepare for when their name is called.

Focus is important. That’s why today we put in a series of steps to remove those students who are struggling with distraction. Taking away potential distractions, step by step, until they can catch up with the rest of the community. Middle Schoolers love community; but participating in a community is a privilege that cannot be allowed to become a distraction.

Some of you have been wondering, “What’s a Yurt?” Here are pictures of our Yurt, a special outdoor place where our Eagles listen and retell the great stories of history, engaging in Socratic discussion with Ms. Laura around our one great question of History: Why do some civilizations rise, and others fall?

Integration and Accountability

October 23, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Apprenticeships, Art, Core Skills, Covenants, Culture, Guides, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Quests, Signalling, Smart Goalssandefer

Many people ask how we integrate the disparate parts of a day into a single narrative.

Here’s an example:

We launched our morning huddle with a video clip of Susan Boyle, the surprising singer who bravely overwhelmed skeptics with her powerful voice on the 2009 version of Britain’s. The point? That following your dream requires perseverance and courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

Each Eagle then contributed an “imagine this” scenario, playing the part of the hero in his or her special moment (like winning the Super Bowl or debuting on Broadway.)

Next we focused on SMART goals for the morning in Core Skills; listened to Ms. Samantha’s “trial and error” hero story; finished self portraits in Art and continued with the Game Lab 3D work on probabilities and decision trees.

Ms. Samantha’s Hero Story.

At the final huddle, all this was wrapped into a discussion about using probabilities and decision trees, the need to adjust (but not abandon) our dreams as life happens – for example, a severe knee injury might require you to become an NFL team owner instead of an NFL quarterback — and how our work with SMART goals in Core Skills not only imbed perseverance as a habit, but provides basic skills to fall back on when life throws us a curve.

All of this served as a reminder that our Eagles need to be weighing what type of Apprenticeship they want to test in the spring.

Above, the decision tree used at day;s end that links an Eagles gifts, joy and opportunities to his or her dreams for tomorrow, providing a visual map of how life can force us to adapt.

Finally, we are adding even more accountability and consequences to the mix, so be prepared to hear some squawks.

Above – a more obvious signalling device to help students understand which “discussion mode is in effect: “red” is full focus; “yellow” collaboration; “green” free time.

The first five weeks we focused on building the community – making it a gathering no one ever wants to miss. Then we added SMART and Excellence goals to encourage the habit of hard work. Soon the few students who are still struggling with committing completely to day to day work will find themselves increasingly removed — literally hell for middle schoolers – until they find the focus needed to excel.

Because at Acton Academy, we are very serious about the learning covenants that our Eagles and Guides signed.

Excellence Goals and History-in-the-Yurt

October 22, 2012Civilization, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Smart GoalsMasonsandefer

We started today with a clip from “Karate Kid” about mastery, as a way to launch our new Excellence Goals.

SMART goals are terrific for daily and weekly progress; Excellence Goals are for bigger and longer term objectives, the multi-week commitments and milestones required to master a skill or deeply imbed a habit. For example: a SMART goal would help you learn a few words of Spanish; an Excellence Goal would be to work for twelve weeks on Rosetta Stone to be able to read Don Quixote in Spanish.

We started today by setting our SMART goals for the week. By Wednesday, each Eagle also will have set a longer term Excellence Goal in vocabulary; handwriting; typing; a Rosetta Language or the Independent Learner or Running Partner badges.

During project time, Ms Anna introduced Decision Chains as another problem solving tool.

In the most exciting development of the day, Ms Laura launched History-in-the-Yurt, which required each Eagle to submit their favorite “big question” about history.

What’s a Yurt? You’ll have to ask an Eagle to find out.

Eagles guiding Eagles

October 20, 2012Collaboration, Communications, Core Skills, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Film, Math, Smart GoalsJack, Masonsandefer

Many outsiders have been skeptical when I predict we’ll find peer guiding and peer course creation to be far more powerful than using adult leaders. After all, who would believe that a middle or high schooler could be trusted with the learning of an younger student?

Today we had our first real test as two elementary school Eagles, Lazlo and Sam, came into the middle school to lead the six MS Eagles who had reached 50 skills in Khan in an introduction to the Manga High math program (our three MS’ers who graduated from AA ES already know Manga.) Given the round of applause at the end, the mission was a rousing success.

The Elementary Eagles invited the MS’ers to join them in a Manga challenge against a high school. Last year, the ES’ers made it all the way to third place in all of North America, competing against middle schools and high schools.

We worked hard this week on SMART goals and encouraging Eagles to set goals and hold themselves and their Running Partners for “giving their best.” We’ll continue that emphasis in the weeks ahead.

Ms Abigail pushed forward on the film project. Below an Eagle is presenting a specific filming technique he had researched, as Eagles discuss how they might use it in their individual films.

How bright is the future of our Eagles? So bright, they have to wear shades!

Eagles spent much of today in collaboration mode. They held group discussions on decision making and process vs.result, ran quick meetings among film crews, had an usually competitive PE, and worked with running partners on 3D GameLab Quest projects.

On top of the nuts and bolts learning they foment, these team activities provide inspiration and joy- but character and life skills are in the forefront as students learn for themselves how to manage the occasional frustrations and disagreements of group work. Balancing their individual needs and desires with those of their team and community proves an exciting challenge, and balances the individual and intensely focused work the students do as they go ever deeper into math, reflection writing, and other core skills.

The day ended with a beautiful surprise note from Ms. Laura, presenting her Gift of the Yurt. Starting next week, the Eagles will meet for world history stories and discussions in a real yurt (which will move with us to our new campus next September), another way for these young men and women to come together as a meaningful, synergistic community.

Hard work and the Hero’s Journey

October 17, 2012Uncategorizedsandefer

Lots of hard work today in Core Skills today – on Khan; journaling, reading and the film project.

We also dug deeply into the Hero’s Journey, discussing the spring apprenticeships that will be supported by the MyHJ program and in Ms Anna’s story mapping of the Hero’s Journey archetype (see below.)

It’s not all hard work at AA. Can you identify the masked marauder who appeared today during free time?

Relaunching the learning community

October 17, 2012Culture, Hero Story, Hero's Journey, Smart Goals, Troublesandefer

Monday was a difficult day in many ways; it seemed many of the new learning habits had worn off after a week off. Not surprising, since new habits take more than a few weeks to deeply imbed.

Our response: simplify; provide perspective; appeal to heroes; reinforce shared accountability.

First, to simplify. Some Eagles were overwhelmed by five or more types of assignments they had to juggle – an issue that would vex many adults.

So we regrouped deliverables under three headings: Core Skills; Projects and Quests; and MyHJ and the new Learning Badges.

Next, provide perspective. That meant a new map, a wall display we could use to track progress, as we addressed four defining questions: Who am I?; What promises must be made and kept?; Who is walking with me?; and Why am I here?

We’ll use this display to mark our journey, moving from experiences designed to track: “Who am I?” – and exploring individual Gifts; Joy & Flow and Opportunities – and Core Skill practice to identify which Apprenticeship will be right for each Eagle in the spring.

Appeal to Heroes: we started the morning with a video on Richard Branson and a quote from Thoreau that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Did our Eagles aspire to lives in a cubicle?

Or taking on life as an adventure, like Richard Branson?

Branson started the first of his 400 companies at 16. We went around the room, and asked each Eagle how many years between their current age and 16, and what would be the most important this week to get them back on the right path?

Finally, accountability. We put renewed emphasis on tracking SMART goals, and the responsibility of Running Partners to hold each other accountable.

Before long, the learning community was humming with energy again.

Breaking ground

October 16, 20123D Game Lab - Probability, Core Skills, Culture, Quests, Smart Goalssandefer

Today was a big day for Acton Academy as we broke ground for the new campus, which will open this summer just east of the University of Texas on the corner of Alexander and Manor.

While the facilities will be “state-of-the-art,” the most important part of Acton Academy will remain the courage of our Eagles and their families. Far too many schools lose this perspective when it comes time to move into new buildings; ours won’t be one of them!

After the celebration, it was back to Core Skills and the re-introduction of SMART goals to focus the attention of our Eagles. And Ms Anna introduced the 3D Game Lab project, which will focus on probability, statistics and prediction for the next nine weeks, as Eagles learn the 21st century skill of game creation and we continue to explore the “Will the past determine the future?” overarching question for the year.

Perspective, Energy and Rhythms

October 10, 2012Culture, Energy and flow, Journey maps, Signalling, Uncategorizedsandefer

The first task in any new school is establishing a healthy learning culture: this requires paying attention to perspective, energy and rhythms.

Perspective means giving Eagles a map showing where we are heading as a group, and how it connects to their personal journey. The map should display the final goals; important mileposts and include the most important questions we will ask. A map helps us to pause occasionally; mark where we are in the journey; reflect on where we have been and foreshadow where we are going next.

Included with this map should be an easy to read list of projects and mini-projects for the session and a weekly schedule to shows at a glance when we will be in Core Skills; Art; PE; History or Project time.

The more uncertainty you can remove by providing a road map and schedule, the more energy that goes into discovery and deep learning.

Monitoring energy is important too. We want the class humming with excitement. We want our Eagles engaged, in flow, laser focused, losing themselves in the learning. But such engagement can only be sustained for so long before you need a break. And points of reflection are needed to synthesize ideas and let important lessons soak in.

That’s why we carefully think about the flow of energy during a six week session, and include exhibitions to add excitement, as well as times of reflection to recharge. We take a similar approach to energy management when designing the weekly and daily schedules and when planning Socratic Discussions.

One student even came up with an idea we adopted: color coding the peaks and valleys in energy. A “red” rectangle posted on the wall mans we are fully focused in Socratic mode – it’s like the “red light” in recording studios – in our case signaling that serious learning is taking place. Discussion “rules of engagement” are in force, so no squirming in your seat; no getting up for the bathroom or a snack.

The “yellow” sign means collaborative rules are in effect: Eagles can move around or talk quietly with others, as long as they aren’t disturbing anyone else. A “green” sign means free time.

Intense, high energy “red” periods can only be maintained for brief periods, usually no more than fifteen to twenty minutes; “yellow” collaborative time for an hour to two hours, particularly if individuals are shifting between projects and skills; “green” periods need to be no longer than fifteen minutes, but are critical to blowing off excess energy or mentally recharging.

Within discussions, forcing students to take a stand and defend it raises classroom energy. So does asking concrete A/B choice questions. So does asking for specific examples and evidence to back up a point or conclusion. Conceptual questions drain energy. Conceptual questions may be needed for synthesis or deep learning, but must be used judiciously: like a pilot, a Socratic Guide only has so much energy to burn before the conversation stalls.

Perspective, energy and rhythms – if we manage these well, deep learning is sure to follow.

How do you inspire deep learning?

October 9, 2012Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Guidessandefer

How do you inspire deep learning?

This is perhaps the most difficult question in education, and I must admit, still a bit of black magic. If we remove incarceration – our outmoded educational system’s preferred for of persuasion – what will inspire students to learn?

So far, we’ve found a mix of tactics. First, make it fun, particularly to do something in a group. Make it clear that the work will be shown to others; preferably to the public. Stage a debate.

Provide clear standards of excellence; a great piece of writing; great art; a beautiful bridge; then ask students to develop a rubric to measure the differences between their work and the higher standard.

Don’t criticize. Simply inquire: Is this your best work? If not, invite them to try again. Or ask: what would you do differently next time? Even better, invite a peer to become a Running Partner, trained to give positive critiques.

Don’t be afraid of using gamification. Competition works. So do game techniques, particularly for easily measured skills like math.

Be patient. Our Eagles want to do great work. But you have to give them the freedom to discover this from within.

“Mom, I miss school.”

October 8, 2012Culture, Guidessandefer

What’s the best measure of customer satisfaction? At our school, it’s the fact that our Eagles want to be here. To us, being a great school isn’t about standardized test scores, perfect SAT’s or straight A’s, but simply having a place where Eagles love to gather, share and learn.

At Acton, we run on an (almost) year round schedule, with five to seven week sprints, followed by a week off from school. The Guides aren’t on vacation this week, but hard at work preparing the next sequence of experiences and adventures. So I thought I’d use these next few days to record some “lessons learned” from the first session, to help others who might be considering opening a school like ours.

We’ve succeeded in creating a sense of excitement and belonging. There was great energy as we asked students questions about themselves, their hero’s journey and how they would change the world. Eagles drafted and ratified their own “rules of engagement” and governance system. We’ve worked hard AND had a lot of fun.

Once you’ve got a place where young people want to belong, you have the magic raw materials of energy and commitment that will lead to excellence and transformational learning. Without this, it’s just another institution run by grown ups.

Where did the time go?

October 5, 2012Exhibition, Galileo Trial, Math, QuestsPace, Sarahsandefer

With gravitas and quiet excitement, the Eagles welcomed parents and grandparents into their classroom this morning to share their hard work from the past five weeks. Students led their parents on math tours of Khan Academy, talked them through the scientific paradigm shift timeline they built together, and shared writing and art. They demonstrated their rules of engagement and how they hold one another accountable for keeping the classroom a terrific learning environment. The Eagles regrouped after a brief critique session with their running partners, and with the honesty, candor and courage they regularly show during discussion mode, shared their thoughts and opinions in front of a captive parent audience.

More courage about public speaking followed after lunch when the Eagles recreated the Trial of Galileo. The Pope and his allies presented their case to a panel of judges, then Galileo and his allies presented their well-reasearched defense. As in the real world, judges were faced with hard decisions- not just about the facts of the case but about their own ethics as well. Would they let their opinions be bought for the price of gold? Your Eagles can talk you through the outcome.

Congratulations to a remarkable group of young men and women on the first leg of their Hero’s Journeys at Acton. Enjoy a well-earned week of down time! See you on the 15th for our groundbreaking ceremony at the new campus (then back to Riverside campus for our launch of the next session).

Pitching your film idea

October 4, 2012Communications, Core Skills, Film, Galileo Trial, Hero Story, Math, Quests, SignallingPacesandefer

Core Skills time featured lots of work on Khan Academy, as well as the Eagles pitching their script ideas to the class. Later in the day, the Eagles voted to turn Charlie, James and Mason’s scripts into real films over the next few months

Later in the afternoon, Ms Anna continued to work with the Pope, Galileo’s team and our panel of judges to prepare for Friday’s trial, and Jasper’s dad David Herman came to give his Hero’s story about working in Hollywood, as well as sharing some tips on acting and directing.

We also implemented Pace’s idea of signalling what mode the class was in: Red for discussion time, with all Rules of Engagement in force; Yellow for collaborative time when students can mill around freely, as long as no one who is focused on work is being disturbed; and Green for free time. Interestingly, we calculated that in the average day Eagles spend 1-1.5 hours in Red (discussion) mode; 1.5 hours in Green (free) mode (including the 30 minutes before class officially starts); and 4-4.5 hours in Yellow (collaborative) mode.

Spending 5.5 to 6 hours intensely “on task” every day is the reason we can pack so much discovery and learning into a single day.

Pitching and Preparing for Trial

October 3, 2012Communications, Culture, Film, Hero's Journeysandefer

Core skills today was spent on Khan and developing pitch ideas for the film project. Then in Art, working to complete the Eagle’s portraits.

Then Mr. Temp joined us for a My Hero’s Journey session that will have each Eagle
keeping a promise journal, to record promises made and promises kept.

Project time continued work on the Galileo trial, with each Eagle writing an ethos, pathos or logos based argument, and auditioning for a role as Galileo or the Pope in Friday’s trial.

Oh yes, and the Eagles decided to make today crazy hat day.

Striving for Excellence and Galileo Galilei’s Trial

October 2, 2012Art, Communications, Eagle Buck-Pts, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Film, Galileo Trial, MathHayes; Clairesandefer

Our Eagles love learning and being with each other. Now it’s time to aspire to excellence.

Inspired by Po Bronson and Ashley Merriman’s NutureShock and Ron Berman’s An Ethic of Excellence, we are turning over even more responsibility for managing the learning environment to the three member Council and the Eagles themselves, but providing them with language to hold each other accountable (see below):

We also introduced a new accountability system run completely by the students themselves:

In Core Skills, students began planning and executing their Khan Academy lessons for the next nine weeks, by which time we expect every AA MS student to have demonstrated mastery in arithmetic and the other AA Elementary School Math skills (many students already have accelerated past this.) Ms Abigail continued guiding students in writing the storyline for their the “Past/Future” film project.

Ms Zoey continued the self portrait project in Art.

Ms Anna introduce the Galileo Trial debate, where over the next several days Eagles will research and assume roles to recreate Galileo’s dilemma of whether to advance or abandon his heliocentric paradigm, with real world consequences for all – either lost freedom for Galileo and his friends (lost free time) or lost riches for the Church (a loss of chocolate coins.)

Researching the trial of Galileo.

Shifting paradigms

October 1, 2012Film, Portfolios, Quests, Sciencesandefer

Today we started to consolidate all of the learning that’s taken place in the last four weeks, by beginning to reorganize and synthesize the portfolios in preparation for
Friday’s celebration.

Eagles also revisited and refilmed their paradigm mini-film projects, each choosing a scientific hero who changed the world by having the courage to introduce a totally new way of looking at the natural world.

Researching scientific heroes.

A rough draft of the timeline for 14 scientific paradigm shifts.

A pictograph of how scientific paradigms are related today.

Ms Abigail continued with the work on the major “How does the past determine the future?” film project.

Some nice words about AA MS from education disruption guru Carolyn VanderArk, who visited a few weeks ago:

http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2012/10/its-all-about-culture-acton-academy/

Ending week four

September 29, 2012Core Skills, Culture, Guides, Math, Quests, Science, Testingsandefer

“Is this really the end of the fourth week?” asked one Eagle as we packed up for the day.

“Yes, hard to believe,” I replied. “Did time go by this quickly at your old school?”

“Gosh no. School days just seemed to drag on forever.”

I remembered the words of one student, the first week of class: “Fun and hard don’t have to be opposites.” No, they don’t. Our Eagles have proved that fun and hard work can go hand and hand, when you hand the freedom and responsibility over to a class.

Our Eagles spent most of Friday finishing the last of the standardized tests, working on their MyHJ ‘Stars and Steppingstones” interview preparation and finishing up their scientific paradigm videos and time lines.

Below is a picture of the beginnings of their Paradigm timeline, which captures the fourteen paradigm shifts they’ve independently researched.

Eagles also – entirely on their own – made a list of thank you notes to write, assigned authors, and completed the letters.

Next week we begin to slow the learning rhythm in anticipation of the end of the session, launching the Galileo Trial Debate experience on Monday and continuing core skills, but otherwise beginning to synthesize the learning portfolios for Friday’s exhibition and celebration.

You see, a learning community isn’t like a factory. It’s more like a living organism, with energy lows and highs and patterns, a combination of the individual learning paths of our young flesh and blood heroes in the making. There are times to work hard, and times to slow and reflect.

As a Guide, you can lightly touch with an encouraging word and shape around the edges, but mainly you are along for a glorious ride. The sooner we Guides realize this, the better.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch….

September 27, 2012Culture, Film, Hero's Journey, Ranch trip, Science, UncategorizedHayes, Jacksandefer

A pretty amazing two days of scientific experimentation “in the wild.”

We started our scientific expedition with a Socratic discussion on the one hour drive to the ranch. Eagles debated: (a) which of the six experiments we would conduct was the most important to the world (see previous post); (b) whether or not it would be because of the sheer value of discovery, invention or innovation; and (c) whether the scientific role of Paradigm Buster; Puzzle Poser or Data-Gatherer best suited their personal gifts.

Eagles also practiced their “paradigm video” stories, and in each car we developed “rules of engagement” as to how scientists would act on a real expedition (these would be combined to determine how we worked with each other on the trip.)

As soon as we arrived, it was time for science – and the chance to earn the ingredients for smore’s by solving scientific puzzles . Some photos from a few of the real world challenges:

Using trigonometry to find the height of a tree (also helpful for navigation.)

Levers – “Give me a place to stand and I’ll move the world!”

Using the Pythagorean theory for surveying.

Archimedes and buoyancy: “Is the crown pure gold or not?”

Even scientists need some fun – so we took a break for obstacle course practice and a swim in the river.

Below, Mr. Temp leads a Hero’s Journey session about picking role models for Stars and Steppingstones interviews.

Above, our experiments with Radians and the Heavens is thwarted by an overcast, but we were entertained by star gazing myths, smore’s and the Eagles’ gratitude moments. Some of us even got a few hours of sleep.

We ended the trip with a pre-dawn ceremony at the top of Lone Mountain – 360 degree views for miles around — with each Eagle leaving his or her gratitude object, and seeing for the first time the Founding Eagle’s plaque that will forever mark the pioneering efforts of this first Eagle Middle school class.

Then it was back to Austin, on the way listening to stories about Archimedes, Copernicus and Galileo, in preparation for next week’s debate. (And yes, a few Eagles even took a nap when we got back.)

Many thanks for all the parents and Guides who joined in for the adventure!

3. Finally, and most importantly, ask what behaviors would be appropriate for a scientist on an important scientific mission. Ask one student to keep a list that we can discuss when you arrive.

Preparing for a Paradigm Shift

September 26, 2012Science, Uncategorizedsandefer

Today we prepared for the scientific expedition to the ranch, by continuing to prepare the following scientific experiments and work on the paradigm film.

Some questions we asked:

Question I: The Value of Discovery, Invention and Innovation

If you were king, which of the scientific challenges below would be worth supporting with money and attention? Why?

1. Geometry and surveying:

2. Trigonometry and trees

3. Buoyancy and crowns

4. Radians and the heavens

5. Time and timekeeping

6. Levers and the power to move.

Question II: The Value of Scientists

Which scientist has added more value to science: the Discoverer; the Puzzle Poser who proposes puzzles to be solved or the Data-Man, the person who carefully collects and measures data? Which are your gifts best suited for? Why?

Question III: Paradigm shifts

Do any of the discoveries above qualify as paradigm shifts? Why or why not?

In Art, Eagles continued to work on their self portraits.

Apprentice scientists prepare for real world science

September 24, 2012Communications, Culture, Film, Ranch trip, Science, UncategorizedAna, Kenzie, Sarahsandefer

We lightened the core skills workload today, focusing our Khan work on the Pythagorean Theory in order to get ready for our “applied science” ranch trip on Wednesday

Ms Abigail continued her discussion with students about what makes a good story, including a “save the cat” moment to make your lead character likable. Eagles will be practicing their storytelling, writing and filmmaking skills, first honing their scientific paradigm stories, and then shortly thereafter beginning work on a separate film project that will require them to create, pitch, write and film on the question: “Does the past determine the future?”

During project time, Eagles broke into teams to make sundials, inclinometers and star finders that they will use to execute real world science experiments on the ranch.

Lights, Camera, Eagles

September 22, 2012Communications, Culture, TestingCharlie, Ellie, Jacksandefer

Eagles are juggling up to five personal priorities/goals at the moment; some using the leadership rubrics we discussed, others struggling. Together, the class exceeded its goals of 140 Khan math skills added this week, but two Eagles failed to reach their minimum of 20 skills, so they did not earn the privilege of free time.

At Acton Academy, just like the real world, failure happens often, and is celebrated if it’s early and inexpensive, and leads to valuable lessons.

Friday we continued with our series of standardized reading and math tests, that we hope to wrap up soon (we consider these tests a necessary evil.)

On a positive note, Abigail introduced the new film project, our major writing and communication core skills challenge for the fall, which will involve pitching; story boarding, writing and shooting a film, the be show at the AAMS film festival in December.

Eagles watched trailers from the Toronto Film Festival and as they thought about their films and discussed: What is a film? What is a story? Is your life a story? What makes a good story? They explored the beginning, middle, end of a story and turning points, before dividing into groups to share ideas to compare and contrast various films.

Charlie, Ellie, Jack were elected to the first Governing Council, in a close contest, where all candidates were asked to read selections from The Prince warning about flattery. Next week – to the ranch, to apply science and math to the real world, in search of new paradigms!

What’s your paradigm?

September 20, 2012Communications, Math, PE, Reading, ScienceAna, Claire, Elliesandefer

After a morning of core skills and reading, writing and math – and PE – today in project time we introduced our first scientific challenge.

Unlike many schools, which focus on the scientific method itself as the glue for a disparate smorgasbord of scientific topis, and often veer dangerously close to Scientism (science explains everything), we’re going to take a more Socratic, skeptical – and, well – scientific view of science as a whole, and expand from scientific discovery alone, to include invention and innovation.

That means using Thomas Kuhn’s Theory of Scientific Revolutions – or paradigm shifts – as our jumping off place. So today we introduced a series of challenges about paradigms and watched videos on the topic and discussed the following questions:

1. What is more important in science – the scientific method itself or paradigm shifts?

2. Who accomplishes more: paradigm busters; those who pose and ponder puzzles; or those who do the hard work of collecting data?

3. What matters more: discovery, invention or innovation?

Eagles then chose from a list of scientific heroes and paradigms the one person and period they wanted to research and soon were hard at work. We’ll get to see their work in an end of session public demonstration.

Above – students signing up for their scientific heroes and paradigms.

Next week – the ranch trip, where we will apply math and the scientific method in the real world.

Below: Eagles at the new Acton Bistro.

Becoming a writer

September 20, 2012Communications, Hero's Journey, SocraticEllie, Jack, Kenzie, Sarahsandefer

Students have been writing in their journals every day; some have been writing a lot; others far less. Today, we made our first major push into more serious writing.

After checking the day’s SMART goals in morning huddle, we dove straight into the writing project.

Eagles started by reading journal entries from four authors chosen by Ms Abigail: J.K. Rowling on inventing the word “horcrux;” Anne Frank’s diary; a post from an eighteen year old learning a lesson about “eye contact;” and an entry from a college student about his cat. As they read, each student noted the most powerful parts of each selection.

Next, we had a short Socratic discussion on what elements made for strong writing: “being specific;” “describing sights, smells, sounds, tastes and touch;” and “connecting with the reader’s emotions” were among the student’s observations. We also discussed “man vs man; man versus nature; and man versus himself/herself” as different ways to describe classic conflicts.

We then adjourned for each student to spend fifteen minutes of solitude considering the question: “At the end of your hero’s journey, which question will be most important to you: (1) Have I contributed something meaningful? (2) Was I a good person? or (3) Who did I love, and who loved me?”

Eagles then had thirty minutes to turn their ideas into a rough draft. As shown below, some wrote at desks; some in bean bag chairs; others outside near the lake.

After the drafts we complete, Eagles broke into groups of three, to read their favorite sentences, and receive affirmation and coaching from their peers, reinforcing the “power elements” they had identified before.

Two and a half hours of a concentrated writing workshop had passed in an instant, with the students making almost all of the discoveries. In the “lessons learned,” a powerful series of ideas surfaced about “how to write” (learn to do); about how writing affects your hero’s journey (learn to be) and about how the process we had used to create and critique writing could be improved.

In the afternoon, Eagles focused on their new MyHJ assignments of finding a Guide and Running Partner, and core skills.

Decisions, decisions

September 18, 2012Core Skills, Culture, Math, Quests, Smart Goals, Socraticsandefer

Today, the students got even more into the rhythm of core skills. One student even remarked: “I never know math could be fun until I tried Khan. I’ve even got my eight year old brother doing it, an hour each day.”

We’re particularly stressing the importance of setting SMART goals and striving for them.
And students are becoming more and more comfortable with the Socratic Method: listening, building and offering evidence. One student today even referred to two past comments, weaving them together to make a more powerful point.

In Project Time, Eagles took on three decision making challenges, in the form of Acton sim games: Robo-rush (trial and error); Cha-Ching (a sales funnel) and Galactic Zappers (an assembly line process), contrasting these systematic ways to solve a problem with yesterday’s more “one off” methods.

Eagles now have seven different decision making processes to call on as leaders. Quite an accomplishment for just one week.

Choosing Leaders

September 18, 2012Culture, Questssandefer

Now that the student “contract of promises” and “rules of engagement” have been drafted and signed, it’s time to choose leaders and start establishing classroom norms as habits. This is difficult work.

Today we introduced a system of “prices” designed to encourage Eagles to practice the key skills of “listening respectfully” and “respecting our studio space” that were promised in the contract and rules of engagement.

Here’s how it works: (1) Each student received three poker chips for the week; (2) every time a student violates one of the listening practices, he or she must give up a chip; (3) if ever a student violates a listening covenant and has no chips left, the entire group looses a special lunch treat on Friday; (4) you may give someone else your chips, but also may require a special promise in return. (5) If the studio isn’t ready with “everything in its place” by 8:30 AM every morning, everyone loses a chip.

Students also received a new weekly goals sheet, with special points for setting and reaching individually set reading, writing and math targets. If the class as a whole scores enough points during the week, they earn free time on Friday.

The effect? Core skills time went from a noisy and sometimes out of hand experience, to having fourteen students completely focused, each managing their own tasks and goals, with the room completely silent. One student said: “It was great. I was in ‘flow’ for over an hour and a half.”

Step by step, we’re developing leaders with powerful learning habits.

The focus in project time was extending today’s journalling question of: “Should leaders be chosen because of popularity, skills or character?” There’s a great deal of energy around this question, because Town Council elections are the end of this week.

Eagles tackled three different types of challenges: (1) 80/20 Pareto challenges with the “poker chip” pick up and “big rocks” experiment, where you had to learn to focus and shift to capture the most value, under time pressure; (2) A paint-by-the numbers challenge where you had to consider aesthetics and the of completely finishing; and (3) A “defuse the bomb” challenge where you had to be precisely correct, or there were catastrophic consequences.

Eagles developed strategy “rules” for each of the different challenges, kept track of the points scored by each team, and discussed which type of challenge they were best suited for as a leader, and how cost, benefit and risk affected the various strategies.

Tomorrow we shift from “one off” challenges to process based decision making.

Heroic Committments

September 15, 2012Hero's Journey, Math, Quests, ReadingCharlie, Pacesandefer

This was an important day for our Acton Eagles. We continued to work on journaling (today on the question of how “learning styles” and “love languages” affect Heroes’ Journeys and leadership styles); Khan Academy and “reading your favorite book,” as well as leadership challenges during project time (“untie the knot” and “comfort, challenge and panic zones”.)

Much more importantly, today each Acton Eagle signed the Contract of Promises; Rules of Engagement; Governance Framework and They Say-We Say rubric – making a deeply personal commitment to each of his or her peers. Before doing so, each student reflected on how the Founding Fathers were really just ordinary people, with extraordinary courage, much like themselves. We also discussed the bravery of the men and women of the Alamo, accepting Colonel Travis’ challenge and crossing the line he had drawn in the sand. Then, one-by-one, and in complete silence, each Eagle came forward and signed the documents.

Note that these founding documents are the student’s creation. In less than two weeks, our Eagles have proposed and debated principles, drafted and wordsmithed and finalized a series of promises and pledges that will govern their own learning. Quite extraordinary for any group, of any age.

We still have many trials and challenges ahead: electing leaders for their skills and judgment rather than popularity; our Guides staying in Socratic mode; developing and reinforcing the habit of committing to learning goals and following through, especially when learning becomes difficult. But the foundation has been laid – by the students themselves.

Lots of Action

September 12, 2012Art, Culture, Hero's JourneyMasonsandefer

Lots of action at Acton Academy today. First, in core skills time, catching up on the initial Hero’s Journey exercises, Khan Academy and journaling about yesterday’s personal discoveries concerning “time perspectives” (past/present/future and optimistic/pessimistic.)

Notice how some students prefer working on core skills in groups; others solo.

As Eagle’s contemplate signing the “contract of promises” and “rules of engagement” that they created that will govern their learning community, there’s been a great deal of energy around the election of the three Council Members (a governance system they designed) next week.

Our three Thomas Jefferson’s are shown below, making final adjustments in advance of tomorrow’s ratification of the governing documents.

Ms. Zoey again had the students working on portrait painting just before lunch.

After lunch, during project time we opened with an intense Hero’s Journey session about “beginning with the end in mind” where Eagles imagined they had just died and contemplated this in darkness for five minutes before beginning to draft their eulogies and epitaphs.

The remainder of project time was spent discovering each student’s learning style (auditory; visual; tactile) and “love language” (how they feel treasured), which are the start of a series of challenges to explore what type of leaders they want to elect.

Self-Governance, Art, and Time

September 12, 2012Art, Hero's Journeysandefer

After a morning of Core Skills work, the Eagles rearranged their classroom to make room for Art. Using rulers and mechanical pencils, they sketched grids to transfer photos of their past selves onto heavy-weight, pro-grade paper. You’ll view their finished pastel drawings at an exhibit in December at Amy’s Ice Cream- double yum.

Lunch in the glorious outdoors, then Eagles returned to their work tables for an energetic discussion on self-governance. This intense group interaction segued into introspection as they completed the Time Paradox test, gaining insight into their individual Time Perspectives- how they perceive their pasts, their presents, and their futures. Ask them about their scores, and what they learned from the experience. You may even chose to take the test yourselves- find it at http://www.thetimeparadox.com/surveys/ztpi/

Acton Olympics

September 10, 2012PEAna, Hayes, Sarahsandefer

A big day for both the elementary and middle school students with the Acton Olympics – well done Coach Carpenter! Middle school students competed in the mile run, 40 yard dash, plank hold, push ups and other events, setting personal records that they will work to surpass all year – and with enough improvement as a team, earn a special prize from Coach C.

Afterwards in the classroom, we had an intense discussion about “Why are you here?” that would have warmed the heart of any parent – special kudos to Jack for his description of “being placed on the earth to do something important,” his willingness to stand out “dressed in yellow, even if everyone else is dressed in black;” his belief that “fun” and “hard” are not opposites, and that “making a joke” out of your life or another’s life isn’t’t something Eagles should tolerate.

Thanks too for Sarah’s courage to take a stand counter to the rest of the group; Hayes’ amazing display of Socratic skills and Ana’s testimony as to the preciousness of life.

Finally, we closed out with more hard work on setting SMART goals, the Student Contract and Rules of Engagement. Tomorrow, we go deep into core skills and accountability.

Finishing strong – week one

September 9, 2012Culture, Testingsandefer

Today marked an important turning point for our Eagles.

During the morning, Eagles worked on the ERB standardized tests. While necessary, the teacher directed nature of the tests soon had our self directed heroes reverting to a teacher driven paradigm: they stopped thinking for themselves, started treating Guides as teachers and began asking the most minute questions – asking at every step to be told what to do next.

Add to this a messy classroom and a rowdy outburst after “free time” that approached Lord of the Flies level chaos, and you would have thought it was time for the adults in the room to re-establish some order.

Hayes approached a Guide and asked if some discipline could be imposed. When informed that this was the role of class leaders, and that Guides would not intervene, an important transformation took place:

Hayes called an impromptu meeting of the leaders of the school (everyone immediately volunteered.) In just a few minutes, order was reestablished by the Eagles themselves, and they soon had a self organized system for keeping the classroom clean and tidy – with no intervention by the Guides.

What’s this have to do with learning reading, writing and math? Everything. Near the end of the day, I heard one of our Eagles say to another: “I’m upset the weekend is coming up. I never believed I could miss being in school.”

Now that our Eagles realize that learning is their responsibility, get ready for them to soar.

Above: Anna leads a discussion on the “Student Covenants” and “Rules of Engagement” that will be used to self govern the class.

Building Community

September 7, 2012Core Skills, Culture, QuestsJack, Kenzie, Mason, Pacesandefer

At Acton Academy, we spend an enormous amount of time and energy the first five weeks building a powerful learning community, constructed by the students.

Today, we continued to establish the reading, writing (communications) and math rhythms for core skills, while Ms Anna launched the start of Project Time with a series of experiences that equip students to develop their own “rules of engagement” that will determine how the community governs itself.

Without knowing it, Eagles are absorbing the lessons and habits required to run a world class organization, while they learn. Notice the intensity of concentration that’s already evident.

A Day in the Barton Creek Jungle

September 5, 2012CultureCharlie, Crayton, Sarahsandefer

Thanks to Kenzie for this update:

Today was terrific day at Acton Academy! We had our first field field trip. We learned how to trust each other, and guide one another along the way of learning. We started out learning some handy tricks, then did some physical activity’s, then completed a block game that tricked our minds and were the first class in five years to get the cubes in order from greatest to least with the amount 31 tries, then ended rock climbing with a partner. When we got back to the school we discussed the generous traits that each person did for one another.

(Don’t forget to bring *baby pictures and books*)

Thank You!!