Category Archives: Feedback

A Customer Review of 2013-2014

June 16, 2014Feedbacksandefer

At Acton Academy we believe deeply in customer feedback. So last week we displayed the Journey Maps for this year’s sessions, and asked Eagles to rank which processes and exhibitions were the most “fun” and most “important.”

Being surrounded by the breadth and depth of forty six weeks of very hard work is overwhelming. Our Eagles have an incredible capacity for learning, that is only minimally captured by the class being, on average, five grade levels above age in Math and Reading.

The customers have spoken, giving us suggestions for more exciting challenges for next year. Even better, perhaps we’ll just ask the Eagles to create the curriculum themselves.

The Importance of Process

May 5, 2014Apprenticeships, Culture, Feedbacksandefer

We started this session’s Apprenticeship Search with the same plan as last year. Introduce one Apprenticeship Challenge at a time, each with a note to read and a skill to practice to help Eagles find, pitch and land a world changing apprenticeship.

Almost immediately the plan began to unravel. Veteran Eagles who had mastered the Apprenticeship Challenge last year, and who all year long had been cataloging apprenticeships that fit their gifts, flow experiences and opportunities, wanted to skip ahead and pitch for apprenticeships immediately. Some were quite talented and offered well targeted and compelling pitches.

Unfortunately, this led to less experienced Eagles believing they too could launch an Apprenticeship pitch, without doing all the upfront work. The Acton brand would be at risk if Eagles began pelting potential employers with poorly worded emails.

This led to a morning launch on the importance of process:

Would you build a bridge, “on the fly,” just winging it? would you be willing to be the first person to drive across the bridge that had no blueprint?

Why do you need processes? Is it to prove to others that you know what you are doing? To have a record that you followed careful procedures, in case something goes terribly wrong? As a beginner, to learn the steps? As a master, to lay steppingstones to inspire and equip the next generation?

The Eagles weren’t buying it. Many thought the Apprenticeship processes were stilted and unnatural. Plus, a set of procedures for bridges made sense, because it was a matter of life and death; apprenticeships weren’t as important. Even an attempt to paint apprenticeships as a bridge to anew life fell flat.

For some Eagles, moving forward without practice was almost certain to fail; but requiring Eagles to use a process just didn’t seem like the Acton way. Yet there was great risk in a laissez faire approach that could damage the community’s reputation.

Finally, a reasonable compromise emerged:

1. Eagles could either opt completely in or completely out of the Apprenticeship Process.

2. Any Eagle opting out would not be able to mention the Acton name in an email, phone call or in person pitch.

3. If an Eagle elected to opt out of the Apprenticeship Process, he or she would need a parent’s approval.

Choice and consequences; freedom and responsibility. Processes only when you think you need them. The right to fail. They’ll be some hard lessons from this, but the world hopefully will have fewer failed bridges in the long run.

Two more governance experiments

April 30, 2014Consequences, Covenants, Culture, Distraction, Eagle Buck-Pts, Feedback, Guidessandefer

Yes, everyone dislikes Eagle Bucks and those who ask for them. Few people have warm and fuzzy feelings about petty regulations or overzealous Mall Cops on Segways. Plus governance disputes seem to eat up far too much time.

Yet without a few simple rules and small fines, what would happen to a society? Would peer pressure alone prevent people from driving at dangerous speeds or rolling through stop signs?

We have just finished Part One of a two part experiment by abolishing Eagle Bucks for up to two weeks, starting last Monday. Bottom line, we only made it eight days. The vote to reinstate Eagle Bucks was nearly unanimous, and even some of the harshest Eagle Bucks critics have changed their minds.

Once we digest the lessons from this experiment, we may try one in the opposite direction – arming Guides with Red Cards. During this experiment, if a Guide sees an Eagle violating a rule adopted by the community, the perpetrator and his or her Running Partner will each owe double the normal penalty. And Guides will reserve the right to prospectively raise the fines for certain violations that keep occurring.

The idea here is that Eagles will have an excuse for asking for legitimate Eagle Bucks. Either I ask you, or both of us risk owing a double fine if a Guide has to intervene. This way, it becomes easier for someone who doesn’t care about popularity to draw crisp boundaries on certain types of disruptive behavior.

If this experiment proves valuable, eventually the Guide’s Red Card prerogative would be transferred to an older Launchpad Eagle, removing adults (but not authority) from the governance structure.

A Pitch Session

March 20, 2014Communications, Consequences, Core Skills, Critiques, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Feedback, Quests, Rube Goldberg, Speechessandefer

How do we decide whether the quality of an Eagle’s work is ready for an Exhibition?

Answer: the Eagle has to pitch to his or her studiomates, requesting a “green light” to proceed. This session’s Four Minute Speech; the 30 Second Video and Rube Goldberg device each required a separate pitch.

What follows a pitch? First, a warm/cool critique, offering affirmation and suggestions for improvement. Then, a vote.

What if the green light approval is denied? You go back to the drawing board, make improvements, and try again. That’s what heroes do when they fail: they get back up, dust themselves off, and get back to work.

Seeing the world as it is

March 15, 2014Culture, Feedback, Videosandefer

The rate of technological change in the world is breathtaking. Ten years ago, at the Acton MBA classroom, we installed a series of high definition cameras in the Socratic Classroom so MBA students could debrief their performances on video. Total cost: over $500,000.

Last week we installed eight discrete high definition cameras in the Acton Academy studios, allowing us to record “to the cloud” every interaction and discussion between Eagles. Total cost: $3,000 – including a much more user friendly playback system.

Our goal is not surveillance. In fact, parents and strangers are not allowed access to the password protected system and we’ve pledged never to use the system in a disciplinary way. (Eagles are allowed to review the video, with permission from the Council, to settle any disputes over a breach of the promises Eagles have made to each other.)

Instead, Eagles and Guides now have the ability to record, review and critique every performance, either individually or as a group. The energy around these critique sessions has been high, and we’ve already seen a quantum improvement in discussion techniques and embracing the “rules of engagement.” (Even though standards already were high.)

This also gives the nine other Acton Academies we’ll have open by fall the ability to learn from each other, since having password protected access to cameras in each studio is a precondition of opening a new Acton Academy. Just imagine how this will multiply the rate of experimentation and learning.

New technology. Direct feedback. Rapid learning. It’s going to be powerful to watch what our Eagles do next.

Gamifying motivation.

February 26, 2014Collaboration, Consequences, Critiques, Culture, Energy and flow, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Feedback, Guides, Quests, Scientific Creators Inventors and Innovatorssandefer

What do Guides at Acton Academy actually do, if we never teach or respond to questions?

The answer – we’re Game Makers. We describe an exciting end goal, design the incentives, suggest a few boundaries or rules, provide a list of tools and process — and then get out of the way. Our goal is to inspire Eagles to pack as much learning into the day as possible.

Take for example, this session’s Creator Speech Quest. First, each Eagle chooses a Scientific Explorer of Ideas (a paradigm buster); Innovator or Inventor. Five weeks from now, at the public exhibition, each will deliver an original four minute “hero’s journey” speech from the shoes of their Creator and unveil a Rube Goldberg device that celebrates the scientific contributions of their hero.

Here’s the catch – a maximum of eight Creators per category will be allowed to speak. So who determines which Eagle qualifies for which spot? The Eagles themselves.

1. First, all Eagles in a category deliver a two minute pitch displaying their research and mind map, asking to be “green lighted” (approved.) Everyone in the group rates each pitch and provides warm and cool critiques.

2. The top rated 2/3 of the group (a maximum of five) are elected to be the Excellence Committee for that group. The Excellence Committee decides whether those receiving a lower rating should be admitted immediately (up to a maximum of eight) or asked to do more research and polishing and then pitch again.

3. What keeps the Excellence Committee from quickly approving more members and filling the group? The final ratings, from customers at the exhibition, will be based on the average rating per person. So you do not want any slackers on the team to bring down your average score.

Today was pitch day. Nine Eagles pitched for Inventors; nine for Innovators; three for Creators. Five were admitted to the first and second groups; two to the third group. Standards were high. Many Eagles were asked to do additional work and pitch again.

The result:

1. A high level of energy and enthusiasm, because each Eagle chose a hero who appealed to his or her calling.

2. Standards were set by Eagles and kept high. If you hadn’t turned in first rate work, there was no shame, but you got the chance to try again. Plus you received a great deal of encouragement and coaching.

3. Along the way, there was much work and learning around the processes for research, mind mapping, pitching and how to compete for scarce resources – all with an eye toward rigor.

4. Eagles learned a lot about the lives of twenty four different scientific heroes, and what motivated them.

Examples of the criteria Eagles developed to judge “productive research:”

Quality and credibility of sources;
Number and variety of sources;
At least one serious biography selected.
Facts; opinions and stories.
Clearly organized and present with enthusiasm.
Tells a Hero’s Story.

Some of the questions asked during grilling:

How much time will you be able to work on this? What will you sacrifice to make room for this effort?
What progress have you made so far on your Rube Goldberg device?
How will your Rube Goldberg device reflect your hero’s contributions?
Are you going to spend more time or less time and effort on this project than you did on the rocket project? Do you promise?
Will you spend more time and effort on your hero’s speech or your Rube Goldberg device?
How much research have you done and how much more will you promise to do?

Self organizing learning; making research fun; adding a competitive edge to encourage rigor and excellence – not a bad day’s work for a Guide, especially since we didn’t do much at all.

A 360 Review: Is my self-image aligned with how others see me?

November 7, 2013Consequences, Covenants, Critiques, Culture, Distraction, Feedback, Guides, Troublesandefer

Last week we experimented with 360 reviews, a community building tool used at some of America’s top companies, like Apple and Google.

First, each Eagle was given the survey below and asked to rate every classmate’s Tough- mindedness (a measure of how they hold themselves and others accountable) and Warmheartedness (a measure of how encouraging they are to others) on a 1 (low) to 5 (high) score.

The purpose of this survey is to provide anonymous feedback to your fellow Eagles to help them become more “tough minded without being hardhearted” Level 5 Leaders.

Below you will be asked to rate each of your classmates on their “tough mindedness” and “warmheartedness,” each on a 1-5 scale.

Level Five Leaders are toughminded and warmhearted. They are encouraging, draw boundaries, set consequences and keep promises to themselves and others, while remaining cheerful and friendly.

Policeman hold firm boundaries but tend to focus on criticizing mistakes and individuals rather than praising behavior and progress.

Pushovers praise often but are afraid to hold people accountable; because of a lack of courage they do not help their friends grow.

Snarks make the poorest choices of all. They criticize and tear people down AND fail to hold themselves and others accountable.”

We collected the surveys, then summarized and plotted results on a 2×2 matrix (low to high Tough-mindedness versus low to high Warmheartedness) and made the output anonymous by substituting a number for each Eagle’s name.

Each Eagle then was asked to (silently) assess and write down where they thought their classmates had ranked them, before each learned his or her actual position on the graph (results were privately distributed to avoid any embarrassment.)

In most cases, Eagles accurately assessed where they would be ranked. Those in the lowest quadrant were the most accurate, while those in the higher quadrants tended to be more modest about their studio-mates’ opinions.

The effects on motivation? We don’t know yet. But at least each Eagle now has areas where they can improve, and a clearer sense of how their classmates view their contributions.

What is a Friday Adventure?

November 6, 2013Celebration, Collaboration, Consequences, Core Skills, Culture, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Exhibition, Feedback, Guides, Questssandefer

Friday Adventures are special events tied to the weekly Quests. For example, last week’s Friday adventure was to go to the Bookpeople bookstore, and do rapid prototyping research to see how Eagles could improve the cover, title or organization of their Bestselling Books.

While Eagles may love the “adventure” – being able to go somewhere with their studio-mates, each outing also delivers a serious entrepreneurial lesson.

In order to qualify for a Friday adventure, you must self certify that you have completed the fundamental challenges from the weekly Challenge Envelope, and delivered your “best work.” If you miss earning a Friday adventure, the outings can be completed later with a classmate or friend – you just miss out on the fun of going with the group.

What is this week’s adventure? We can’t tell you, because this week’s Friday Adventure won’t be announced until later this morning, adding more intrigue and (hopefully) motivation.

One hint: It will involve the question: “Is that the best you can do?”

Stay tuned.

Freedom and Accountability Part II

November 6, 2013Collaboration, Consequences, Core Skills, Covenants, Critiques, Culture, Eagle Buck-Pts, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Feedback, Guides, Questssandefer

James Madison wrote in Federalist 51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Our middle schoolers are no angels, at least not all the time. But they are an impressive group of young men and women, learning to govern each other with a grace and dignity that few adults could match.

Today we had a model Town Hall meeting: the choices well framed; each welcomed to speak; the rules of engagement enforced.

Starting next week, we’ll experiment with another self-accountability experiment, and see how it affects motivation.

First each Eagle will certify which weekly challenges from he or she has completed. Then the Council randomly will draw one computerized deliverable (like Khan Academy) and another non-computerized deliverable (like a journal entry.) Each Eagle will be asked to publicly post his or her results for these deliverables and self rank whether the contribution was in the lower, middle or bottom part of the class.

There is no penalty for choosing not to complete a challenge, except the loss of points towards Eagle Bucks, and possibly missing the weekly adventure, if that specific deliverable was required to qualify.

The penalty for certifying you have completed a deliverable and done “your best work” if it’s obvious you haven’t, will be being sent home, no questions asked, since this is a serious violation of the community honor code.

Next week we elect a new Council, as other Eagles earn a chance to lead. This Council will be missed.

Subject: Freedom and Accountability Part I

November 4, 2013Collaboration, Consequences, Core Skills, Covenants, Culture, Distraction, Eagle Buck-Pts, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Feedback, Guidessandefer

How do we provide Eagles with freedom and accountability?

We started the year with Evidence Tickets, individual examples of work Eagles were asked to publicly post to earn specified privileges. High quality work was praised by Running Partners, who also identified places where more effort was needed.

While this system encouraged accountability, having Evidence Tickets arrive unexpectedly made it feel to Eagles that they weren’t in control of their own schedules.

Now we’ve shifted to Challenge Envelopes, providing a week’s worth of deliverables at a time, allowing Eagles more control over their schedules (a suggested weekly schedule is provided, for reference, but Eagles can disregard this and tackle objectives in any order they want.)

Challenge Envelopes ask Eagles to check their long term Personal Learning Plans to set weekly goals for reading and Newsela (critical reading and critical thinking skills); journaling and No Red Ink (grammar) for writing and Khan Academy for math and learning badges for 21st century skills. Also included are a series of Quest related goals for “writing a bestselling book” and “entrepreneurial skills to help sell the book” once it’s written.

But how do we make sure that Eagles are doing “the best you can do” without reading and grading every assignment? That’s the subject of the next post.

Whew!

October 31, 2013Consequences, Core Skills, Culture, Eagle Buck-Pts, Energy and flow, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Feedback, Guidessandefer

Sometimes it’s helpful to realize just how much work our Eagles get done in an average day and a week.

As one of the Eagles said recently: “It’s hard to explain to friends that I get a lot more work done than they do, even though we don’t have any homework.”

So here’s a sample from today:

Check your Personal Learning Plan and SMART goals to make sure you are on pace with your Khan math, reading and Learning Badge plan for the year.
Finish No Red Ink grammar lessons 3&4 and make a 90 or above on the quiz.
Read the Newsela article on Massive Open Online Courses, score a 90 or above on the critical thinking test and participate in a Socratic discussion. A sample question: “In many countries, cell phones were such new innovation that they “leapfrogged” the old landline technology. If other countries go to “new type schools” while America clings to old style schools, could that be a threat to America?
Do independent research on Darwin; Evolution and Natural Selection and bring a great Socratic question as your entry ticket. While completing an Art lesson in how to draw with the “right side of your brain,” listen to a college level lecture on Darwin. afterwards, participate in a Socratic discussion. A sample question: “What exactly was the “turning point” about Darwin’s theory that made it so

Man is not the center of the universe;
Creatures evolve and change over time or
Those with the best characteristics survive?”

5. Answer the journal question: A rare bird is set to disappear in West Austin because of real estate developments. Given Darwin’s theories, should we pass a law to curtail development and protect this species from going extinct?

6. Write enough in your bestselling book to deliver a minimum of 50% of your rough draft by Friday.

7. Role play how to deliver warm praise and make time to go to the Elementary School and provide “warm praise” to your individual group members.

8. Be sure to clean the studio at the end of the day, since we don’t have a janitor.

Whew! No wonder the day seems to go by so fast!

Eagle Buddies to the Rescue

October 29, 2013Collaboration, Consequences, Covenants, Critiques, Culture, Eagle Buck-Pts, Excellence-Best You Can Do, Feedback, Guidessandefer

Today marked an important turning point for Acton Academy.

Ten Middle School Eagles began guiding in the Elementary School, helping the ES Eagles set and record daily SMART goals. Each SMART goal group will have a learning contract and every Eagle will work hard to remain in Socratic mode and respect the Rules of Engagement.

Most importantly – no adults involved. Eagles guiding Eagles.

Time for an intervention ?

September 23, 2013Consequences, Core Skills, Culture, Distraction, Feedback, Guides, Troublesandefer

Friday, not so pretty. Guides are prone to slip, under certain circumstances, into parental mode: almost as if our own parents are about to arrive, and cast judgement upon us.

For one thing, there was rain. What a joy! (Later in the weekend, neighborhood children reported on how their schools went into “lock-down” or that it was an “emergency”… I’m keeping mum on this).

Another thing: on Friday, work that Guides felt should be getting done was not getting done, or more precisely, it was not being logged as accomplished in the ways we expected it should.

So, at Acton, we know that our role as Guides is to very much step back, and hoping that we’ve modeled the standards the Eagles have themselves asked for, give a nod to the Eagles and their huge accomplishment in putting together a set of guidelines for the Studio, and trust that this will all play out in a manner that’s ultimately beneficial to the community.

But Guides are human, and we make mistakes. Mistake number one: neglect to trust. Trust the Eagles, trust yourself.

Mistake number two: don’t rectify mistake number one.

Friday, with concern that the standards of excellence were heading south in a way that would impact the whole Acton community (and affect the plans for the rest of the session), Guides had a quick pow-wow while the Eagles had lunch. Should we re-launch the afternoon and draw some new lines in the sand about what’s necessary and what’s optional? Eagles that hadn’t chosen to set their own goals or deadlines were putting the community at risk, and it might be time for Guides to step in. We should outline the consequences of choosing NOT to to do the work that we’ve asked them to do, and within the time-frame that we’ve created. Right?

Thankfully, wrong.
The intervention needed was actually a guide-to-guide huddle, a quick re-set of the most basic tenets that we adhere to in contract and in spirit, but that can slip without accountability. So after we egged each on to come to the conclusion that it was, surely, time for guides to get parental… we realized that we were suggesting that it’s time for guides to get parental. And the real intervention was Guides using each other as a checkpoint, to make sure that never happens.

Trust, trust, trust.

It will or it won’t be okay, but your best chance to make it work is to TRUST.

Motivating Voters

September 17, 2013Consequences, Core Skills, Culture, Feedback, Town Hallsandefer

Motivation remains the hot topic at Acton Academy.

We started the day discussing the Personal Learning Plan each Eagle will build for the year. Is it more for Eagles, their parents, those who will hire them for apprenticeships or the world?

Next came a posting of Evidence Tickets, deliverables from the Motivation Hero Debate project. What motivated Eagles the most: a public display of work; force ranking from the top third to the bottom third or having your Running Partner sign off on the quality of your work?

Finally, a discussion about the upcoming Council elections. Since Eagles run the studio, Council members have a critical role. Immediately after ten Eagles were nominated, campaign posters began to appear.

The final question of the day: “What advice about motivating voters would you give to those who are running for Council?” Suggestions ran from the Machiavellian to the mundane.

During Thursday afternoon’s campaign speeches, we’ll see how well the candidates listened.

“This is important.”

September 6, 2013Core Skills, Culture, Energy and flow, Feedback, Mathsandefer

During three hours of Core Skills you could have heard a pin drop. The room was alive with energy – directed, serious, purposeful energy.

Likewise the room was humming with intentionality during Project time, as Eagles worked individually and in squads on The Contract of Promises and Rules of Engagement that would govern our learning community.

There was even time for a team building exercise and some reflective reading.

When asked to rate the day, it wasn’t as “fun” as Tuesday and Wednesday, but the results were a solid “5” for importance.

When we asked “Why?,” the response was immediate and unanimous.

“This is the foundation for everything that follows.”

“This school matters.”

“This is the beginning of my Hero’s Journey, so I need to focus and work as hard as it takes.”

Our Eagles understand that what they do matters. A lot. There’s no more important foundation for a learning community that will change the world.

Our Hero's Journey

Acton Academy Middle School and Launchpad (High School)