We ask a lot of our Middle School and Launchpad Eagles. Each has to self manage over a dozen badges per year – some of which seem like drudgery if you subscribe to the “teacher  in charge” mode of learning, rather than imagining badges as ways to collect, communicate and celebrate hard work, growth and achievement.

In a recent launch we discussed four types of learners: Drones, Victims, Poseurs and Heroes.

As the Eagles put it during the discussion:

“Drones do a task because someone says they have to. They wait for instructions and grudgingly go through the motions.”

“Victims get paid in pity. Until you realize they are just looking for excuses. Then you  stop listening.”

“Poseurs are looking for cheap rewards. They fake their way through life.”

“Heroes get knocked down and get back up.“

We explored ambiguity and the courage it takes for heroes to move forward in the face of uncertainty.  We discussed the difference between hollow promises and getting the job done.  We debated the real meaning of rewards and badges for heroes.

Yes, each of us will play the part of a Victim, Drone or Poseur on an off day.  But Acton Eagles quickly discard these false masks.  Because each Eagle knows what it means to be a hero who is determined to change the world.

We believe strongly in following your passion at Acton Academy.

One Launchpad Eagle is on a personal quest, digging deeply into the psychology of lying.

This week, she wrote in an email:   “I just had the most amazing 30 minute Skype with Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent who is the author of several books on body language and psychology and my current Science Hero…. It was incredible: he could tell exactly how I was feeling based on simple things like my lips and hand gestures. I’m definitely more motivated to work in science after speaking with him.”

Keep in mind that this isn’t an official Launchpad Quest – at least not yet.  This Eagle also is simultaneously working on this personal quest,  creating a separate Biology Quest and working in an apprenticeship.

She adds: “I’m extremely grateful that I have the opportunity to attend a school that encourages us to look for heroes — and I’m happy to say I just found one.”

Textbooks or heroes. Which one do you think encourages more passion for putting science into action?

“Imagine this, you are a fourteen year old…”

So began the pitches of our Middle School Eagles, each using storyboards to convince successful real world entrepreneurs that his or her website needed to be build.

Our judges were experts in Entrepreneurship, Sales and Sales Funnels

• Bill Jones led a project to build the largest mine in the world in Australia, and leads Acton MBA discussion on how to launch successful businesses;
•  John Lawson used the sales funnel he built to sell over $15 billion in insurance to some of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in America.
• James Jones used a sophisticated telesales and online sales funnel to buy millions of dollars in oil and gas mineral interests.

Each Eagle’s pitch moved from: (1) hooking the customer to (2) increasing the level of desire to (3) presenting benefits to (4) qualifying and closing.

Powerful images and phrases told each story with as few words as possible. In many cases, Unit Economics measured the risk and return of the sales funnel. In the end, the goal was clear:  would customers make a purchase?

In the semi-finals, groups of eight presented to one of our entrepreneur judges. One or more Eagles advanced to the finals, once again pitching to see who would be selected as the overall winner.

Telling powerful stories.  Mastering 21^st Century technology. Learning a critical skill like internet sales.   A blend of old and new learning at Acton Academy and a fitting end to our second session.

Work Hard. Play Hard. Change the World.  A headline that describes the type of young hero we want to recruit to fill our last few few spots at Acton Academy Middle School and Launchpad (High School.)

If you know someone who qualifies, please immediately send him or her to this post or ask your young hero to start the  journey here.   These last few openings won’t last long.

Our Quest this session is: “Designing a website that uses stories to sell.”

As part of this challenge, Eagles have learned the basics of entrepreneurship through four online Acton MBA simulations on bootstrapping a business; creating a Sales Funnel; recognizing and satisfying customer needs; and competitive pricing.

Eagles also have been researching websites that use storytelling to sell and honing their own blogging and storytelling techniques to create storyboard pitches.

Each Friday Eagles can earn a special outing by completing all of the week’s activities.  This Friday, eleven brave Eagles earned the right to spend lunch interviewing customers at a nearby park about the specific needs and desires that correspond to the products their websites will be selling.

Would you have had the courage to do this at age twelve?

How will a small group of young men and women learn Biology in a self directed way, well enough to deliver a series of science challenges to others?

This was the difficult problem assigned to Launchpad Eagles, who must not only master High School Biology, but design a Quest for Middle and Elementary School Eagles.

For the last several weeks  LP Eagles have been immersed in an overview of Biology, with one test group  devouring forty Crash Course Biology videos and a second test group diligently working through a thousand page Biology textbook.  Three times weekly , each group is meeting to discuss lessons learned, heroes discovered and questions unearthed.

Why such intense work, under such ambiguity and pressure? Because as future leaders our Eagles will tackle difficult assignments under great ambiguity, where they’ll need to survey a broad area of knowledge, searching for information to use or the skills they will need to take action, before diving deep into a specialty or crafting a solution.

Much like an airplane pilot training in a simulator for unknown and unknowable emergencies, they are learning what it feels like to survey and synthesize a broad subject;  identify areas of interest; and then to take action on a real world problem.  They also are learning to document and keep track of their work and the important questions that have been raised, just like real scientists.

Proving Competence

Last week, we had our first major review, a Cambridge style Socratic exam with questions like:

Is life on earth all about organisms “not dying” and reproducing? If so, do philosophy, art and spiritual questions matter at all? If not, how do these areas relate to Biology?

Has the theory of evolution been proven? Be as specific as possible.

Who have been the three greatest Biology heroes you have discovered, and what made each a great scientist? Was it a special gift, early childhood, a chance occurrence or just being in the right place at the right time? Which parts of their “callings” would appeal to you? Which would not?
What is the best way to think about the field of Biology:

• Important systems that interact
• Early to late evolution
• Small to large organisms
• Similarities and differences between life forms.

What is the most amazing Biological discovery or theory?

• Darwin and natural selection
• DNA
• Something else.

What’s the most important Big Idea in Biology and why?

Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.

Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to maintain homeostasis.

Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes.

Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these interactions possess complex properties.

What skills or knowledge does the average person need to know about Biology to enrich his or her daily life?

If you had to spend the next ten years studying a one area in Biology, what would it be?

The Results

While our Eagles do need a basic vocabulary in Biology, we do not expect them to memorize hundreds of technical terms or facts.  Far more important is developing an understanding of the basic processes, systems, relationships and analogies – and most importantly – interesting areas and questions for further research.

How did they do in the oral examination?  Better than expected, with lots more work to come.

Coming next: Each will choose a Biological Specialty and dive deeply into it, as we begin to work on the Quest.

[1] Note: memorizing these questions won’t help– the actual questions will differ.

Two Acton Academy Middle School Council members approached with a concern:

“Civilization time isn’t working as well as it could.  Could we recommended some changes that would raise the standards?”

How often do you hear a question like this in your world?

“What has been your biggest surprise as a new Eagle?”

The twelve year old paused, and answered in a serious tone:  “We work. So very, very hard.”  Then she continued: “But we have so much fun too.”

A great tagline for a Learner Driven Community.

Work hard; play hard. Celebrate. Bond the Tribe.  Make new commitments.

For the last six weeks, our Eagles have worked extremely hard.  It was time for some well earned play.  So we piled into a mini-bus for the Ranch Olympics, a twenty four hour celebration held forty miles west of Austin.

We divided into four teams, each fancifully named by their members.  The first competition was paintball accuracy, eventually including a few volunteer Eagle targets.

Next came two rounds on a punishing obstacle course.

Then, a raft building contest, where each team had to build a raft and paddle it across the lake and back without sinking.

Along the way, we did have a few transportation mishaps, which led to the new sport of Car Surfing.  As one Eagle exclaimed: “Try this at a real school!”

Then, telling Ancient Stories by the campfire,  followed by flashlight tag, capture the flag and a movie.  That night, some slept in bunk beds; others in sleeping bags, and the most adventurous in hammocks in the forest – soon to be roused by a late night thunderstorm.

The next morning, we watched the sunrise together from a mountaintop, a reminder of how far we have come, with hints of great struggles and adventures to come.

One Tribe.  Each member on a Hero’s Journey.

The Eighth Annual Acton Children’s Business Fair was buzzing with commerce Saturday as two hundred entrepreneurs from dozens of schools peddled their wares to over fourteen hundred customers.

This talented Acton Academy Middle School artist earned $1,068 in profits — yes profits –– and still has half of her inventory to sell.   That’s fortunate, because at the fair she received retail orders from two local stores and an invitation to collaborate with a well known blogger who has over 750,000 followers.

Our artist sparked a growing army of devoted customers, including an autograph seeker who said: “You’re going to be famous one day”  and a photo request from a student who wanted to “show his business school professors what a real business looks like.”

There are even bigger plans underway, including “building a website that sells by telling a great story” as part of this session’s Acton Academy Quest.

Our artist’s tale echoes nine year old Mikaila Ulmer’s story.  Five years ago Mikaila launched her Bee Sweet Lemonade at the Children’s Business Fair and now has a Lemonade Empire that sells through  Whole Foods stores across the Southwest.

Plans to launch Children’s Business Fairs in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale and Grand Rapids, Michigan are brewing.

Worried about the economy?  Then let’s inspire and equip these young entrepreneurs and watch your worries be swept away.

A knife slipped off the kitchen table – ouch!  A nasty wound, quickly dressed by a fellow Eagle trained in minor first aid.

That evening, parents informed us their brave Eagle insisted on coming to campus the next morning, though they were sure she needed to stay off her feet.

The next morning our young hero climbed the stairs, one difficult step at a time.

Bravery under fire.  At Acton Academy, perhaps even more important than reading, writing and arithmetic.

In a Wired magazine column titled American Schools Are Training Kids for a World That Doesn’t Exist , Harvard Professor David Edwards sounds as if he’d rather have his children at an Acton Academy than a traditional American school .

Quick – what’s the most important skill for an entrepreneur: Sales, Operations or Finance?

If you survey seasoned entrepreneurs, you’ll find most agree that Sales is the most critical function.  If you have an army of enthusiastic customers who vote with their dollars, you can solve most operational or financial problems.  Without eager customers, your business quickly becomes a money losing black hole.

So what’s the most important Sales skill?  Being able to tell a convincing story that sells (and is true to your values and long term vision.)  Successful entrepreneurs spend much of their time describing an resistible future for customers, investors and employees.  Storytelling is the secret sauce that creates great value out of nothing.

Staying with this year’s genre of storytelling, our focus for Sessions Two and Three will be creating stories that sell, specifically, stories that sell via the internet.  Eagles will learn to create powerful hooks, using a few vivid words and pictures or a series of trickle emails; moving prospects from awareness of a need; through qualifying all the way to closing the sale.

Each Eagle will choose a product and create story boards, test their pitches in focus groups, and finally learn enough programming to create a website and auto-respond letters to convert leads into customers, at pennies per purchase.  They’ll also create a blog to attract leads.

In the end, Eagles will pitch their creations to a panel of real ad executives, to see who might be hired for an apprenticeship.

Yes, we’ll still be hard at work on math at Khan Academy; reading Deep Books, performing Between the Lines literary analyses and learning Ninja writing tricks – but in the next few weeks, Eagles will dig deeply into the most important entrepreneurial skill of the twenty first century – crafting a story that will sell on the web.

Last Friday, we wrapped up Session One with an Exhibition on Authority and Truth – planned and led entirely by Middle Schoolers and Launchpadders.

The Exhibition had three main parts:

1.  Eight Authority and Truth stories, performed live by their authors;

2. Two Personal Learning Plan demonstrations; and

3.  The posting of the Contracts and Covenants drafted by our Middle School Eagles to form their tribe.

The Authority and Truth stories were original, lively, engaging and entertaining. The performances were even more impressive when you realize they were drafted, critiqued, revised and rehearsed without any help from adults.

The Personal Learning Plans exhibited by each Eagle showed the power of self directed learning, with Gifts, Passions, Best Work examples and a Badge Plan that will serve as a firm foundation for the rest of the year.

Most importantly, after a great deal of hard work, we now have our tribe formed, with solemn promises backed up by ironclad covenants.

Now it’s time for Eagles to take the studio and learning to an even higher level.

How do you learn to communicate and persuade? By writing, creating images, shooting video and standing in front of an audience.

All serious artists know that mastering a medium requires nurturing the creative process; honing technique and having the courage to show your finished product to an audience for critique.  All of this is hard work.

At Acton Academy, our budding artists learn four simple questions, similar to learning and repeating four dance steps, to decide where to invest their time, talent and energy:

1.     Why do I care?

You need a reason to communicate, and we believe you shouldn’t ask for someone’s time unless you plan to:

• Issue a “call to action” that will change the world;
• Share a story that changes the participant;
• Stretch yourself, honing skills in a way that requires effort, perseverance and courage.

2.     Where am I in the process?

Each communication genre has a process. For writing it is:    Pre-writing to rough draft to revision to critique (repeating revision and critique as many times as necessary) to edit to performance or publication.

At each step you ask yourself:

• Where can I hone my skills and broaden my perspective?; and
• Do I need to back up, move to the next step or start over?

3.    Which trait needs my attention?

The 6+1 Traits Framework offers ways to improve one element of your work: Idea Generation; Organization; Sentence (or Image) Fluency; Word Choice; Voice; Convention (grammar) and Performance

For each element you ask:

• What frameworks, tools and advice might hone this part of my craft? and
• Where can I find examples that inspire me to improve?

4.     Where should I get my next critique?

The final step requires asking for advice.  Does the next critique need to be your own review; advice from a close friend or expert; feedback from a small or large group or comparison to a world class example?

Four dance steps, repeated over and over again, applying new tools and frameworks to different genres, each time with purpose and dedication. That’s how young heroes become world class communicators.

On Saturday, October 25th at 10 AM, Children ages six to fourteen will compete at The Acton Children’s Business Fair to see who can build the best business selling exotic foods, unusual gifts and handy services.   Worried about the future?  Here is your antidote.

f

Last night at the Thinkery – Austin’s Children’s Museum – Amy’s Ice Cream founder Amy Simmons delighted an overflow crowd of young entrepreneurs and parents who were preparing for the Children’s Business Fair.

Only a few spots are left, so if you know a child who wants to discover the joy that comes from making something with his or her hands; having the courage to sell it  and earning the freedom that comes from having money left over to spend, urge him or her to apply ASAP.

Most importantly, join us on Saturday, October 25th for a glimpse of some very bright days ahead.

Alexis de Tocqueville would have been proud to see a well functioning civil society in action.

Eleven Eagles nominated.  After a quick pitch by each, narrowing the field to six.

The next day, six candidates spoke:  concrete promises; pledges to serve; appeals to past “lessons learned”  and painting visions of future greatness.   Genuine applause after each speech.  All excellent, a few exceptional, even by world class standards.

Tocqueville must be smiling.

Then, a vote.  Three capable Council Members were selected by their peers.  Now the Eagles take over.

All of this from muscle memory from sessions past.  No adult intervention or help at all.

Failures hurt.  No one likes to fail.  No one should learn to like it.

Yet failure is a a necessity when “learning to do” and “learning to be” and an integral part of the Hero’s Journey.  It’s not as much about success as it is the magic ingredient for satisfaction and fulfillment.

Today Edu-Guru Bernard Bull writes about 10 Ways Schools Can Prepare Students to Fail Well.  Not only do we practice all ten of these at Acton Academy, we routinely fail at a few more too.

We were blessed by a visit last week from Clark Aldrich, sim-Guru, author of Unschooling Rules and in many ways an intellectual Founding Father of Acton Academy.  Below is his unedited report: (Warning – this is an especially long post.)

Thoughts on Acton Academy

It seems that Acton Academy is an incredible success. The question is not if the school approach is a great one, but more, why and how might it appropriately grown and evolve?

In some ways, Acton reminded me of corporate story I researched a while ago. There was a very successful manager at Gallop. She ran a virtual team. No one could understand why she got such strong results. It turns out she spent almost half of her valuable weekly management call with her team discussing personal and non-work issues. She believed, rightfully, that this investment in her group getting to know each would payoff in greater collaboration, productivity, and work satisfaction.

Culture

The “secret sauce” of Acton Academy is the strong and unique culture. The culture itself could be compared accurately to a great corporate culture such as Southwest Airlines.

The culture is created in dozens of aligned ways, from the leadership to group building activities to rules of engagement to mission.  And this investment in culture pays off many dividends:

• Acton has productive self-work time. This has also allowed Acton to do an extraordinarily good job at offloading some of the traditional high-teacher effort activities such as math.
• The culture successfully uses a lot of peer interactions for coaching, work products, and evaluations, including one-on-one, small groups, and full-group presentations.
• The community itself is very good at self-policing. When the noise or other ruckus grew, typically it was a student, not a coach, who intervened and controlled the group.

This culture is now so worked into the environment that students carry it on from year-to-year. The culture has inertia. Students are stewards of the culture as much as the adults.

This “value of culture” requires, if I may be blunt, not letting in the students who are not compatible with the culture. Certainly students will thrive in Acton who do not thrive in industrial schools, and vice versa. But as Acton becomes more successful, the impulse to “help” certain students who are not good fit will grow, and should be fought.   Cost containment also gives Acton control over its culture. We all know of traditional schools that have had to compromise by accepting and keeping the wrong students in order to get full board, which has led to their eventual demise.

I imagine it will be very difficult to start up a new acting Academy and have to create the culture from scratch, especially where there is an expectation on anyone’s part – coach, student, or parent – of a traditional industrial education model. I believe counselors for the very best camps will be a logical pool of talent with the right instincts.

Further, the success of the implementation of a full high school program, with the abundance of hormones and the persistent threat of drugs, will work only if there is a significant stream of students already stewards of the culture from middle school. Introducing “new” students into the high school program will be a bigger risk and thus should be done at a lower percentage and with more care, if possible, even than done at the middle school level.

Badges and Bucks

Badges are completely understood, along with Eagle Bucks, as the currency of the environment. It is reasonable to assume the role of badges will grow considerably in the next few years, including as a structuring framework for the leadership of new Acton Academies. The badges eco-system may evolve:

• To include different levels of badges, perhaps one to five stars in magnitude.
• More external recognition in the marketplace. Internships may be granted, by smart companies, only to student who have earned certain, very specific badges, in both technical and leadership/inter-personal areas.
• To include a system that always presents five or six open badges, unlocking new ones as old ones are completed, much as an adventure game would.

Libraries

Many activities are not stored or structured. There is a make-it-up-as-we-go along environment. This is currently very effective. But I do not know how best practices will flow from Acton Academy to Acton Academy.

Writing

Writing may be a challenging place to develop deep levels of skills. Until there is an equivalent of Kahn Academy for writing, this may be a tricky to maintain a non-directive culture. Ironically, most writing itself is a directive. One might wonder if branching stories may end up being a genre of choice, bridging the gap between web pages and traditional writing, as much as directive and collaborative leadership, and even a bit of simulation style modeling. (Certainly one could image part of any kit to propagate Acton beliefs coming in the form of branching stories as well.)

Tapping Additional Real Ecosystems

There may be an opportunity for real feedback from ecosystems, including gardens, even bird feeders, to augment the critically important internships. Finally, kitchen facilities with some students preparing meals for others may also encourage community and real activities, as I am sure is done on any field trips.

Positives Framed as Negatives

I can imagine Acton champions will face a barrage of useless challenges and fake criticisms. In many cases, the strengths of the school will be reframed as weaknesses. Here are some traditional fake criticisms, with some generic responses, put forth here as a bit of inoculation:

1. This only works because of a specific leader/teacher:

There are no strong educational programs that do not have strong leaders. Ever. Anywhere. At all. The worst corporations treat employees as interchangeable widgets as well.

 2) This would not work everywhere, for all students, and all of the time.

Despite the model propagated by foundations and PhD’s, education is not like a factory where immutable rules, once discovered, be can infinitely applied. Education is more similar, although obviously very different, to entertainment, which has to constantly evolve and provide options.

 3) This is not a perfect solution.

New approaches should be evaluated based on if they are significantly better for some children than the alternatives, not how far they are from perfect. The goal has to be a rich educational ecosystem, not a single perfect model.

 4) This only works because of who is accepted and who is expelled. This program is skimming the best students.

In successful education programs, culture is king. The wrong people in a great culture destroy the great culture. Some people, however, who are failures in one culture can be superstars in another.

5) This will not help test scores/this will not help my child get into the most selective college.

Successful performance on standardized tests cannot be the goal of education. Tests are trapped in a cycle of more efficiency measuring increasingly useless attributes. The most selective colleges are in their own bubble, where the assumption that “intensity of competitiveness” necessarily equals “value delivered” will increasingly be challenged. Having said that, more universities are creating more flexible ways to admit success students, and over time students with the skill developed by Acton will be in higher explicit demand.

 6) There are ways students can cheat.

There are always going to be ways for students to cheat.   Students in the default education model cheat all of the time. Cheating in traditional schools is the giant unspoken truth that threatens to destabilize all of our current industrial education model.

 7) This approach works now but it may not always. Cracks will appear.

All approaches to education have to adapt, and be ever calibrated. Just as large corporations cycle between centralization and decentralization, or between innovation and incremental improvement, so too the best approaches will require constant calibration based on internal and external conditions.

I can imagine Acton tightening up standards for a year, then loosening them. Some changes should be thought of as temporary.

 8) This has not been proven to work.

The current industrial classroom model has not been proven to work, and in fact has been proven not to work. New approaches cannot be compared against a default standard, because there is not default standard. But new approaches are critical, and Acton’s entry into the ecosystem is critical.

Conclusion

Along with the photographs, I took some video clips of moments throughout the day, not as proof statements but to capture snippets of what this approach looks and sounds like.

A) In the morning session, outsiders would be surprised that a student could lead a deep, serious conversation about morality. This speaks well for the student leader, of course, but also for the group of students who were willing to accept that leadership. As well, the “rules” of engagement, of how to productively participate, were already so well internalized. It seemed like an advanced MBA class. This was more remarkable given that the school year had so recently begun.

B) During the self-work time, I believe outsiders would be surprised at how well students got real work done “on their own,” working hard towards badges. There was neither stifling quiet nor chaos. It resembled a creative open-office setting of any successful company.

C) The work group assembled to look at quests and think about school rules and policies was impressive for its serious acceptance of the problems and their role in the solution. It resembled any real world problem-solving task force.

D) The group challenge portion felt like the best summer camps, and perhaps a vision of the future workplace that integrates movement (see http://unschoolingrules.blogspot.com/2011/08/exuberant-animal.html) with lessons learned about self. Even then, one of the most impressive moments came when it was the students, not the coaches, who brought order to a loud room.

E) The reading assignment video clip showed how powerful peer to peer instruction could be. In this small group, the questions asked of each other (in deciding which of three or four pitched ideas would be accepted) were very sophisticated and truly supportive. Once again, even in peer groups, non-directive forms of leadership were being used.

F) The clean-up at the end was done with amazing vigor and competence.

G) Finally, the wrap up at the end closed the day, not with the traditional sense of parole, but with a satisfying conclusion, like the end of a great movie or play.

Our overarching question for the year is:  When does a Hero submit to authority? Another way to view this question is as a search for Truth.

This session our sub-question is: How does a Tribe find True North?

Our goals for the first two weeks were simple:

1. Work hard.
2. Have fun.
3. Like each other; and
4. Commit.

Today we came to the final step: commitment. Signing the behavioral contracts that will govern the studio for the next year.    Each of the contracts was written from scratch by the Eagles, setting up promises to each other; Rules of Engagement for discussions; an Honor Code; an agreement between Guides and Eagles and an agreement establishing our governing system.

We discussed the Founding Fathers pledging their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor; the existence of good and evil and the importance of heroes in the world.  We  acknowledged the importance of keeping your word.

Then each Eagle carefully read and signed each document.  The process took over twenty minutes, but the room was silent, respecting the significance of the moment.

Then a celebration:  working hard; having fun; liking each other; making commitments.  Now we are a tribe.  Yes, we’ll have challenges, but we’ll never again be merely individuals traveling  alone.

What a remarkable group of young heroes.

Preparing for the first week is hard.  Scurrying to prepare the studio.  Memorizing faces, names and dreams of new Eagles; working hard to welcome new parents.  Of course, little of this matters to our young heroes; it’s mostly the anxiety of grown ups.

Our returning Eagles were excited to see old friends and meet new ones.  New Eagles were a bit apprehensive, but quickly warmed up as they were welcomed and honored by a week  of ice breaking challenges.

Big surprises?  How quickly and diligently Eagles settled into Core Skills.

• Our thirty Eagles earned over 700 Khan Math skills for the week, an average of twenty three each, or four times a normal week’s output, in just four days.
• Eagles were writing by day two; critiquing a partner’s writing by day three; sharing in a journal contest by Thursday.
• Deep books were being pitched and read all week.

Eagles also jumped into organizing the self governance of the studio.  With the drafting of the Contract of Promises between classmates ; Rules of Engagement for Socratic discussions; creating Eagle Bucks Systems and appointing Clean Up Champions, the self organizing moved at a rapid pace.  We appear to be a week ahead of schedule.

Our new systems are helping.  Eagles are eager to earn badges and the electronic Points Tracker system was launched with few glitches.  Good riddance to paper blizzards and bottlenecks at the printer; a warm welcome to electronic accountability, run by the Eagles.

Did the Eagles have fun?  Here’s an email excerpt from one parent:

I have never seen xxxxxx so excited about school.  He is exhausted by the time he gets home, but I don’t think he can get enough of Acton.  In the past I would have to drag info about school out of him.  Not now.  He is bubbling (is it ok to say that about a boy?) with excitement telling me about his day.  I think he would spend 24/7 there if he could.

Revisiting our goals for the first two weeks:

• Have fun – check.
• Work hard – double check.
• Like each other –  triple check.
• Commit – more and more, every day.

Oh yes, they’ll be plenty of problems ahead.  All human organizations are dysfunctional, it’s just a matter of how and when it manifests.  But for now, we’ll count our blessings, because successful launches should be celebrated.

How do you teach writing?  By diagramming sentences?  By learning the rules of grammar?  One should respect proper conventions, or at least stray from them purposefully.  But rules do not make the writer.

Observation. Hearing the Muse. Putting words on paper even when you don’t. Rough drafts.  Critiques. Revisions.  More revisions.  A final proof for typos and grammatical mistakes.  Good writers become great writers by writing. Period.

At Acton Academy, Eagles are offered challenging questions; encouraged to write every day; frequently critique each other and perform in public exhibitions.  Competition and collaboration offer inspiration at each stage.

Eagles started writing on the second day of the session.  By the third day, they were sharing and critiquing in groups.  Today, each Eagle read a piece of original writing aloud in his or her critique group.  Then the entire studio assembled to hear the two best pieces from each group, and an overall winner was selected.

What a gift to hear those last seven pieces.  Inspiring writers inspiring each other.

So what are the priorities when launching a new year at Acton Academy?  Reading, writing and math?  Preparing for standardized tests?

Hardly.

Our goals for the first two weeks revolve around forming the Tribe and transferring the responsibility for the learning community to the Eagles.  If we get that right, everything else is easy.

Our priorities are simple:

1. Have fun together.

2. Work hard.

3.  Discover that we like each other; and

4. Commit.

Today we opened with a launch quoting the Gettysburg Address, comparing Lincoln’s vision for America to the Eagle’s opportunity to reshape learning in the 21st Century.

First, an Ice Breaking Exercise centered around exploration and questions; then hard work during Silent Core Skills, setting SMART goals and drafting and discussing the Contract of Promises; finally, a series of challenging trust building exercises.  In a flash, it was 3 PM and time for “lessons learned” for the day.

All along, it was the Eagles’ energy and leadership that mattered most.  The Guides failed today – we answered two questions each, four serious lapses in all.   Thankfully, there’s always tomorrow to redeem ourselves.  Even more exciting, soon Eagles won’t be asking Guides for anything at all.

Deep learning is a gift we all want for our children.  For some, the right place for deep learning about the world and life can be an elite university, where time to explore and contemplate is a luxury worth the price of tuition.

But Yale Professor William Deresiewicz warns in his newly published Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite, as parents we should be wary that assembly line preparation of  young heroes for college admission may have unintended consequences.

Professor Deresiewicz writes of his students:

So extreme are the admission standards now, so ferocious the competition, that kids who manage to get into elite colleges, by definition, never experienced anything but success.  The prospect of not being successful terrifies them, disorients them, defeats them.  The cost of falling short becomes not merely practical but existential.

Of course, the “success” Professor Deresiewicz references is in regurgitating information and acing standardized tests, not success in real world accomplishments.  What is the effect when report cards and credentials become more important than learning and character, particularly learning how to fail and try again?

Deresiewicz continues:

The result is a violent aversion to risk.  You have no margin for error; so you avoid the possibility you will make an error.  This is one of the reasons that elite education has become so inimical to learning.

At Acton Academy our Eagles experiment, explore, discover — and fail.  The main lesson of the Hero’s Journey is that heroes get knocked down, pick themselves up, dust  off, and go back into the arena, as many times as necessary.  Winning or losing isn’t the issue – it’s the grit, persistence and courage to never give up.

How ironic that encouraging Eagles to fail early, cheaply and often isn’t just great training for life, but is becoming such a rare trait that it might impress the admissions committee of an elite university.

Acton Academy: equipping and inspiring heroes.  No sheep allowed; especially excellent ones.

Two posts ago, we explored the difference between education and learning.

Education is defined as systematic instruction in an institution.

Learning is quite different: the act of a free individual, acquiring skills or knowledge, through practice, experience  study or instruction.

In the last post, we unpacked the title Teacher.  When we use this term, are we speaking of an idealized Educational Unicorn:  a subject matter expert, pedagogical wizard, guide, mentor and role model all rolled into one superhuman?  Or do we mean an obedient  instructor, either acting with all kindness or as a petty tyrant, tasked with stuffing young minds with facts that can be regurgitated onto a standardized test?

Before you answer these last questions, let’s introduce three more terms.

Competence is the ability to do something effectively or efficiently, or both.

Prestige  is the widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.

Politics are the activities associated with governance, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

So why does all this matter?   Look no further than Hans Christian Andersen, and his fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Politicians and their institutional educational accomplices appeal to prestige and the perception of achievement,  conveyed by hollow  degrees with the primary intent of protecting adult jobs, with a goal of achieving more power for the politician.

Do you notice any mention of learning or young heroes in the paragraph above?  Is it really in the best interest of the politicians or educational institutions to equip and inspire a competent army of young people to change the world? I don’t think so.

Do we have teachers at Acton Academy?  Well, that’s a loaded question.  What we do have are young heroes, learning to engage the experts, mentors, guides, coaches and role models they will need to find a calling that will change the world.  And the focus is on competency and mastery that matter in the real world, not the hollow prestige prized by the chattering classes.

Words do have meanings.  Definitions do matter.  So do the lives of young heroes.  Far more than the attempts of naked Emperors to subdue them by appealing to the fears of parents, false nostalgia or political illusions.

Few issues raise as many questions with parents as the topic of teachers at Acton Academy.

As we create a learning community of young heroes,  mastering the 21st Century Skills of self governance, goal setting and time management, we have a strict rule: “Guides (adults) do not answer questions in the studio.  Never.  Not once.”

We took this drastic step as a form of shock therapy, to break the spell of young people accustomed to regurgitating knowledge dispensed by adult power figures, in return for a gold star or an “A” on a report card.   It seemed to be the only way to convince our young heroes to take charge of their own learning and transformation.

The title “Teacher” has many meanings.  With apologies to Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, when I hear a traditional educator or politician use the label “Teacher,”  I want to reply: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

In a Utopian world, a Teacher is a subject matter expert, pedagogical wizard, mentor, guide and wise role model all rolled into one.  In other words,  a Teacher is an Educational Unicorn who offers one-on-one care to every student.

Unfortunately, this is asking too much of flesh and blood human beings, who when overtaxed, overwhelmed or poorly selected and equipped by bureaucratic institutions, all too often become autocratic lecturers at best, and mini-tyrants at worst.

Back to the question at hand.  Do our young heroes at Acton Academy have experts, guides, mentors and role models?  Absolutely.   And the ratio isn’t one adult for twenty five students trapped in an assembly line classroom, but an almost infinite supply of guidance and affirmation, customer tailored for the needs of each of the young heroes who employ them.

Let’s go one step deeper.

Do our Eagles have access to subject matter experts?  Absolutely.  In fact, thanks to the internet, we have 24/7/365 access to the top experts in the world, not only through text, but video as well.  And when they are ready, our Eagles enter into apprenticeships where master entrepreneurs, scientists and craftsman transmit critical tacit knowledge that can only be delivered in a hands-on environment.

Do our Eagles have access to pedagogical innovations?  Absolutely.  There continues to be an explosion of game based technology and simulation tools that our Eagles know as well, if not better than the top pedagogical wizards in the world.  If you doubt this, come see them in action.

Do our Eagles have mentors, guides and role models who care about them?  Absolutely.  First, they are surrounded by fellow Eagles of all ages, who learn from each other, bound by individual covenants.   Add to this Guides, parents, coaches and others in a broader real world community — not to mention the heroes of ages past we study and lift up – and there is a rich tapestry of wisdom and advice to  be summoned.

You see, our young heroes are not forced to submit to institutionally hired adults who must conform to bureaucratic edicts until they become pedantic lecturers or petty tyrants, offering no relief to the children imprisoned in their classrooms.

Our young heroes enter into voluntary covenants, strict agreements with clear consequences that bind together a learning community of free individuals, young people of all ages and adults alike, pledged to help each other find a calling that will change the world.

To help them is an army of adults, engaged to serve the best interests of the learner.

Do we have Teachers at Acton Academy?  It all depends on what you mean by that word.

Summer break is a good time to return to core beliefs and principles.

One of those principles is that when a word has a precise meaning, it is worth investigating, so as to communicate more clearly.  In other words, definitions matter.

Take the words education and learning.  So often we use them interchangeably, but they have different meanings.

Education: the process of systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.

Learning: the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something.

Education is fundamentally a coercive act, done to someone, by an institution or system.  It is an act of molding or changing a person, as if they were an object, even if done with the best of intentions.

Learning is an individual choice by a free person.  You cannot force someone to learn anymore than you can force someone to love you.  Submitting voluntarily to the authority of an expert (teacher) is only one of four ways to learn.  The other three ways of learning a skill: studying, practicing and experiencing, are equally if not more powerful.

Why does this matter?  Because when some parents ask me how we “educate” our children at Acton Academy,  I am no longer going to accept the premise of the question.  We do not educate; we provide a learning community within which our young heroes are free to explore, practice and experience life.

One of our Eagles reports from Austin’s version of a Children’s Museum that she is learning to:

1.   Show up early, stay late and work hard an entire shift;

2.   Be patient and show courtesy to all customers, even when they are frustrated;

3.   Mediate disagreements;

4.   Lead groups; and

5.  That working with young children might be part of a future calling!

Quite different from most teenager’s summers of sleeping late,  watching television, and wasting so many great chances to learn and grow.

She loves working with the kids. Learning to punch in time card, shifts , clean up, help w birthday parties, patient, courtesy to all, show up early and leave late and smile all day long . Thank you to you to send the info to us !

One of our Middle School Eagles just won the Bronze Medal in Junior Olympics Volleyball!

Her fellows Eagles already knew she was a hero, but few outsiders would guess she’s made as much progress in Khan Academy this year as on the court.  A true Academic All American.

Congratulations!

A rigorous four year education at a top university can be a life changing gift.  But students and parents will want to do a great deal of research and soul searching before betting  retirement accounts and a mountain of debt on prestige alone, particularly if it’s based on a brittle definition of success.

Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League: The nation’s top colleges are turning our kids into zombies from the New Republic is a must read for savvy parents and students.  It’s not just another diatribe about college tuition, but a look deep inside the machine of elite  higher education.

The only quibble might be with the author’s promotion of elite state universities as an alternative: less expensive fool’s gold isn’t necessarily a bargain for those seeking meaningful success, satisfaction and fulfillment in life.

Even as other middle schoolers are frittering away their summers playing video games, our Eagles are continuing their apprenticeships and honing valuable 21st century skills.

Here an Eagle works in one of Austin’s finest bakeries, where she’s done such a great job that the manager has told her she can come back and work “anytime she wants.”

Today we paused to celebrate the year with family and friends, listening to the powerful hero speeches of the graduating Elementary School Eagles and hearing each Eagle  praised by friends and Guides for a special character trait.

Not one word about curriculum or buildings or capital campaigns – simply a community celebrating learning and living with their fellow heroes-in-the-making.

At the end of the celebration, each Eagle received a copy of Our Hero’s, Our Stories, a retrospective of the year, told in impromptu pictures and the words of each Acton hero.

Ceremony matters. It puts into perspective the struggles, mistakes and lessons of the year, setting the stage for even more powerful growth.  A reminder that it is individual sweat and toil that powers discovery and learning, and sharing with those we care about that gives accomplishment greater meaning.

“Your should start as close as possible, then pan out.  That way there’s  suspense as you unveil the surprise.”

“No, start up high, especially if it’s a large object.  That way, you gain perspective before diving down to street level.”

“Wow, look at this, I can even walk around in the British Museum.”

“I’d much rather go for a visit after I see it in person, otherwise, it would ruin the surprise.”

What in the world?  Actually, it is the world, as seen through the eyes of our Eagles, creating tours on Google Earth.

Who am I?  A question not easily answered.  Eagles spent the morning journaling on aspects of this conundrum, then circled up to share their reflections.  What new Heroes did they discover over the past four months?   A couple of F1 drivers, Elon Musk, Sully Sullenberg… and several Acton parents, who would have blushed with pride to hear their praises sung as inspirations when things get tough.   “My dad does EVERYTHING! If there’s something that needs to be done, he takes care of it himself.  He never quits when he’s on a project, and he’s always got a few projects going on.”  “My mother… she works so hard, she takes care of all of us and hardly has time for herself, but she’s always in a great mood and she never loses her cool.” 

The loops continue to circle around, as Eagles finished their game projects and tightened up their pitches.  Lots of hard work on film wrap-up, too.  We welcomed two professionals in the field of poster design to guide the film crews through the process of creating marketing materials in Photoshop, using captured stills from their films and mucho creativity about taglines and typeface.

At the end of the day, Eagles discussed what they’ll remember most from this first session at Acton.  The film projects, their Hero’s Journey via MyHJ, and the very special ranch trip were spoken about with heart and thought.  And the speakers, these brave adventurers, will be remembered always themselves as the intrepid pioneers of a new kind of middle school, where students show up early, miss attending over break, and share their personal stories of being inspired in a safe environment that asks you to be your very best self.

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.

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:

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

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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?

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?