In Discovery this week, Ascent’s community of young heroes courageously faced a beautifully hard truth- that with freedom comes responsibility. In a learner-driven environment, a Socratic Guide’s role is to prepare the environment, prepare the tools and learner-driven systems, ask questions, create moments of inspiration, and equip through challenges.  This is only sustainable if there is a balance and learners in the space uphold their end of the bargain- the promises they set for themselves in their Studio Contract.

During a discussion at the end of the day, a handful of learners reflected that the Studio Contract had not been upheld, and with integrity, they shared why this doesn’t work at Ascent. The result was limited freedoms for a day to “reset” the space so that without their normal responsibilities, they could have time to revisit their “Why” for choosing a learner-driven environment and think about how to move forward. After a day of resetting, they voted to have one more reset day where guides would be in charge- after that, they would come up with a plan to move forward positively, honoring their contract of promises.

With deep insight, honesty, and care, they crafted a plan to take back their responsibilities and earn back their freedoms. The week was full of one-on-one reflections, group processing, and genius brainstorming.

QUEST

This week in Quest, the Eagles did not make progress in their Quest challenges. The choices reflected on at the beginning of the week led to powerful reflections about the lines in our contract:

• I will respect the materials that help me learn, live, and grow
• I will be responsible with my freedoms

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

In Physical Development, Eagles started the week with the first round of a volleyball tournament that will continue through the end of the session. They also had a day of speed and agility training followed by a game that focuses on active listening and reaction skills.

This week in Discovery, Eagles had discussions about emotions, and practiced expressing their needs through new tools. Eagles learned about a tool called “flip your lid,” which is a hand signal used to express a loss of emotional control and a need for space from the person or group involved in a conflict. They also discussed how their bodies feel when emotions arise, and what signals their bodies are giving them: dance, shake, tighten, run, or hide. We found inspiration through a hero of movement, Alvin Ailey, whose vision was to use movement as a form of expressing all feelings through modern dance.

CORE SKILLS

This week in Core Skills, Eagles had their first week of Math Power Hour, one hour dedicated to focusing on math skills to reach an Excellent Goal that they set as a group. An Excellent Goal is one that perfectly walks the line between the Challenge Zone and Panic Zone. Math Power Hour will take place two times a week, and Eagles will work hard with their teams to achieve their goal to earn a reward at the end of the session.

QUEST

This week in Quest, Eagles enjoyed their second challenge of Marine Science Quest, the Octopus Challenge. They dove into the details of coral reefs and symbiotic relationships. Eagles used their creativity to create marine life and coral reefs from materials in the studio. They also brushed the surface of Taxonomy, discussing whether or not systems were created or discovered by Taxonomists.

WRITERS WORKSHOP AND WORD WORLD

Eagles in Writers Workshop took time to revise and rewrite the introductions of their persuasive essays. They gave each other Warm and Cool Feedback, a method for peer-revision which allows them to collaborate to provide feedback on each other’s drafts. This will support them in creating work they are proud of, and that meets their standard of Excellence.

Eagles in Word World practiced pencil control and planning through mad libs and mazes. They split their use of time evenly between writing and reading. During their reading time, learners who wanted to practice reading aloud worked with a reading buddy who listened to them read.

ART AND PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

In Art, the mural artists got together as a group to make agreements about the final design of the mural, before separating to focus on their individual parts of the mural.

In Physical Development, Eagles started the week with a community soccer game, where everyone in the studio participated. They also welcomed their coaches from Peak, who led them in drills to learn the basics of passing in volleyball.

HIKING CLUB

This week, we started the Hiking Club, which will take place every Friday during this session. After completing a bonus challenge about safety and nature, Eagles can attend this weekly hike that will take us to trails all around Austin.

QUEST

This week in Discovery, learners put their deep dive research on display for their Global Expo Exhibition. Challenges arose due to inclement weather that caused the group to shift plans and use the time available to prepare for the Global Expo. With limited time to display their work, the learners had many opportunities to practice time management. These events created a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how to be prepared when unforeseen events occur.  One Eagle reflected that “Next time, I would focus on finding information early and not even look at the games.” As a group, they came up with creative ideas to host an exhibition that everyone could feel proud of. Guests were invited to explore the continents and countries, as well as play a game of Agalmata, a game from Greece. At the end of the Exhibition, the site of the next National Geographic Research Location was announced: Brazil!

 

 

SOCRATIC DISCUSSIONS

In one morning discussion, Eagles learned about a group of young people who changed the world through integrating restaurants in their segregated town in Oklahoma in 1958 from this video. They discussed how to respond to hurtful actions and words, and how to use what resources you have available to create change. Many Eagles reflected on how to respond to injustice; one learner said, “When you respond with violence, you give the other person what they want, but when you respond with peace, you can make your message heard.” Eagles were called to think about how they have responded to something that felt unfair in the past and how they would like to respond to seeing or experiencing something unfair in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CORE SKILLS

In Core Skills, Eagles worked hard to complete their goals that they have been setting in their Daily Goals Journals. They spent most of this final week focused in Silent Core Skills time as many expressed missing Core Skills time in the week that we were not on campus.

 

 

CAMPUS CARE

In Campus Care, Eagles worked hard to clear the campus of branches and leaves that covered walk ways from the winter storm, demonstrating great team work!

 

 

The learners ended their week with a Global Feast and a dance party with the Spark Studio. They had a lot to celebrate, including welcoming new Fellow Travelers into the studio, coming together as a community to solve problems, collectively earning many badges each week, and a successful Exhibition of Learning!

 

In Session 3, the heroes of Discovery were commissioned to redesign a mural on campus. They completed daily rounds of verbal feedback and found inspiration both on their campus and in their city.

The first step of their design process was to identify the area and get familiar with the space. Afterwards, they created a list of symbols and ideas that tell the story of their community and that represent Ascent Academy in a way that makes them feel proud. Small groups of artists who completed a bonus challenge each week even left campus to explore the many murals in Austin to bring ideas back to the group. Their challenge was to create a final mural design by the end of the 3 week session.

The design process was full of critique, collaboration, and innovation. Learners were faced with the challenges of giving and receiving feedback, as well as letting go of ideas that wouldn’t fit into this project. The first round of feedback began with 27 designs, where each learner created their own design or icons that they wanted to be included in the final mural design. The studio transformed into a gallery space in which artists laid their work out in lines, respectfully walked around to observe the art, and placed stickers on the art that they wanted to share feedback about. Using the framework “I like (    ) about (    ) because (    )” and “I wish (    ) about (    ) because (    ), artists shared verbal feedback for the 10 works with the most stickers. They were clear, concise, and thought of new ideas together. After completing that step, the artists received feedback from one of the founders and were challenged to consider what was connected to their experience at Ascent and what was not so relevant to this project. 

In round two of designing the Ascent mural, the artists met with their squads (6 groups), to bring their ideas together. By creating collages from the 27 works of art, the group created 6 designs, moving closer to their goal. In order to move toward one final design that the entire group could feel proud of, each collage was shared on the screen as everyone met in “group” to talk about what was working and what was not. The artists had innovative ideas to bring their creativity together, a crowd favorite being a “donut sun” representing the Challenge Donut, a tool that supports the learners in reflecting on their comfort zone, challenge zone, and panic zone. After 2 days of feedback and creating, the artists created one design, and faced their next challenge, approval from the rest of their community in the Spark Studio.

The Spark learners contributed their own experiences and ideas, adding elements like Spark play materials and disco balls to represent their Friday dance parties. After sharing their ideas to be added to the final design, the artists in Discovery completed their final round of approval with a unanimous “yes!” from the Spark learners.

Later in the week, families and friends were invited into the studio to see the design process in the form of a gallery. Afterward, a panel of Discovery artists, selected by the group, answered questions about the design process before revealing their final mural design! Finally, the artists prepared the space by priming the wall before leaving for the holiday break.

They are currently making progress painting the Ascent mural, which will be completed by mid-February.

 

In the Discovery Studio this week, learners finished their last week of hero training in Mission Discovery. They worked hard to prepare their work and the studio to invite parents in to be part of the first exhibition of the year. Learners organized a poetry SLAM and open mic that they performed for their parents. They organized their art work and focus boards. They guided parents through core skills programs and badge plans. All of their work to create systems and LAUNCH this year came together in a beautiful signing of the contract ceremony, witnessed by fellow Eagles and parents. To end the session, all Ascent Eagles took part in an all play day, where they represented their team color, competed, cheered on one another, and had fun! Discovery Eagles are officially Go For Launch, and are ready to take on the rest of the year. IMG_8555