Explore Year 5. Session 1. Week 3

Explorers kicked off Week 3 with a trust walk, taking turns guiding their blindfolded partner safely through the orchard. Then they reflected on how to be open to building trust, active listening, and moving forward with their Fellow Travelers to achieve their individual and studio goals. They continued working on their self-portraits and learned techniques that will support them in their process. The learners in Explore held Town Hall and reached consensus to find solutions to challenges in the studio, as well as agreed to add more promises to their studio contract such as “Promising to be honest with others” and to “Learning from failure and never giving up.”

WRITERS’ WORKSHOP

This week, the writers in Explore investigated the differences between paraphrasing and plagiarism before embarking on researching the Hero they each chose to write a biography about.  They began creating a bibliography to keep track of the sources where they discovered new information about their Hero, which will support them as they continue to work on writing their biographies.

TEAM BUILDING

Explorers returned to a team-building game where they worked together to write a word using a pen that was attached to as many ropes as there were learners. Each Explorer held onto the end of a rope and they moved in unison to write the word on a piece of paper. They experimented with different strategies and challenges such as attempting to successfully write a word in silence, selecting one Explorer to lead the group, and allowing everyone to share their ideas about what to do next. Explorers reflected on feelings of apathy and use of Fixed Mindset language when they felt like giving up on the challenge. They seized the opportunity to re-frame their approach to a Growth Mindset, and found value in taking on tough challenges. The learners in Explore were determined to work together to improve, celebrating when they wrote legibly and finding joy in their mistakes.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

This week, Explorers continued to build on their abilities together in PD. In Week 1, they began playing a game that challenged them to stand in a circle while balancing tall poles, moving to their right or left without letting the poles fall. They enthusiastically took on this challenge during Week 2 and Week 3 by working together and actively listening. During Week 2, Explorers were challenged to get two poles across the field with a few restrictions: the poles could not fall to the ground, only one learner could be touching each pole a time, and each learner needed to touch each pole at least one time between one side of the field and the other. In Week 2, Explorers attempted many strategies but were unable to complete the challenge in the allotted time. This week, Explorers made another attempt and successfully completed the challenge by listening to each others’ ideas and trying a few different methods!

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS

This week in Explore, learners participated in their first Portfolio Review by reviewing self-portraits. Using a template, Explorers recorded what they observed about the subject on the canvas, how the work was organized, and decided if the work was successful or not. They practiced giving clear, specific feedback to support the artist in improving their work. Portfolio Reviews will be a weekly practice for reviewing work in Quest, Art, Writers’ Workshop and more.