Week 23: Freedom, responsibility, and mud puddles

This week we entered into the last leg of our Communications Quest, and dipped our toes into the exciting world of storytelling! We began by reading two books - "A Walk in the Words", a book with many words about a boy who struggled with reading and writing, but who loves to draw. He eventually overcomes his fear of words and learns to read at his own pace, learning that words help to bring his illustrations to life, and that just as with his drawings the more he practices reading and writing the better he will become. We then read "Red Sled", a book with almost no words but an extremely captivating and hilarious tale about some adventurous woodland creatures and their shenanigans with a red sled. We observed how even a book with very few words can tell a wonderful, memorable story. After setting and reaching goals, our group was able to unlock the next part of the quest; creating their own storyboards, and illustrating and authoring their very own stories.

Morgan prepared beautiful materials to equip and inspire these young heroes and everyone was eager to get started. She had writing prompts, story telling games, and templates prepared for those who wanted something to help kick-start the creative process. There were tales of dragons, epic bow and arrow battles, magical zoo creatures, and candy-crazy squirrels! They had so much fun sharing their stories with one another, and can't wait to share them with friends and family at our upcoming exhibition.

At one point during our core skills block this week, some of our learners were resisting choosing work. Is it ok for children in an Acton studio to choose to do nothing during core skills time? We gathered at the circle rug to have a discussion about this, and the relationship between the freedoms we enjoy at Acton Academy and the responsibilities that accompany them.

Acton Academy was named after Lord Acton, a Victorian scholar who famously said "Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought." We sat down at our rug to discuss this phrase and how it may apply to our studio. Children in an Acton Academy have a lot of freedom - freedom to choose their work, where they work from, when they eat, when they move their bodies, etc. With that freedom comes responsibility. The image below is the result from our discussion, and the list these heroes came up with themselves. We'll continue to add to this list and will keep it posted on our walls as a reminder that life at Acton doesn't mean doing whatever you want, it means doing what is right.

We can all get off track every now and then, and as one veteran Acton owner said, "If it's not messy, it's not Acton!". There will be times when children are wandering, not choosing work, perhaps not challenging themselves. It's our role as guides to hold up that mirror, remind them of their promises, and use Socratic discussions to foster clear thinking for good decision making.

The rain has arrived and with it, some pretty epic mud puddles have formed on our field! It didn't take long for mud monsters to emerge, chasing their friends and emitting squeals of delight from everyone involved. With the warmer weather we also spotted a few early signs of spring; buds forming on trees and snowdrop flowers sprouting up by the river!

Afternoons were spent building forts, playing boardgames, working on our stories, and playing a studio favourite, Professor Noggin's trivia card games :)

It's incredible to think we're more than half way through the year. Our group has grown, in more ways than one. Together they've navigated major conflicts, disagreements, hurt feelings, and heartfelt apologies. They've celebrated each other's wins, come alive with creative collaboration during the Spark Play games, and offered support and encouragement when they see a friend getting down or frustrated with their work. The foundation of our Acton Academy is being laid, brick by brick, day by day, and all the credit goes to these heroes for continuing to show up, for themselves and for each other.

"Courage is required not only in a person's occasional crucial decision for his own freedom, but in the little hour-to-hour decisions which place the bricks in the structure of his building of himself into a person who acts with freedom and responsibility." _Rollo May