What is my hardest lesson at Acton so far?
On Friday, the Eagles worked on their quest and began building the model. I launched by showing them one way to build the model, and they were supposed to finish the design on the graph paper and start building the three-dimensional model.
Already in the opening circle I felt I was explaining too much. The original idea of the circle is to take a solid foundation, draw a model example on it and then demonstrate how to build the outer walls from cardboard. As the guide my role is to ask challenging questions and most of the work should be done by the Eagles. Instead, because it was very important for me not to waste much time and to have the Eagles understand what to do, I pretty much did everything for them. I asked them for help, but I totally led the process: I calculated the height of the cardboard wall for them with a scale I chose, I showed them exactly how to draw with a ruler and how to cut, I showed them exactly how to use the glue sticks etc. To the observer, it could seem like a really good circle: The Eagles participated, enjoyed themselves, there was a good flow, but I was totally out of the Socratic mode and switched to the mode of a regular teacher.
The rest of the quest time kept going the same way. I chose to help the team of the two young Eagles in the studio, and undoubtedly, they were facing a challenging task. Still, so far they got along wonderfully and in fact they were the only group that started building the model. However, instead of letting them lead and offer them choices, I totally led the work. Within half an hour I found myself answering a million questions, explaining the same point four times and after an hour, I found myself cutting card boards!!!!
Alden took me aside and gave me a gentle remark (very gentle :)) about him thinking that I was a bit too active, too leading. Of course, he was absolutely right.
I tried to think about why it actually happened? I think the main reason originates from a good intention: I want them to succeed so much. I don’t want them to fail and be disappointed, and have their model be unsuccessful or not as good as other models. Since I want them to succeed, I just started to do some of the work for them and then I took the lead from them completely. Thus, I took from them the ability to learn by themselves: learn what works for them, learn how they are fully capable to cut, learn how to cooperate, learn how to help one another.
In my opinion, what distinguishes Acton from any other educational institution I have ever met, are two main differences:
The first one is that the Eagles are the ones who lead the learning. The work is theirs, the path is theirs, and the growth is theirs. As soon as I come in, and take the lead from them, I hurt their growth, their journey to the hero they are they are meant to be.
The second difference is the importance of the failure. An Acton, failure is supposed to be something that happens all the time, happens quickly and is common. The sense after a failure should be a feeling of “Okay, I found another way that doesn’t work,” and not a feeling of “Oh no, I failed, I have no chance.” The idea at Acton is exactly that: let them fail and learn from failure, understand how to cut the walls correctly after the fourth crooked wall and find the picture of the playground I like after 10 failed Google searches.
These two principles are so innovative to me, and personally I find them also the most difficult to implement. But hey, it is my path to learning and growing too! I also am on my own hero’s journey!