Session 1 Week 1 in Review
Elementary Studio
This has been an exciting week! The learners eagerly began the week practicing self-directed learning skills. Throughout the week they engaged in a school wide escape room with the entire school, story time challenge, get to know you kahoot trivia game, character strengths assessment, SMART and WOOPS goals, and more! It's been eventful! All the activities this week has helped learners understand what it means to become a self-directed learner, create a sense of belonging for our studio, allow learners to get to know one another, and have fun! Some activities were challenging but the learners never gave up! I noticed great leadership, awesome teamwork, and relentless effort as early as day one!
During our morning signature learning experiences, learners were introduced to Socratic discussions and Circles. Our time together was spent laughing, bonding, and developing a fun learning environment for our Studio. My favorite morning launch activity was the Story Time challenge. Learners were only able to use three words to tell a story, starting with one learner and ending once each person shared. Once the story began, I was completely silent while they figured out how to make their story flow. After about three rounds it finally clicked for them! It was very rewarding to observe their natural instincts kick in to make it work.
This week consisted of fun and hard work! I'm super stoked about this school year!
Middle School Studio
It’s been a great week of reuniting with returning learners and excitedly welcoming new learners in the Middle School Studio! We kicked things off by participating in an amazing school-wide welcome celebration, where learners solved an escape room mystery together. As we dove into our first few Quests and Morning Launches, it was so great seeing learners finding things they have in common with each other during think-pair-share activities and socratic discussions. We did community building activities like a Padlet Photo Scavenger Hunt, About Me presentations, and virtual Would You Rather? to help foster belonging.
In Quest this week, our studio delved into some great discussions about this year’s FSO theme and what this theme looks like when acted out in our school community and our personal lives. We explored the idea of purpose, and why having purpose is important in life. Learners went deep into what it means to be a self-directed learner and how to develop the 5 traits of a self directed learner. Lastly, we brainstormed norms for how we want to show up, behave, and speak with each other during studio time, and voted for the norms we all agreed to uphold each day.
It’s been special seeing how our 2022-2023 Middle School Studio is melding together and getting to know each other. I can already tell we have an incredible group of learners, and am blown away by the talent, strength, and creativity we have collectively as a studio!
High School Studio
It’s been a wonderful first week in the High School FSO Studio. Learners have jumped right in to craft our community norms and routines, and have provided great insight during our socratic discussions and launches. We began the week by joining with the other studios for a Welcome Celebration, which saw our learners solving a mystery together through collaboration and problem solving. In the High School studio, we created a “Getting to Know You” Jamboard on Day 1, that combined text, photos, and drawings with which to learn about one another and foster community. On Day 2 and 3, we solidified our Group Agreements, the norms that we agree to uphold and abide by in our studio. Learners came up with creative ways to step up if a norm was broken, and discussed when and how we would adjust the norms in the future, if need be.
In our launches, learners provided some framework and initial ideas about how Circles and Town Halls will look in our studio this year. We spent some time during our afternoon Quests discussing this year’s theme, and started out the week strong by diving into questions about our life purpose. Learners explored the self-directed learning model, including how it differs from more traditional models, and debated why they think self-directed learning models aren’t used in more educational settings. Learners created Vision Boards for how they want their year of self-directed learning to look, feel, and sound.
Next, we dove deeper into the traits that are necessary to foster as a self-directed learner, and did some individual reflection on where our own strengths as a self-directed learner lie. Our studio finished the week by continuing to discuss character strengths and development, including taking the VIA Character Strengths assessment and reflecting on our results. It was a jam-packed week full of dreaming, discussion, and excitement, and set a great tone to start the year on.