We've made it to a break! Enjoy some visual tellings about what we've been up to this week. ^^^ Eraser Poems from Seminar last Monday following the prompt: where are you at right now? ^^^ Nadia's work on her long essay ^^^ Leela's pallet ^^^ Mayla going... going... going. ^^^ Allie working with the head chef, Antonio, at Hen of the Wood in Waterbury. Making prime cuts of one half of a pig. Not Allie's favorite task. But her visits to the gym paid off! Have a wonderful break everyone! Be well, amyK
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It's been a lovely late winter week, full of meetings, campfires, and good, steady progress. Here are the highlights: Yesterday, Seminar happened in the woods and it was unseasonably warm. We made a fire anyway but no hot chocolate, as previously planned. Plans have to change sometimes. It’s a good week to remember the importance of slowing down, reflection, the simplicity of centering in nature, and the progress that can happen when we notice. Here is a poem on the theme: Beside the Point The sky has never won a prize. The clouds have no careers. The rainbow doesn't say my work, thank goodness. The rock in the creek's not so productive. The mud on the bank's not too pragmatic. There's nothing useful in the noise the wind makes in the leaves. Buck up now, my fellow superfluity, and let's both be of that worthless ilk, self-indulgent as shooting stars, self-absorbed as sunsets. Who cares if we're inconsequential? At least we can revel, two good-for-nothings, in our irrelevance; at least come and make no difference with me. - Stephen Cushman Next Monday, students will present another set of deliverables, showing some progress that has happened over the last three weeks. Long research essays are happening: the history and problems of policing in America, flat earth theory, and the impacts of growing up in a rural community. Some shorter essays are happening too, like celebrating and attacking the Meditations of Descartes. Paintings and drawings and silicon molds and novels are being written and reproductive justice is being understood and films are being made. In the next two weeks, Cole is going to make a fire whirl. We’re being productive. We’re learning to Take Care of Business: take care of yourself. take care of your work. take care of each other. Repeat. Two Pilot alumni are acting as mentors this year and it’s lovely. Izzy and Noah were both in Pilot for three years from 10-12th grade and now they are four and five years out of high school and college. It is so amazing to experience this program over time in these ways. The richness is expansive and we just keep growing. The sun again is feeling warm. Soon the leaves will be waking up. What parts of ourselves do we need to wake up this spring? Are we leaving room for growth? Enjoy the melting snow and the running sap. Be well, amyK Last year, and the year before, Max was a part of the Pilot program. He was here for me when I was on parental leave, caring for an infant. I, in turn, got to be here for him and help him learn the ropes of running a program like the Pilot. One that allows for freedom to learn what you want, but creates a structure that works for each individual. At the end of last school year Max got a job running the Big Picture Program at South Burlington High School. Last Tuesday, we took a bus up there to visit him and have a day of student-led workshops with our two programs. At this time of year we hope that students have found a structure that really works for them. Some are still realizing that they really should be organizing their time and using a planner, yes. But others are really rolling. Writing thousands of words, organizing events, making, thinking. We took this trip to highlight how it’s been going and to see a bit of the similarities and differences that personalizing learning in two different schools in Vermont can bring. In the morning, after some comradery exercises lead by Max and Maddie, Avery gave us a short presentation on the difference between perfectionism and excellence as pertains to their years and years of flute playing. As pertains to wanting to be very good at something but not allowing perfect to be the goal. Avery guided us to understand more about WHY we are doing the project that we are doing. When we have more choice – should the choice not have more internal motivation wrapped in it? After a pizza lunch we had an afternoon with student workshops. Knives taught people how to make zines (say zeeens, people, like mag-a-zine), Eli looked at storytelling and poetry, some made music and did character development with the BP students leading. We got on the bus, a little late, and headed back to U-32 with just enough time to miss the busses (for some, sorry Annaliese). Pilot students saw that they have quite a bit more freedom to choose how they go about their project work. Big Picture students have freedom to choose what topic they study but the structure is a bit more there. For better or worse. It all depends on the human learning. And now... for a break. Short as it maybe, the fall is a long haul and this will be our first five days off in a row. I hope that you find some restoration over next week and that you get to be with those that you love and the people that support you. The holidays create a great opportunity for joy and belonging for some and for others it can be quite the opposite. Remember to reach out when you can to people that might need a friend at this time.
And listen to some good music too! I’ve been listening to the song The World Turned Upside Down by Billy Bragg a lot. I like Billy Bragg quite a bit but I would not choose to listen to this song several times a day without it being requested by my kid. He got into it simply because the lyrics contain the word “diggers” and therefore “play digger song” is a common request. Luckily we already owned the 45 – so it’s to abide his request at home. With this daily listening I’ve been paying attention to the lyrics in a way that I haven’t before. Today in Seminar we are going to have a brief discussion about a section of these lyrics that seem to have a particular connection with our impending holiday. Give a listen and let us know what you think. In summary and to say it with a bit of levity: humans can be very silly. Have an excellent break -- we will be back with more updates in December as the end of the semester approaches. Be well, amyK To update you on our progress this week, I present you with quotes from Q1 Narratives. I’m learning, which is the most important thing in the whole world to me. At school, I was not learning. In Pilot, I am. - AB I know that I can usually do 3 things every (school) day. That is the right amount. – AC I started out my first project on the patriarchy not really knowing what I was going to do. I knew, and still know that there is much I don’t understand about the patriarchy. I began thinking of much more detailed, complicated projects for myself to do. I still want to do those bigger projects, but starting out with something based on how the patriarchy affects everyone in their daily lives is a bit too ambitious, especially because I couldn’t say where it came from or why. - KD The broader possibilities, while also quite scary, are very freeing. - AE I can’t get this out of my head. Watching this made me understand how I can be a performance artist. It finally clicked in my head- what performance art is. Lines of poetry started popping in my head about a week after I first watched the excerpt. Along with the words came the feeling of the movement Bill T Jones used in that moment I described. I can see in my head what my first real performance piece is going to be, and I’ve started writing down the foundation of the performance. It’s so thrilling having an idea that I know I can turn into something powerful that no one else can quite comprehend yet. I’m so excited to see what I create for the rest of this year! - EF But aside from all of that I actually enjoyed writing this essay, and I think it's definitely because I had the freedom to write about something I am genuinely interested in so it doesn't feel like a burden to do all the research. In leui of being unrealistic, I certainly had challenges, and that's ok. Even though it wasn't a snap of my fingers and suddenly I loved writing and did it with complete ease, It was still progress. - RG Most glass has a melting temperature of 2000 degrees Fahrenheit but most glass artists keep a furnace around 100-200 degrees above this as a minimum because the molten glass cools rapidly as soon as it leaves the furnace. The importance of an enamel kiln is that it stops the glass from cracking or outright exploding. -RI The wooden alarm clock on my bedside table is set to go off at 4:45 am. My blue cargo pants and gray t-shirt are laid out on my dresser. My baby blue water bottle sits next to the sink ready to be filled with ice cold water. My deodorant and toothbrush are strewn across the bathroom counter. My backpack waits by the door fully packed for the long day ahead. Every little detail from my outfit to my keys is set up and ready for my first day. The email is sent, and the plans are made. - NK She taught us that uterus misalignment can be a cause of menstrual cramps, a little-known fact that everyone should know because so many people assume that period pain is normal when it is not - a little discomfort can be fine, but pain is not good, it usually means uterus misalignment or a medical issue. The connection between uterus misalignment and cramps is not very well known because there has not been funded medical research, because our country has not prioritized the education of or research of women’s health. - M L-M My other part of French is reading. I have been reading Heartstopper in french which is one of my favorite books. At first it was really hard because I would look up any word that I didn’t know and it wasn’t really going anywhere. Then I realized that If I had the english book to compare to then that worked a lot better. Ever since then it has been moving a lot faster. I also have just stopped getting hung up on every word, instead I just read and piece things together as I go and check the english version if I need to. - UL Finding time to research and practice became harder and harder. The good thing was as soon as she found the lack of time she found a mentor and worked a lot with Christopher from ORCA media who was easier to follow along with than a research video. She learned through the challenges of time management when it was for someone else than herself. - WM As well as communicating more clearly with my content advisors throughout my project, it is my goal to talk about my learning more with friends and family, and perhaps other teachers and community members around me. Each person has knowledge to share, and I feel each time I discuss my learning with someone else, (even my 7 year old brother!), I receive new clarity on how I am to go about it. - LM But now that I know how to not know, it's almost a reassurance. A reassurance that if something doesn't work I can just back out and turn a different direction. - CS I want to paint using my body, I want to dance and improve my flexibility and learn how to trust myself, I want to show the deeper meaning behind literature, I want to speak up, and I want to cook, and write, and create some music, and so many other things. I want to. I can. I will. - RS A second mug sits beside the rat cup. I am not sure where it came from…I may have stolen it from Leela’s desk, this one is full of writing prompts. When I feel stuck with my writing, I just pick a prompt and start writing. I don’t always try to make a complete story and I never edit these pieces, but it helps me to get something down on paper. - ET We will be going on a field trip on November 14th to the Big Picture School in South Burlington. Stay tuned for our next update after that! Be well, amyK We are sitting here trying to get Allie to create a definition of truth. A few of us. And then Knives comes over and says, “can you look at this [part of my cat comic that explains what patriarchy is]?” And I did. It’s good, he has made helpful adjustments and edits. He goes back to inking the comic. And Eli wishes he could have joined Pilot earlier to be around these kinds of conversations, I think, while he sits there and twists wire together to make his dress sculpture. And Ella suddenly exclaims from the other side of the room in a way that totally makes sense and is a valuable statement to add to the conversation, “my chair is reasonable”. And Chris keeps telling Allie that he is right (but I have a feeling that he doesn’t really think that he is right, he might just be doing this to further her thinking, but then later he tells me that he did in fact, think he was right). Eli and I keep saying that they both are right. Then Eli comes to terms with the way that deadline driven goals aren’t working for him. Ren and Ray enter for lunch time. And then Allie says, “we are defining the truth of intangible things.” That’s about ten minutes of what happens in the Pilot room. On an average day, but this is a slightly above average day for the magic of what happens here. In this classroom students have more autonomy and control. They get to practice being in a cooperative workspace with each other, each following their own interests and passions, without stepping on each other’s toes. Dancing around each other's toes is how I would describe the conversation that happened today. We have had about seven weeks of days now. Next week we will ask students to pause for a minute, reflect on how it’s going and present their work to us. During this exhibition season, many of you will join us for these presentations in one way or another. Thank you for offering your attention and listening to how it is going for these students and helping them advance their work. I hope they’ve invited you. The quarter one exhibitions are invite only! In this last hour before of the week before exhibitions begin we are spending some time writing during our Pilot Seminar. Creating a nice environment for each other to perform this task is difficult. We are all studying different things the majority of us don’t have fully functioning prefrontal cortexes. Each moment that we care for the collective good over our personal good, we make the world we live in a little better. We are creating community. We are a community that helps one another become more resilient to the terrible things that can and have happened. To keep us going when we are down. To take breaks when we need to. To remember delight, joy, and gratitude.
Doing this together in a public school matters. I feel very fortunate today to be able to be a part of all of this. See you next week. Be well, amyK We began. We’ve started. We’re going! In the first few weeks of Pilot, students are asked to strike a balance between doing and planning. It’s not an easy task to dive into: finding your own resources, making sure they are credible ones, learning from them, and documenting what you know in interesting and relevant ways. That’s just one of the little cycles that repeats itself over and over again in this learning environment. When we engage in topics that truly interest us there are many trials, some failures, plenty of joy, and a lot of learning. Here is another cycle we see often: Have Ideas > Plan > Make > Reflect > Repeat In the first few weeks, we asked Pilot students to start working and documenting and trying. They turned ideas into plans, plans into creating something, and made some little short reflections as they went. They did short presentations to share some of the content of their making and learning. We learned how to measure 10 hour fuels in the forest from Cole, how to battle perfectionism as a classical flute player from Avery, and we saw three of the six elements that make a cinematic shot with Willow. These 16 short presentations gave us some insight to how these students think and work. At the beginning and as we progress I often wonder: Have we made the right size problem for you to solve? Or if not to solve, at least to work on the solution. I’ve known that it’s important for these students to have the right amount of challenge. That each of them will have to be pushed in different and unique ways to really grow. This sentiment was corroborated by Daniel Willingham in Why Don’t Students Like School? He writes: “Working on problems that are the right level of difficulty is rewarding, but working on problems that are too easy or difficult is unpleasant.” Right? We have all felt that. In the Pilot program we can tailor each study so specifically and this level of autonomy and self direction is new to some of these students. One of the ways we can easily see how each person is finding the appropriate challenge is by looking at what they are choosing to read. The texts, so far, are as varied as the individuals. Finally, thank you to the Liebermanns for hosting this year’s Pilot Potluck. We had great food and beautiful weather besides that one short ice storm that was brought on by my son, Vanlox, who was flexing his about to turn two muscles.
Every time we gather this way I remember just how important it is to have a wide net of support. For each of us. And especially for these Pilot students who have signed up to do school in a brave new way. So here we are at the beginning of this journey. You are reading this because you are part of the support network that is making this kind of learning possible. Let us all enjoy the ride. Be well, amyK These are excerpts from students that wrote letters in the Pilot program in the 2021-2022 school year. A school year where we thought we would "get back to normal". We asked them to reflect on what they're proudest of in their self designed projects. We asked them some other things too like: Why do you want to keep doing this? Here is what they said. ...throughout the last nearly two years of being a part of this program, I’ve found myself. The comfort and love of the people within Pilot, the calming atmosphere, the freedom to be a real person instead of just another number in the school’s system; Being here has been life changing for me... ... I never really felt like I belonged somewhere as much as I feel I belong in the Pilot room, not even the room, but the program. Everyone here cares for each other, we motivate each other to go further, try more, keep doing our own things because the diversity of the people within this program is beautiful... ...I’m finally a part of something meaningful. - ELLE
I feel so much more engaged with my work because I’m actually working on something that I am interested in. I feel so productive with my work ,and the best part is that I can make it my own. I can work on it in my own special way. - EMMA
...I’ve discovered that I really can learn most of what I need by doing so independently. I return to Pilot for a more engaging and effective way of learning.
- JACK We've been wondering. And making things, and wondering some more. On Monday I asked each person to summarize their entire study in one question. Here are some of the responses. If you want to know what it looks like when a group of students practice staying curious, visit the work of these Pilot folks.
In the slideshow linked here ^ students are practicing to communicate about their project on a digital platform. At the end of the semester they will be refining this skill by updating their portfolios to show a half year of progress in their personalized studies. Six months of making it work. We ended the week on a high note, though for many students leaving the Pilot room on Friday is a sad thing. They are happy to be learning here with each other and it's more difficult for them working from home. I am so fortunate to share this cooperative work space with these Pilot people. They are really arriving and showing up for their work in such beautiful ways. I do miss all of them being able to be working here together in one space. They inspire each other to keep going and we just can't make that magic happen via zoom. But we are doing the best we can and a lot of good is coming from that.
Some of you have found it. The magnet, the attraction, thing that really lights you up. I see you -- you’re drawn to the topic, to the materials, to whatever it is you are learning and this is exactly where I want you to be. Others might be more in a state of exploration. Still trying things on and looking for a better fit. This is good too. Either way, it's important to have your magnet out. Be ready for the pull. This week in Pilot Seminar we’ve made goals and intentions that will take us into the new year and finish out this semester. The days are short and getting shorter and this time period will move quickly. I hope it feels good to have a plan that addresses both how you’re doing and what you’re doing. We're asking you to dig a little deeper now, challenge yourself to finish a portion of your project work and keep leaning in. I was talking to a boyfriend the other evening and realized we have had a little moment of evolution. He and I both agreed that we never heard the words “self-care” in high school. It was a little hard for him to even say, “I’m having a bad day”, when he was a teenager. The thought of a teacher in my high school talking to me about how to balance taking care of myself and doing my work is kind of mind blowing. It just didn’t happen. And I had some good teachers that I really loved. They would notice if I needed help and they helped me, but 20 years ago self-care just wasn’t something we talked about in school. We’re making progress. There have also been some tremendous advancements in brain science since the 90s. We do know more about how trauma impacts the brain, what our nervous system response systems are like, and how our body reacts when we are in a state of overwhelm. We all experience trauma to various degrees. This time we are living in takes quite a bit of resilience for us all to get out the door and start the day. And we're still asking you to learn in all this mess! Remember that we can’t learn when we are too freaked out and we can’t learn when we get too comfortable. We’re looking for the right balance, the appropriate challenge. For those of you that like charts and graphs, I made you this one: And for those that are more visually inclined: If work is love made visible, these Pilot students have proven they love their work. p.s. Update your content documentation folders! I can't find some things that I know you've been working hard to create! Highlights from the past few weeks:
Where to go deeper:
Please take care! Take some time to be grateful, for yourself and those you love. Be well, amyK It’s happening quickly. Time always moves this way, in a masked pandemic world or not. Here we are looking at the end of quarter one already. We get going and dig in a bit and poof! There goes the time. It does feel a little different, seeing everyone in person only every other week but it's not that different. The trouble is, you think you have time. Over the next weeks, as Pilot students keep refining their interests and showing what they know we will begin practicing skills needed for exhibitions. These presentations of their learning will happen soon, starting the first week of November. Exciting news... we’re going to change it up a bit this year. The Pilot exhibitions have always been a presentation done live and since we have limited ability to gather at the moment we thought it would be nice to offer the students an opportunity to record their presentation in a 15 minute video. With this you can also make sure that you haven't missed something, or that performance anxiety made you forget all the good learning that you've done. Speaking in front of real humans is an important skill to practice. Having choices and options and learning how to pick what's best for you, also good. We will still find a way to give you feedback and ask you questions in a live way - more to come on all that next week. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone. And if you’re not feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone! There is someone else that is having the feeling that you’re feeling. I am hearing this from all of you in different meetings. Here are two common questions and their answers that have come up repeatedly this week: Q: Am I doing enough?! A: Maybe. You can tell if you are doing enough in a few ways. 1) Look at how much time you’re spending showing up to your work and engaging in it. Make a time log! If you’re spending at least five hours a week on your project for each subject area then you’re probably good. But there is also a question of how productive that time is, so… 2) Think about how you can limit distractions and create an optimal working environment. Tangents aren’t always helpful. Have you ever gone to look at your phone to do something productive and 20 minutes later you have forgotten what you went there for and you're looking at kittens on instagram? I can't be the only one ; ) Have you ever tried working with your phone turned off? No!? Turn off your phone. It will turn back on when you really need it, I promise. 3) Look at your weekly goals and learning plan goals. Are you making progress on these? Is your learning plan done and approved so you can be sure all us teachers and you are on the same page? If you are progressing on these goals that we’ve all given a thumbs up to, you’re in good shape. Q: But, is my work good enough? A: If you're unsure, ask for feedback! Learning can feel different in Pilot because you’re not making work that is exactly like another person’s work. You can’t say, “What answer did you get on #8?” And the answers are more personal because you've asked the questions. Don't fret. Your advisors and other Pilot students are here to help. If you’re pondering, “Is this thing that I care a lot about, want to know more about all the time, and have made good documentation to show you what I know... is it good enough?” If we haven’t told you yet, “this is great! keep going!” Feel free to reach out and we will be sure to let you know if you’re on the right track. And if you are on the right track, what's the next great thing you could do with your time? Here are some examples of “this is great! keep going!” work from the past two weeks! Showing progress! Here is a planning sketch to final piece from Savannah’s visual storytelling project, Doc and the Rose. It’s so good to see ideas develop from a quick idea to a more finalized piece. No matter what you are making you will have a rough draft to start. Save that and share it as part of your documentation.
Besides studying Algebra and Economics, Jack has been getting organized. He made a little how to be less overwhelmed with email video for y'all. Thank you, Jack! If you're feeling swamped with email, give this a go: How to set up gmail filters from Jack. There's further information here.
Be well! amyK |
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