We have a long weekend ahead of us to prepare for the final exhibition season which begins with Zak Kline on Tuesday at 9:30 am. Zak’s new album will be released in a few weeks. In which you will hear the benefits of working hard, showing up to a continuously developing creative practice, and having professional songwriters and sound engineers on your team. Thank you Colin McCaffrey, Roger Grow, and Francesca Blanchard for working with Zak this year. Thank you all mentors! There was a robust team of mentors working with Pilot students this year and we had the chance to thank them at our annual Mentor Appreciation Night on the 9th of May. One of the many Pilot mottos - independent does not mean alone - is exemplified in student's connections to their mentors, advisors, families, and friends. Learning and growing is a business of connection and a major part of any Pilot student’s success is building relationships with people that share their passions. And now one from the TGIF archives written by Chris Blackburn on May 25th, 2012. What does it mean to be done?One thing this week, and the mass of final things that loom as the year ends, has me thinking about is the conversation between process and product. The music concerts that I saw were certainly product oriented: the singers were faced with that one chance to perform the song, after which it was done. But as individual singers they were not done: there will be more music in all of their lives, and their work will necessarily continue to improve and grow. The concert was a moment in time. As the Pilot students approach final exhibitions, this is what I’m thinking about: are we looking for some kind of polished performance, or the documentation of progress over time? I tend to stand on the side of the process-oriented exhibition. Show me evidence of growth over time and I will believe that you have learned. Show me a product only, and how do I know whether you have grown? When we focus too much on product, there is a tendency to play it safe – what if I take too big a risk and the thing is a mess by the time it is supposed to be done? But of course when we focus too much on process, we omit the opportunity to ever finish anything, and can devolve to just wallowing in the mess. Where then is there proof of progress? If all I had was a bunch of drawings, my treehouse project would not be nearly as satisfying as it is now, perched in the tree. But there’s no roof… [...] Every morning I look out of the mud room window and am amazed that the treehouse still hangs in the trees, level and secure. The thing started as a conversation, moved through planning phases and some false starts and a long challenging time (ready, fire, aim!), and now is an undeniably real thing that may well have a roof on it after this weekend. Every morning I walk in to school and look through the door of classroom 111 and am amazed that the Pilot exists. There are the couches and computers, the tables with the various project parts [paintings, ginger tea, dance moves, video tutorials, tiny house photographs], every day a bit different. I meet with individuals, pairs, the whole group, sometimes amazed at the steps that are taken, sometimes frustrated by the halting pace of progress. I’m grateful and a little in shock that this thing is real, still. The Same but Always a little Different Every time I look at that archive I am amazed. This model of learning has been getting polished over the years, yes. Every student brings something totally unique to this experience, yes. But for the most part we are using the 3 R’s of education and it keeps working: rigor, relevance, and relationships win again and again. This feels like the way education should be. It's less and less shocking all the time.
Doing this Pilot work full time has allowed me to commit to it in a new way and also see some things that I didn’t really notice before. Mostly, it is very close to the end of the year and overall, people are still pretty jazzed about their projects. More evidence of this in the email I sent out to Pilot students today, there may be some information in there that is good for you too, especially in the links: Dear Pilot students: Here is a list of reminders that will take you through exhibition season. I see you still working hard and caring deeply about your work. I see all of us wanting it to be summer but still happy doing the work that we get to do. This is a teachers dream. Really. I've had such a wonderful experience working with all of you this year. Let's finish things well. Narratives & Portfolio:
Show up:
Be nice:
Be well!!! amyK (in true Chris Blackburn fashion there will be no images today! The last TGIF of the year will have all the beautiful photo documentation from exhibitions. Stay tuned.)
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Thanks to Ellen Dorsey for connecting us with the Berlin Elementary School teachers and students! We went last Friday to talk with students that have been doing Genius Hour (which is like mini Pilot for one hour a week). Hopefully we will be able to meet them one or twice more this school year to talk with them about their projects. Noah did a little DEEP aerobics practice with them, you can see here. Right after this, in a moment of knowing that my message has been passed on, Karli and Izzy told the kids a little more about their relationship to personalized learning. Karli let them in on a secret, that when you’re learning about the things that you care about, you’re really just learning about yourself and they ways that you are good at learning. Izzy chimed in to add that it’s really important to know who you are, to understand your passions and what is important to you. Learn about those things that matter. That was their message. I excitedly sat in the back room thinking... my work is done! But of course it isn’t really. We have finalized our semester 2 exhibition schedule and there three weeks until exhibition season begins! And we have a new class of Pilot students ready to join us next year. A couple other things to look out for before then:
And now, for the fast track to the end of the school year. Enjoy the ride.
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