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
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