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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For better or worse, I am not that easy to impress. I have been working on saying, "great work!" more often because I say it too much in my head with our vocalizing it. Everyone is usually just getting started in October but this year there is something clicking. Starting to work on the learning plan while doing the work on the plan is what we always push. How can you tell if it's a good plan unless you try it out? There is some spell taking foot and it is called TRYING. Well, maybe it's TRYING and LEANING IN. I see you diving in and doing it and showing off the results. This is still beginning project work, but it’s really good beginning project work because it’s brave, interesting, and courageous. Pilot students are really bringing it so far this year. Yes! I am so into this. Today we saw presentations from three of the first year Pilot students, that talked about what they’ve done over the past two weeks. Lilli, Peter, and Jack have very different projects and at least one thing in common: they’ve all leaned into their work, looking at human behavior, art history, economics and algebra, respectively. All with curiosity and some real excitement. It’s easy to tell when someone is doing something that they really care about, right? I mean, you’re not fooling us if you’re not showing up to the work. There is a little sense of nervousness (hear that voice in your head that says, “oh no, I really care about this and this is really a piece of me that I’m putting out there and I am nervous to share it because if they don’t like it then it means that they don’t like me.”) HOT TIP: we like it because it is you and we can see you in it. It’s evident when these projects are engaging and when the learning is becoming embodied knowledge. This is not material that they are learning about to pass the test. It’s clear when these students care about knowing the things they are learning and want to carry it with them. How wonderful to see this in October! Another fantastic thing: Camille Johnson who was in the first Pilot class 10 years ago is now being a mentor to Izzy Giammusso, who is in her 4th semester as a Pilot person. This is going so splendidly. You’ll be hearing more about this for sure. Today I would like to share a bit from a podcast that Camille suggested Izzy listen to as part of their weekly meeting agenda. In this piece from OnBeing with Krista Tippett in conversation with Ann Hamilton: MS. TIPPETT: Hmm. That makes me think of something that’s disconnected, but it was just on my mind. Somebody I interviewed years ago, Jean Vanier, who created these communities around the world that are centered around people with mental disabilities. MS. HAMILTON: Yes. MS. TIPPETT: And he talked about the reason he believes that so many of us are so uncomfortable with people with disabilities, that we all walk around, all the time, you know, trying to hide whatever’s wrong with us, or whatever we think is wrong with us, and that the people who have — who carry their, you know, their flaws on the outside are terrifying… MS. HAMILTON: Right. MS. TIPPETT: …because we spend so much energy trying to keep that to ourselves. Here comes an invitation related to this snippet of an interview from 2014. In Pilot you are invited to really be yourself. There is no topic too banal to engage with here, no freak flag too freaky. The important thing is that your topic fires you up. That you really care. Showing up as your true self and digging in is hard. Our flaws and missteps can guide us and if you are willing to show those and let us know what’s honestly going on with your project work, you will flourish. Not there yet? Haven’t said, “Yes!” to the invitation? There is still time. And the time is to get going. When the line between what is your life and what is school starts to blur you are on the right track. This time that you have is precious. Make the most of it. We invite you to be you (and to also organize a good project plan, keep a calendar, show up, be kind, and do the work.) It will feel hard sometimes, and when it does you know you are doing something right. I’ve seen some of you digging in and doing this already and it makes my big ol’ teacher heart sing. Let’s keep going. Let’s get going. We’re doing this. Today we will feature some of the work from the presentations we’ve seen so far. Next time you’ll hear from everyone else: “Now, models can give us some pretty good guesses, but they are a vast simplification of human behavior. After all, we aren’t all rational actors looking out for only our own self-interest. There are thousands of tiny factors that impact the decisions we make each day -- cultural values, emotions, and beliefs. So while we can theorize about the best systems with philosophies, and test those philosophies with mathematical models, we also must examine what’s going on in the world around us. We can study the booms and recessions, which businesses fail and which succeed, and how government interventions change the game. The real world is messy and doesn’t abide by rigid formulae, so we have to learn by observation.” -- Jack Thompson Last Judgement Giotto Di Bondone c.1306 (Hell section) Analysis - This is another of the fresco murals in the Arena Chapel, this scene is actually a small piece of a HUGE painting that covers an entire wall of the chapel (I’d like to analyse and critique the painting as a whole, but it really is big and very detailed, so that’ll have to wait for another week). This section of the painting depicts hell. People who have “rejected god’s saving grace”, the damned, are seen passing on to the afterlife, their naked bodies fall and are dragged down to hell by blue demons, where they’re beaten and tortured. In the middle of it all sits the Prince of Hell, a large blue monster sitting on a dragon, eating the people. Giotto’s hell is dark, and blue, making it look cold and miserable. This is very far off from the modern description of a hell full of flames, but as long as it’s a place of eternal punishment, it’s Catholic hell. Personal Critique - I LOVE this painting. Maybe I’m too much of a stickler for demon art, but I really can’t get enough of it. Also there he is back at it again with the blue. This painting has so much detail, you can’t see it super well in the photo but each body has movement and emotion. You can tell which ones are falling, which are in pain, which are limp. You kind of have to appreciate that. Also, I can’t help but be reminded of The Garden of Earthly Delights, which Hieronymus Bosch painted more than 200 years later, another painting of someone’s interpretation of paradise and hell. This is definitely my favorite Giotto piece that I’ve seen so far. -- Peter Bongiovanni One more thing from that Ann Hamilton interview where she said: And so, how do you kind of cultivate a space that allows you to dwell in that not knowing, really? ...if you can let yourself fail, if you can let yourself be really bad, if you can take the risk...look awkward, then you can do a whole lot of other things after that. Yeah.
Because we don’t want you to know it all yet, but instead, know that there is a lot to know and that you’ve begun the journey. Listen to Kay: go after the thing that intimidates you, find the thing that you wish you could do and do that. Be well, amyK |
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