Hello all. This episode finds us deep in December, graced by [frost and] snow to lighten the dark, again rolling to the end of a busy week.* The Board Meeting I asked some Pilot students to attend the board meeting with me last Wednesday evening. It was an important one and we were joined by about 45 other teachers and community members. There is always concern when the belt needs to get tighter -- for us, for my colleagues, for the way it may impact students overall. The Pilot is a beautiful limb on the learning tree and it does look different than all the others. If we were facing cuts to programming I felt I needed to be there to express how I see it. To make sure our special branch gets to keep growing. We walked into the board meeting before it began and the room was pretty full already, not many open seats available for the taking. In a passing moment, Scott Thompson walked passed me and said, “You have nothing to worry about”, with a smile. Why do I have nothing to worry about? Does he know that I don’t find worrying productive? That's not it. It must be that everyone is really seeing the value of allowing students to personalize their path and find joy in what they are learning. I certainly do. With Scott’s statement I got a sense of relief, not only for myself but for all of us. It looks as though we might get through this budget season without any reductions to the faculty and staff that support our students. It feels like the community at large understands the value and purpose of the Pilot. Not having to prove ourselves relevant and being allowed to just dig in and do the good work is a really good feeling. These images above were created in Seminar this week. I asked students to think about their learning as electricity or water. The things that we are made of tend to follow the past of least resistance. But what happens when you want to make a change? This question will be one among many others that we address during the exhibition season. It is starting on Tuesday morning with Izzy Poulson at 9:35am! Next week, Exhibitions We return next week to find the end of this first semester of our projects staring us in the face. Narratives and exhibitions, the whole big deal of the end of the first half. We have created some strong standards and expectations for the end of the semester. It’s a lot of work. I see you all working hard and I appreciate it so much. Karli Robertson is sitting next to me as I ponder the news of the past two weeks. She is writing her narrative. Sometimes she takes a deep breath. Then she looks at her computer with a grimacing face. Then she puts on her jacket, yawns, smiles a little, looks at me, and keeps typing. Here is the schedule: Pilot Semester 1 Exhibitions, all are invited to attend! If you are a parent or guardian or lover of learning please join us for any of these exhibitions. It's so good for these learners to get feedback from a wide audience. Join us, and oh! Bring $5 --- Conor says he is charging admission to anyone he did not invite personally. And so we go, into the dark of the solstice time, the cloudy, snowy, sunny third week of December. When I write again I will have so much to say to you! The days will be lengthening, the encounters will be fresh, and the exhibitions will be almost complete! For now, though, allow me to retreat into the warm embrace of my family in Michigan, of some holidays with my friends, some time away from all this. We all have earned it. Best to you all, if not next week, see you next year, amyK * Some of the words in this week’s TGIF are from TGIFs of Pilots past. See if you can find the Chrisisms.
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This is Noah. Amy and I are driving to Philadelphia, both for her to visit an old friend and for us to take a class with one of my favorite artists*. Because I don't drive, and because it's a TGIF Friday, this TGIF is being penned by me in the passenger seat with Amy's input. This time of year in the Pilot is one of my favorites. Almost all the semester 1 exhibitions are scheduled, they'll take place both before break and after break, for students who have lots of conventional exams, and for those who want more time to finalize project work, respectively. All of us are feeling the pressure** and because of this I've always found it to be one of the most most productive periods of time in the Pilot year. We're in a sweet spot, where our projects are defined and we've done the footwork and are engaging deeply with the meat of it all, but we still have a few weeks to be deeply focused before we give our exhibitions. We've also settled into each other a a community, we know who, doing projects that relate to ours and who we can reach out to for information in areas that we aren't working in. We are seeing the work that our peers have been talking about all year start to form and develop***. It's wonderful, everybody is struggling and triumphant. This year one of Amy's goals has been to make Pilot students more involved with the community. A few weeks ago in seminar Ellen came and helped facilitate a fishbowl discussion about how we, in the Pilot, could benefit the school/local communities. This past Monday in seminar Meg Allison and Amy gave us all a wring prompt****:
"What Problem Do You Want To Solve?" I know that much of my work recently has focused on social awareness and examining my own privilege as a gay white man, so it wasn't a big step for me to go from my projects to answering this question. But upon talking to Amy about other's answers it seems like most everyone was able to make this jump. Asking Pilot students this question is different form asking other people, we all have passions and are pursing them*****, which intrinsically creates version of us who have problems that we care about and that we want to solve. And while writing learning plans and the like doesn't really touch on how our studies are changing the world, we are at least comfortable theorizing and talking about how they do. Amy's intention of Pilot involvement in outside communities of may not have manifested in real life yet, it is influencing the culture of the Pilot, we are becoming more and more aware of our relation to the outside world, and how we can build each other up. "My system's in mint condition, the power's up on my transistors, work and fine - no glitches, plug me in and flip some switches, Pull up in docking position, Pop the hatch and hit ignition, B- B- Burn out baby, Ready for Demolition‚" The Exhibition Cycle, Described by Robyn, the Swedish Pop Star****** Semester exhibitions are open to all, and Amy will be sending out the schedule early next week, so feel free to (i.e.. please do) come and support all of us crazy Pilot kids! *Amy is the best teacher ever. **but maybe Cameron the most, he thought his exhibition was on December 5th, when, in actuality it is in January. *** And compete! Check out Zak's new Album here! ****We also watched Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. *****Not that other people don't have passions, it's just that passion is a prerequisite to Pilot. ******In this situation 'demolition' means killing the end of the Pilot semester. **∂*¬*÷ * Ce*±*"*ê |
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