Every once in a while, I get a reminder of how life can be sprinkled with moments of long… long term gratification. I saw a student nine years after he was in my class, and he reminded me of some note I wrote for him that he had kept in his studio. He told me it had been helpful over and over again in keeping him coming back to his work, and engaging with his creative practice. All from a note I don’t even remember writing. It mattered. Being patient for these moments feels trying sometimes and very rewarding in others. The bigness of time can be overwhelming and it can also be relieving. We get to keep showing up and trying again. Staying curious about these paradoxes provides a good reminder that we can always learn more. That’s what the Pilot is here for, to give people a taste of what it’s like to just learn things because you want to. And that learning to learn is what’s important. There is always more. I am going to let you in on a little secret. It doesn’t actually matter what you study, but there is a linchpin: you have to really care about it. I am attempting to calculate the time span of the Pilot studies encompases this year… we’ve got Nathaniel looking 200 million years ahead at how animals have evolved after certain mass extinctions and Si looking about 3,400 years back to learn more from the time when Moses lived. We couldn’t find the date of manufacture on Noah’s Ark. But we are covering a 200,003,400 year span. That’s big time. Looking to the past, seeing what is present, and predicting the future. Today we have reached the last school day of the decade, coming back to school in 2020, which was a time that I for sure thought of as “the future” when I was in high school. We’ve also made it through the darkest part of our school year, after the winter solstice tomorrow we return to light. More and more to see each day. So what will we do with it? Tell me, what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver made stunning observations of the world we live in and left us many poems. To her lead, I asked Pilot students a similar question when we sat around the fire this past Wednesday. coming soon.I have referenced the commencement speech Neil Gaiman made in 2012 a few times this year. The reminders are very fitting for us here: I hope you’ll make mistakes. If you make mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something. And the mistakes in themselves can be very useful. Have you taken a risk? What have you learned from the mistakes you’ve (hopefully) made? If you've been too afraid to take a risk, what supports do you need to leap out of your comfort zone? Being a Pilot is a bit like being a freelance student. Instead of working for one company (the conventional school system) you’re working for many. Your advisors, yourself, your mentors, your parents, your friends, all have a role in the things you are learning. Neil’s advice here, be nice, be on time, and be good. … people keep working in a freelance world, and more and more of today’s world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. People will forgive the lateness of your work if it’s good, and if they like you. And you don’t have to be as good as everyone else if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you. That being said. Big end of the quarter due dates are coming. Portfolios and narratives need to be good (follow the prompt), on time (due three days before your exhibition), and yes, do all this while being nice. Try for all three. We’ll still love you if you hit two of these three but your process scores might not love you back if you’re not on time. Please see the semester 1 exhibition schedule, confirm your time once your required attendes get back to you! That's parents/guardians, mentors, and advisors. Personalized Learning Summit: 28th of January at the Davis Center. Students will be displaying their learning and have the opportunity to connect with other students that are in similar Pilot like programs in the state. Student-led workshops! It’s going to be great. Some of our students will be taking leadership roles in organizing the event, thanks to Izzy, Si, and Madison for volunteering to help out! I hope you all have break you are looking for. Enjoy the sleeping in and getting the rest you need to complete this semester when we get back in 2020!
Be well, amyK
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