Supporting Our Children Through Change
Acton is growing! And with that comes change. On the one hand, I believe we (parents, heroes and founders) all want our school to grow and thrive. At the same time, change causes uncertainty. Even positive change, is still change. New children have joined and may join. One Discovery hero made the choice to move to Spark last week. We have had a couple of potential guides come into Discovery to give hero talks. And we have new people in the hallways here for school tours. Plus we have a new massive gaga pit 🙂
One the one hand, I had the realization this week that we have successfully fostered a “tight-knit learning community” which is exactly what’s promised by Actons across the world. Let’s celebrate that. On the other hand, now we have the challenge of growing that community and successfully bringing in other heroes, families and guides. It’s a new stage in our hero’s journey as an Acton Academy and for all the members of our tribe.
Our Guides are both excited by all the personal growth opportunities we are seeing around us and we are talking all the time about what’s going on, and implementing strategies for supporting everyone in the community. Here are some ways you can support your child(ren):
Questions to ask:
- Have you used the peace table to manage conflicts with other heroes at school? Did you feel like you had a better understanding of your friend at the end? Did you have a better understanding of your own actions at the end?
- Do you ever refuse to go to the peace table when a friend asks? Why? Does it feel uncomfortable? silly? take you away from more fun things?
- Do the benefits of the conflict resolution process (good feelings and friendships) outweigh the cons?
- What’s the “five-second filter” in Spark? Should you use it only when a person is near you? or away from you also (i.e. filter gossip)?
- What do you do or where do you go when you need to get away from distracting friends, reset or take space? Are the blue boards in Discovery helpful? Would you like to set up your desk somewhere else? Are there ways we need to change the studio or systems? Can you bring those ideas up to the group?
- What changes are you excited about? What new friends could join? What leadership opportunities are there for you to help new friends feel welcome?
- Would you like to learn to give school tours?
- How long do you think it takes to get to know someone? What’s changed for you since joining Acton? Are you the same as you were five months ago? Or a year ago?
- What are all the things that are likely to stay the same in the next six months? (routines, your goals, current friends, learning, core skills, quests, etc)
- What are the benefits to your learning of a larger community in your studio? (more friends to collaborate with, more options for groups, higher-quality discussions, more ideas)?
