I recently met a surgeon and struck up a conversation with him about his practice. At one point during the conversation he started telling me about the interns and residents who work for him, commenting that they are among the most successful, highest performing students that our educational system produces. He described one such young physician as …
What Acton Learners Know That Surgical Residents Don’t Read More »
I often wonder if people first encountering our language about a hero’s journey dismiss it as cute rhetoric aimed at children. It is an admittedly easy thing to do. The word conjures images of comic book characters in capes, superpowers, and plotlines distant from the realities of daily life. In fact, when I was first talking with …
An acquaintance of mine recently shared his experience in being invited to judge a Student of the Year competition at a public school in his area. His role was to interview the candidates and cast a vote for the award. In his description of his experience, he explained that he would pose similar questions to each of the candidates at the outset of the interview. “Why should you be considered for …
Last year, I wrote to you with some reflections about the release of Chat-GPT and how text-generating AI platforms pose an existential threat to traditional educational paradigms — that because of AI’s superiority in sheer accumulation of knowledge, solely “learning to know” is all but obsolete, and a child’s education must instead equip him with the skills …
A few weeks ago, the Arrows took a field trip to Exodus as part of our Experiencing US Citizenship quest. Our host from the organization was exceptionally complimentary of our group and recently sent us some warm/cool/warm feedback, which I thought was pretty remarkable and worth a moment of your time to read. What I …
Teacher vs. Guide? A common question we are asked is why we call the adult in the room a guide instead of a teacher. It’s an important question, and the answer cuts to the core of our learning design here at Acton Academy Northwest Indy. Let’s investigate. At the outset, let me establish that this …
Earlier this year we provided a survey to our Wonder studio learners asking them how they feel while they are at school. Each learner was able to choose four words. Here were the options: Happy EncouragedChallengedAngryAfraidSupportedLonelyTiredBoredInterestedConfusedExcited Any guesses as to which they chose? The top vote-getter was actually challenged, with 90% of the learners choosing it. This was closely followed by happy. 86% …
Sometimes parents hear about our learner-driven goals of self-governance and self-management in the studios and wonder whether this will lead to disobedience or disrespect from their children at home – whether boundaries will become non-existent and that their children will become unruly renegades in all areas of life. It’s a fair question. After all, it’s …
At Acton Academy NW Indy, we send out regular surveys to our families asking them to rate how we are doing and provide comments about their experience. This is an unusual practice for a school, but we believe that there is no better way to understand how we are doing (and improve where needed) than …
While watching the Arrows play outside during free time the other day, I was struck by their joyful exuberance. It was palpable, and I found myself smiling just watching them. As I was taking it all in, a handful of comments that I’ve recently heard from many of you came to mind. Being that we …
