Accountability and Teamwork
(year 4, week 8)
“Megan! Why am I not in soaring!?”
“Megan! I have 500 points!”
“This isn’t fair!”
These were some words the heroes began to shout as they approached the freedom level wall. Sometimes Monday’s are tough. Deadlines need to be met, waking up early after a fun weekend is hard and there is always a lot to do. Heroes work all week in core skills to move up in their freedom levels and when they don’t make it into the freedom level they wanted, or even thought they were in, well, that’s difficult.
Monday’s launched kicked off with the theme of, “Accountability.”
The guide presented the following topic:
“Imagine this… You work all week, tracking points, reading badge books and putting points into journey tracker. You walk in on Monday morning to see your name is not in the freedom level you thought it should be, what is your first response?
Get angry and upset?
Ask your running partner or squad leader to look over your points?
Go back through to see if you made an error?
Something else?
The resounding answer seemed to be: Get angry and upset.
This was such a natural and honest response. There is so much strength in honesty. How often, as adults, do we immediately go to that response? Maybe at home or work, when something doesn’t pan out the way we think it should. When expectations are not met, it is just flat out deflating. The heroes so easily recognized that in themselves.
Through the conversation, a hero raised their hand and said:
“You know, I wouldn’t do this when I’m older and have a job. I couldn’t just get upset at work and yell at everyone. I would need some evidence!”
The guide responded:
“What type of evidence would you need?”
“The type that would either prove my argument or show me that I need to be more accountable for tracking right.”
After the heroes broke and moved into core skills. They could be seen helping one another calculate their points. They could be seen asking questions about what a “level” in Dreambox really means; and, quite frankly, the best scene was when a squad leader held the hand of a young hero and said;
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to be alone, accountability takes teamwork.”
Conflict Resolution
There was a heated moment in the studio on Tuesday. It went from a quiet disagreement to flat out screaming. The guide walked over and witnessed two heroes near a complete breaking point. She quickly separated them into two safe spaces and gave them time to regulate. After about ten minutes, they were approached individually and eventually brought together to go through the process of their conflict resolution. It was a tough situation. One hero felt left out while the other hero explained she just wanted space. Deep breaths were taken and eventually two bear hugs were given between the heroes.
While reflecting on the moment later, with a small group, the guide asked the following question:
“I want you to think of a time when you were so upset you just started shouting, screaming, and felt like your body was out of control. What would help you the best in that moment?
Someone giving you advice and telling you to calm down?
Someone sitting next to you, maybe holding your hand or just telling you they were there for you?
Something else?
The heroes agreed that all they really wanted was to not feel alone. They just wanted someone to understand their pain but not fix their pain. That’s tough. It feels so natural, to help a friend or family member. The world would be much easier if we could just explain someones hurt away.
One of the heroes then asked:
“Why can’t I just give advice and explain to you that you are just being crazy? Feelings aren’t fact!”
Another hero replied:
“I don’t want my feelings to be thought of as crazy. I know it isn’t fact. But I just want someone to believe me when I tell them I hurt. Because sometimes I am hurting so much and just want someone to sit with me in it.”
Learning to Be is an anthem at heroes and that moment felt like one of the truest, Learn to Be moments that had ever happened before.
Launching
The heroes love running discussions. On Wednesday, a few heroes led a closing, a role that is usually seen taken on by a guide. The excitement of signing up to run a launch had really rippled through the community. It is a role they take seriously and love to uphold.
While a few of the heroes were running the closing, the introduced Badge Book reviews, talked about some Studio Maintenance issues and most exciting, asked the heroes: “What was your up for the day?” Hands shot up left and right. The heroes were so excited to share their ups that some of them had to be reminded to stay seated around the rug.
Here are a few of the “ups” from the day:
“My up was that I finished Writer’s Workshop and my mom and dad were so proud of me!”
“I submitted three reading badges! I am probably going to middle school soon.”
“I did my entire studio maintenance job and didn’t complain.”
“I think I made a new friend today.”
“I finally love school. Even when it is so loud I can’t think.”
Their ups always send a positive vibe and happy giggles throughout the studio.
Prototypes
One of the Quest challenges for the week was: Create a Prototype. The heroes were challenged to use whatever supplies they could find to create an almost life-like version of their game. They were pretty wide-eyed when they realized they couldn’t just start using the products they bought from the store. There was a bit of a frenzy until one hero said:
“Guys, this is real world! Before anyone gives you money you gotta show them a prototype! How else would you get money to create anything!? Unless you’re like a billionaire.”
The heroes buckled down and started to work. Cardboard went flying and there was dice scattered all over the floor. Scissors were exchanging hands faster than the Yacker Tracker heroes could scream, “EVERYONE FREEZE!” After an hour of intentional chaos, heroes sprinted to where the guide was to show off their finished product:
When reflecting, the guide asked them what was the hardest part about building a prototype:
“I think the hardest thing for me was realizing my instructions didn’t make sense.”
“I realized our game wouldn’t take very long so we had to add steps and cards.”
“I realized ours rocks!”
Clubs
In the Discovery studio, there is such a deep need for the heroes to create connections. They love chatting, creating and learning together. Whether that is with the entire studio or small groups. On Friday, many of the heroes started to breakout into tiny clubs. Clubs that allowed anyone and everyone as long as they committed to their duties and followed through.
One of the heroes started a club, name to be decided, that revolves around cleaning up trash. He said:
“I want to pick up so much trash that one day Trash Island will be completely gone.”
During outdoor experience, the hero could be seen with gloves on and a trash bag in hand, walking the perimeter of the park and field. When the heroes made their way inside, he continued to pick up garbage that was left out, stating,
“We gotta keep cleaning up because our oceans suffer!”
Later on he was pitching his idea to set up a club room, where new members and him could talk about their next steps and plans of attack in cleaning up the school and park. Which hopefully, will lead to even bigger and better clean up projects. The week truly ended how it started, completely centered around learning to be.
Wrap-Up
With the weekly theme being learning to be, there was never a dull moment in the studio. The launches centered around honesty and creativity. With one of the launches being the heroes personal favorite:
“Would you rather explore the sea or Outer Space?”
The heroes really dove into topics that helped them work through creative setbacks and even their conflict resolutions. It was a week filled with beautiful ups and some of the lowest of lows. But, no matter what they went through, they wrapped up Friday with their beloved character call-outs and laughed with one another all the way out the front door. With the second session being more than halfway over, it is beautiful to see how much the heroes care for one another and how deeply they fight for their studio to be the sacred place that it is.
