Behind The Eyes of a Hero (Year 1, Week 15)
What motivates you to be kind to others? Which is more important: being kind or being right? When would you choose winning over being kind?
As the session continues, the studio discussions keep digging deeper into the heroes’ beliefs about kindness. This week the launches have given the heroes opportunities to discuss not only kindness, but freedom, upholding promises and responsibility.
Pitch-a-Pet Followup
Last session Caden and Jack gave the winning pitch at the exhibition for the studio to get a pet hamster. At the end of the exhibition the question was posed to the heroes: Do you think that you are capable of maintaining a studio pet without help or intervention from guides or parents? This week, Monday’s launch also began with this question, and the heroes took part in a passionate discussion about the realities of having a pet in the studio. Surprisingly, opinions where divided as to whether or not the heroes are capable of maintaining the pet by themselves.
After discussing further what specific things would need to be done in order for the pet to be happy and healthy, a vote was taken based on the following scale:
On a scale from 1–5 how well do you think the studio will be able to look after the pet appropriately? (1 being poor, 5 being excellent).
The heroes all wrote down their votes anonymously for guides to count. An average of 4 or higher was required in order for the pet to be purchased. Surprisingly, the average of the votes came in at 3.8. Because of this, the heroes will not be getting a hamster in the studio for now. Although the heroes were disappointed, the studio will continue to discuss if the heroes are prepared and capable of looking after a pet and will re-vote later in the session. We imagine a pet hamster will make an appearance sometime in the near future.
Marine Science Quest
A new week brings a new set of marine challenges for the earth explorer heroes that are involved in the quest. This week the heroes have been exploring coral reefs, symbiosis and taxonomy. The challenge that proved to be the most time-intensive for the heroes was creating a paper model of a coral reef that included 5 animals, 5 types of coral and 1 example of a symbiotic relationship. A challenging but enjoyable task for the heroes.
The quest continued on Wednesday with the heroes discovering how animals are categorized and finding the Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species of their favorite marine animals.
The heroes were also apprehensive to learn the exciting location for this session’s exhibition. The exhibition will not be held in the studio as it has been for previous sessions, instead the heroes will be displaying their Quest work from this session at the Boise Aquarium!
SOLE
The heroes are living in a time when technology is changing rapidly and things that once seemed impossible are becoming reality. In China, they are using 3D Printing to make entire office buildings, in the medical industry nano robots have started being used to deliver medicine to specific parts of a patients body and nowadays, you can use virtual reality technology to sit in the stands at an NFL game, visit a shopping centre and even fly to the moon and back, all without leaving your house.
So, how will technology change the world in the next 10 years?
This was the first SOLE question to be explored by the heroes this session. It proved to be a very engaging topic, sparking their curiosity and interest. The heroes worked in teams to find 2 examples to share with the group as well as answering a second question: What is one invention you hope will be created by the time you are 20? The heroes responses for this question included robots to make their meals, cars that can operate on land, air and sea, shoes that can run for you and improved virtual reality to include touch.
Re-signing the Contract
Wednesday morning’s discussion posed the heroes with a difficult choice: if you were driving on a quiet road, with no other cars around, would you go 1 or 2 miles over the speed limit or not? Surprisingly to the guides, each hero agreed they would not go over the speed limit, followed by an interesting discussion about laws, choice and consequences.
The follow up question involved a police officer catching a speeder, and if he should be warm hearted or tough minded.
Speed limits and stop signs are a lot like the studio contract each hero has promised to follow. The final question posed to them was: What is more important to creating a world class studio, heroes who choose to willingly follow the contract, or your fellow travelers who enforce the contract.
During the close group at the end of the day, this discussion was circled back to as the heroes chose to re-commit to the studio contract. Along with the signing and commitment by our newest hero, Adri, each hero recommitted verbally to their fellow travelers and then re-signed the studio contract, promising to continue to respect and uphold the contract promises.
Writer’s Workshop
With the writer’s workshop being extended this session, the heroes are being challenged to write longer and more detailed stories. This week the ocean theme of the session was also linked to the writing prompt:
The heroes focussed on drafting and peer revision this week and will take part in community of editors (the most recently introduced stage in Writer’s workshop) and publishing next week. As the heroes become more comfortable with writing, new layers of excellence are slowly being added.
Wrapping up the Week
This Friday, as the heroes discussed their week during squad meetings, powerful reflections were shared. As parents and guides, we often look at measurements we can understand to see that learning is occurring. We look at points and hero bucks, or grades and report cards for that matter. Reflections like these, however, share a different story. Stories of struggle, acknowledgement of challenges and consequences, and the satisfaction of pushing through when the task was seemingly too big, to name a few. In these tender moments, evidence of character and real world skills is evident. These kinds of lessons are hard to quantify, but in moments like these it becomes clear… the forging of heroic character is happening inside these young heroes.
