Collaboration Ripples
Imagine this, your child is laser focused with determination and wonder as they problem solve with a friend. Could your child have found this state of flow on their own? Maybe, but often they find it faster and more delightfully when working with a peer or even group of friends.
This session Guides and I have been encouraging deeper collaboration between learners and the ripples of collaboration have inspired a wave of productivity and joy in the studios! Small moments of teaching a fellow Owl to operate the essential oil diffuser and assisting a friend how to organize the challenging Math 100 board material may seem small but truly these little things have the power to change a learners outlook in a big way. The ripple creates a wave, here’s how.
Most adults think a child needs to learn from an expert, usually an adult, but at Acton we know that children learn best from and with an expert friend, a fellow Owl. This is why Guides show the way by connecting learners to collaborate. Here’s an example, this week I asked one learner who is a great reader and who often gets a little too curious with the studio happenings if he would be willing to work with another learner on the A-Z sound pouches. “I would love to do that! I’m a great reader and I’d love to help him work!” Seconds later the two were smiling big, naming sound pouch items, and working through pronunciation tips. 15 minutes later they were still going strong and worked their way through the whole alphabet. When they were done they each planned their next work goal, high-fived, and then returned to working on their own.
Sometimes learners are encouraged to collaborate as mentors (learners who mastered a material or concept) or as fellow travelers (learners on the same level working to problem solve). Plus, some learners need no encouragement at all from Guides and magically find their way together. Now you might question, are they really always working productively or are they fooling around? Both happen but there are guardrails in place for other learners to hold collaborating learners accountable. Intentional collaboration means that learners work towards a goal and achieve it while working together. Work together can sometimes be brief such as a quiz of the 7 continents and 5 ocean labeling, debugging a learning app, or figuring out how to upload evidence pictures to Journey Tracker. Other times working together can be arduously long as you all learn to finger knit or decide on your specific business product to bring to market. If other learners notice that more laughter is happening than work they’ll tell you and they’ll remind you to get back to work or to work on your own. Learners are always watching!
It’s important to note that after every collaboration there’s a celebration. You’ll see high fives, hugs, floss dances, and most often the sharing that they helped each other and what they learned. Collaboration isn’t just productive, it’s full of pride, fun, and so many transferable skills. Working together promotes skills of empathy, listening, practice habits of conflict resolution, project management, leadership and teamwork.
This week we had a guest visit our school, Ms. Liliana, and after one hour of being at our Acton she said “It’s so amazing, these kids really want to be here, they are so engaged and they want to work together!” This was a humbling reminder that the community we are building at Acton is truly special. Learning is fun and ripples of collaboration fuel our journey. I’ve said it before but it’s always worth repeating, thank you for collaborating with us and for going on this Acton journey! The small ripples we create now will undoubtedly grow and spread inside and outside our blue walls, the wave of the future is growing. Here’s a future to look forward to, a video of older learners at Acton Academy in Austin talking about their Acton collaboration journey.