Leading with Levels
Imagine this, you’ve been waiting for a brand new outdoor mud kitchen to be ready, you watched as it was assembled, parts painted, and as all the accessories were added. Your eyes have been wide with wonder and your creativity bursting to make muddy creations for your pretend restaurant. After hearing and agreeing to the rules of the kitchen (no mud on bodies and all accessories put away when you are done) you are ready to create! You are in your happy zone but at the end of the day you and your friends created a muddy disaster and in fact broke brand new materials. Together you broke the mud kitchen rules. So, what happens?
This was our most recent Acton experience and in true Acton form the mud kitchen moment was put on hold and we asked for learner consultants to help develop a mud earning system. Early this week, I spoke to a Discovery Studio learner who seemed to have it all figured out. Since he had so many ideas at lunch I scheduled an official consultation appointment. He assessed the mud kitchen with deep inspection and disappointment and said “The first step is this all has to go, we need to just pretend only and earn everything back step by step, only then will we learn to use it all properly.” So, we packed up the pots, the pans, the bowls, and all the fun measuring tools and jars, it all had to go!
He then thought through Level 0: just pretend, Level 1: pretend with pots, Level 2-pretend with pots and small accessories, Level 3-pretend with everything plus bowls, Level 4: pretend with everything and with small found collections (mason jars of rocks, leaves+), Level 5: dry dirt, Level 6: water. Not only did this learner think through the levels of privileged materials he thought it was essential to use our check and X system and set clear criteria for earning the next level. There’s bonus points to earn extra checks and a clear guardrail for X behavior. This learner had it all figured out and said “We’ll start with this and try it out for a while, we might need to edit but I think this will get us in the right direction.” Now that he figured it all out, now what?
This brave mud kitchen level leader requested his audience of learners in each studio, brought a box of the removed kitchen items as evidence, and began explaining the problem and his level solution. Learners listened with extreme attention and asked insightful questions. He had answers and everyone knew that if they had a question about mud process, ask him! Following his announcement and discussion all learners broke into applause and he gave a well deserved bow! He was a true mud kitchen leader!
The level system for the mud kitchen is a natural outgrowth of systems at Acton. Last year learners loved "leveling up” when reading the Bob books. The wise Maria Montessori said “follow the child” and so as we took notice, we leaned in, and our level system has been growing. Starting this year we have badge levels, and since February we started Core Skill levels and have begun to think through levels for lunch, studio maintenance, and any Acton process. If you aren’t quite sure about the level system or how learners earn checks or get X’s, ask your learner! Your learner knows this system best, they are experts, and most recently learners have begun to operate this system independently. They are governing their studio together and they are sticklers for the details!
Why do we love levels? First and foremost, learners love the process of leveling up, but second we love levels because they provide a rubric of building excellence that flows without judgement. Leveling down is hard and the effort of leveling up is tough but levels show us where we need to grow. When learners have level leaders both in mind and in action it makes the hero’s journey a little easier to level up together!