Learning to Level Up

The beautiful thing about Acton is learners create their own rules and have 100% stake in their learning environment. The hard part, following rules and holding yourself and others accountable so everyone learns safely and joyfully with friends. 

As learners struggled through the process of holding one another accountable for rule breaking they began their individual and tribe’s journey of feeling privilege and setting goals. The first lesson learners discovered was information-learning is one of the greatest privileges. What happens when your Guide is invisible and a friend can’t help you? You problem solve and learn you know much more than you thought! Slowly, the levels of privileges were developed for the Spark tribe to explore. If the rules were mastered by all, we level up! (They love to cheer “Level UP”) The journey of levels is as follows: Level 1, information-earning lessons with new material; Level 2, listening to music while working; Level 3, working near a friend; Level 4, working with a friend; Level 5, snack time is restored. Once the coveted snack is restored and learners can maintain a kind snack operation the greatest reward of all is the learner suggested PJ movie party! Learners are assessing their level up status and they are 100% hard on themselves and right. Learners are currently on Level 4. It’s taken a while but I’m rooting for them and that PJ party, it’ll happen! 

It’s been amazing to hear the empathy and tricks that learners share with one another, “I forget to move my bathroom stick too, I can help you, but next time you’ve got to remember (pointed finger and stern look brimming with a smile)” and “I know it’s hard to not run in the studio but all you have to do is pretend you’re marching”. Everyone loves laughing and cheering with their tribe but the true bond of friendship develops when things are hard. Difficulty breeds kindness, empathy, and encouragement. As rules continued to be broken and team levels of privilege harder to reach, learners shined.