The Mini-Guide Journey
As week 2 began Guides shared the following, “You are these learners’ Mini-Guide and you are responsible for helping them learn how to use materials properly and learn how the studio works. Are you ready for this job?” Each returning Spark Studio learner’s eyes widened, mouth grinned, and spine stretched taller as they graciously agreed to serve as Mini-Guides, a big honor and responsibility!
What is a Mini-Guide at Acton? It is a Guide in training who is about half the size of an adult, hence the mini. A Mini-Guide has lots of studio experience and is willing to practice patience and kindness in order to guide new learners in the process of learning to learn while Mini-Guides learn to be a leader.
In Spark this week, Mini-Guides were given 2-3 learners to guide during Core Skills. They were required to help learners pick materials on their badge plan, find the material and guide learners to set up their work space properly. All learners already received material lessons with a Guide yet the Mini-Guide was there to hold learners accountable and helped inspire and encourage as needed. Once learners were working hard the Mini-Guide found their own materials and modeled star learner work ethic. Mini-Guides were the thing to be! The studio buzzed as these little pods of learners navigated peer learning at its finest! After the first day of the Mini-Guide experiment I asked one learner about her experience. Here’s her wise insight:
Me: Today your were a Mini-Guide, was this job hard or easy for you?
Learner: It was in between, it was fun but it was sort of tricky.
Me: What was tricky?
Learner: I had to keep my eyes on them and sometimes the materials they wanted were already taken so I had to try again. Sometimes they didn’t listen and it was hard to get my work done at the same time.
Me: Do you think you’ll continue to be a Mini-Guide tomorrow?
Learner: YES! I’m experienced now so tomorrow I’ll try it again and keep practicing because they need me to help them learn.
The following day when the same learner got a bit frustrated I asked two shifting questions. 1. What type of Guide do you want to be known as? She pondered. 2. What’s more important to you right now, yourself or your team? She breathed in, tilted her head, and then she was back on the job without a single word!
The power of the Mini-Guide peer learning process is what makes the Acton environment not only work but thrive!
In the Discovery Studio, Mini-Guides aren’t exactly declared however you will find these workers quietly on the job. This week I overheard one particular learner share “I can’t do it for you, I want you to learn how to do it on your own, I’ll guide you through the steps.” This learner set clear boundaries (tough-minded) and helped with kindness (warm-hearted), 2 essential traits of an Acton Guide. These are the moments that are worth it, worth all the modeling, worth all the long-game work of not answering questions but guiding learners to discover their own answers. This is how children grow, this is how children gain confidence in themselves and develop work ethic, this is how our children will change the world!