What does it mean to be human?

This is a big question with a myriad of answers, worth a deep dive, investigation, and many conversations. Every year at Acton we choose an overarching question, a question that invites deep thought for our learners to explore possible answers over the course of each session. Given the fact that this is our inaugural year and given our world health crisis we thought humanity was a nice place to start. 

Every year we ask one big question and every session has a related theme. What is Session 1’s theme? PEACE. In the Spark Studio, peace means so many things. Your learner has been learning to cultivate inner peace, peace with friends, and how we show kindness and respect for others and their work. Peace is also about being yourself. Everyday this session learners have been sharing more and more about themselves and what makes them unique. We’ve been dancing, singing, reading, and having many conversations about peace. 

Have you noticed anything different about your learner? 

Everyday we’ve been practicing our greetings with Guides and friends. Learners have been practicing different verbal greetings and extra special secret handshakes, elaborate high-fives, and oh so favorite hip bumps! It’s been pretty fun greeting friends with silly smiles, kind voices, and each learner’s beautiful name! Besides greetings we’ve also been working on taking turns and non-verbally asking for attention. Gone are the days of interrupting with jumps, constant taps, or “look at me’s” instead learners have almost mastered the skill of non-verbally interrupting a Guide or friend. How to practice this at home? When you or your learner wants to get someone’s attention simply place your hand on their shoulder or arm and wait for them to acknowledge you. This non-verbal signal tells someone that you want their attention or want to ask a question. The person interrupted gets to find a pause in what they are doing and the person interrupting gets to be heard. All is much, much more peaceful.

Session 1 has been all about discovering peace and working together as a community. What does it mean to be human in Spark? It means we find, create, honor, and share peace.