In June, 23 people gathered for an 8 day learning lab at the Heartwood Agile Learning Center. The hosting team included adults from Heartwood and from ALC-NYC, as well as 3 kids from Heartwood.
My pre-covid summer gatherings were designed as 3 training days + 5 practice days with local ALC kids joining to do “bonus school.” Last year, I organized 3 events with differing designs, and found that the training ones were attended by 8-15 people who usually came with a friend and wanted to talk, while the lab and “bonus school” ones were 4-7 people who showed up ready to play. All these numbers include both adults and kids, of course.
This year’s gatherings were bigger — 23 at Heartwood and 35 at ALC-NYC — and both followed the 3 days + 5 days format. Attendance was much more fluid and attention was much more diffused. This opened space for much more small-group connection-building, creative expression, and rest than in the previous year’s gatherings. As a host it was pretty satisfying to see people relaxed and inspired. As a designer, though, it was a little difficult to read the impact folks being in-and-out so much.
I went from “They’re doing what the kids do during school, for real! How cool they get to experience that!” to “The kids have much more time, so they actually get the lessons in practicing with light structures and doing intentional relationship work. Can adults really start deschooling and get any of those lessons in so little time, especially without all being consistently present to receive direct instruction and facilitated exercises that they can then reflect on together?”
The anxiety said, “I feel like I can’t really provide support for folks’ growth intentions and meaning-making processes without more continuity, and I worry the group can’t provide that support to each other without more coherence.” Experience said, “I trust people to experiment, live the consequences of their choices, and find the lessons they need when they’re ready. I trust their process and that there’s always more learning going on than I can know. If I do what I said — call people together and hold open the space for them — they’ll make from it what they need and it’ll be enough.”
I breathed and checked in with folks, told my anxiety we would be okay, told my curiosity we had some exciting questions to play with, and took things one day at a time. Folks leaving at different times — at both gatherings — meant we didn’t get to do a whole-group reflection. We closed with a gratitude circle of whoever was present, and then I emailed out a survey.
Heartwood Survey Responses Summary
People appreciated how warm, open, and generous the space was. They appreciated each other and their hosts, celebrated getting to play and adventure, enjoyed sharing music and meals. They noted that the relaxed vibe felt good, made it easy to feel like they could try things or join things. They left thinking about conversations on the ways our practices reflect our values, where and how we learn (and teach) beyond formally structured spaces, and how the experience of being a facilitator changes with the cultures and structures of different places.
They would be excited about experiments with making the gathering a few days shorter. One suggested version would include scheduling in-depth conversations or visits from current community members over lunch, and really encouraging folks to prioritize being present to begin and end together. Another suggested version would be a family camp, one week of just age-mixed open-space with content-related goals released. An adult suggested keeping the number of days but making them shorter. A kid suggested keeping it all but turning the whole thing over to her and her friends to run.
Asked what they learned, people had lots to share! They learned more about who they are as learners and what kind of support helps them move beyond their comfort zones. They appreciated getting to be embodied and playful, and that being valued. They reflected on how a foundational relationship can make space for someone to facilitate us in ways we need but maybe wouldn’t be receptive to otherwise. They realized they can learn new things, even though they’re grown ups! They realized they want to learn things and that they don’t have to learn or know or plan all the things. They realized reflecting on their capacities, roles, and values will set them up much better for iterating with a complex system like a school community through a 10 month sprint than stressing over trying to design and plan everything ahead of time will.
Someone shared being surprised to discover enjoying being with new people, which isn’t always easy for them. Some else shared being surprised by the transparency of the hosts, with the chance to learn more about what it takes to prepare and run an open space event that offered. Multiple people mentioned learning that they can make space to be surprised, release attachment and expectations, and trust that learning is always happening… and have really wonderful experiences in the process. They expressed curiosity about what living those realizations will look like for them moving into the fall.
People left with some questions still about how to run an Agile Learning Center or other organization, how to bring more family members to experience workshops and gatherings like ours, how to support their kids thinking critically about new technologies, and how to really make the perfect deep fried oreos at home. They also left expressing gratitude for the space, the hosts, and the connections they made with each other.
The Heartwood folks made clear that my sense the structure of the gathering wants changing was correct and-but they felt connected to and held by the group, learned a lot that they intend to keep building on, and overall really enjoyed their time. So I didn’t need to worry after all! A sailor friend sometimes talks about skills where practice doesn’t make it easier but does make you faster at handling the hard parts… and my facilitation work often feels like that. Never boring and often amusing!
The NYC crew hasn’t had much time to reply to their survey yet, so I only have a few responses. I’ll give them a little more time then write a separate summary.
Playing with different ideas for event formats for next year — as well as with the question of if I’m in the right role or should call in new designer-hosts — I’m listening to a bunch of gathering-season reflections from non-ALC folks who have been doing a lot of hosting. They run festivals, retreats, all-ages summer camps, parties for people who met on Twitter, and more. They’ve been generously posting reflections on their experiences, and giving me a lot to think about. My plan is to put what I hear in their reflections in dialogue with the ALC-NYC gathering folks’ reflections and hopefully find some cool insights to share. We’ll see!
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