Tag: process
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Template for Student Notes
I’ve written a lot about documenting as a facilitator in self-directed learning spaces. Every update of the ALC Network website or Starter Kit, I rework the section on documentation based on what I see day-to-day. There are always more questions for facilitators to consider: How much documentation should be from you versus from the young…
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Summer 2024 ALC Gathering Reflections!
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…
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The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Kanban
“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools…Responding to change over following a plan…” When I was first looking for information on Agile Software Development, I found these lines and smiled. It makes so much sense: meet people where they are, pay attention to relationships and dynamics, have tools but don’t get attached to them, plan but…
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Making it official.
Growing up, I was often told that I should go to school to become a professor. Meanwhile, I read stories about and observed the lives of master teachers. And I started asking how they got to where they were. A pattern soon emerged, and it made a lot of sense to me: the master teachers–the…
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Broadcasting
It’s a behavior that various magazines I read as a kid attributed to pregnant women and children in the early stages of speech development. You’ve likely encountered it…”I want macaroni” or “I’m going to the bathroom” or “I’m drawing now.” These are all examples of broadcasting. Now, I’m not pregnant or celebrating a new ability to express…
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On expectations…
This was a week in which I reflected on the difference between intentions and expectations. Twice, I set the intention with kids to go ice skating. I intended to reconnect with a friend who’s been off-grid. Intended to get new body art. To stretch. To blog. To clean. I called these my intentions, but they…
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On Consequences
The word “consequence” seems to trigger strong reactions from people, particularly in the context of adult-child relationships and school power dynamics. Over and over, I have found myself clarifying that “consequence” is not the same as “punishment.” A consequence is simply the effect brought about by a decision or pattern of decisions. We tend to…
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Slog Blog
I haven’t been blogging. I’ve been going through the past few weeks totally present during the school day, diligently responding to Slack/texts/emails/calls after school, showing up for lots of meetings, and simultaneously juggling some large happenings in my personal life. Frequently, I’ll stop and think about wanting to include something in my weekly blog post–a…
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Fundraising!
I’ve had plans for some time to start a crowdfunding campaign. The idea showed up last year, when I wished we had funds to cover more pricey field trips so that all students who wanted to go could do so easily. Since we’re a private school, we don’t receive state funding and so are dependent…
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Visions
There was a lot of talk at ALF Weekend about visioning. What is the ALC project? What kind of growth do we want? Where? How fast? Why? Who wants to be doing what? What would our mission statement for the network sound like (if it’s different from those of schools…but what are those)? The questions…
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Editing
It’s like I’m a self-directed learner or something. Some of my ALF friends write amazingly, and I really wanted to be like “Hey, just write and get all that fascinating, useful, beautiful storytelling out of your head and onto this page so I can read it. Then let me fix the punctuation and grammar so other…
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Graduation Process Proposal
Back at the last assembly meeting, I committed to hold a series of discussions with kids–and open to parents–to elucidate a graduation process. The goal was to have a proposal ready for the the next assembly meeting (tomorrow), where it could be amended and [hopefully] approved so it can be presented officially in September. The…
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Conflict Resolution
When I was in school, “conflict resolution” took the form of teacher-shuts-it-down-with-threats/punishments to keep class time lesson-focused. As I studied progressive and alternative forms of education, I came across many approaches to dealing with conflicts between students. There were “J.C.s” (Judicial Committees) comprised of students, essentially local courts. There were teacher trainings on using non-violent…
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Answer to “Are your facilitators ever students?” OR What Hamlet has to do with ALC
Monday feels like a really long time ago. We had visitors from ALC Mosaic (who decided to come to school even though they were on spring break), a visiting week student, Tomis 🙂 , and some parents, so things were extra busy. Like four-field-trip-week busy. Which is how I prefer things, but cramming alll that…
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Why I’m cool with day-long Doctor Who marathons…
Yesterday, Adin came in and offered to host a 5-hour Doctor Who marathon. The projector glow mingled with the hum of recorded voices, and the resulting spell pulled passers-by through the door to the Red Room. Some kids powered through the whole marathon while others dropped in and out as they pleased. I was invited…
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Tools and Practices: Set-the-Week in ALCNY
Every Monday we have a meeting called Set-The-Week (STW for short) where we schedule our classes, events, and trips for the week. During the meeting, we record these “offerings” on a whiteboard with columns for each weekday. After the meeting, the offerings get posted on a daily schedule board in the lobby, on individual kanbans…
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