Something to run for...

CheetahCountrySurprise#3  There will be mass confusion! … for parents . Yes! Every day I try to inspire our partners to remember two things of importance. ·        First, all kids are capable, creative, and whole-just the way they are! ·       Second, “don’t steal their practice!” I believe that in life, each day is a gift. It is the chance to improve and discover and find something amazing. It is a chance to help, to build, and inspire. In the short three-hundred sixty minutes each day, a partner’s main role is to ensure all students feel a part of their own story- Their OWN story. So we make a commitment. The partners seem to make it silently. I seem to make it loudly. We commit that each day we will let students have the practice,  for they are the expert on them. This sounds so odd. Even as I write it, the mother in me feels a bit anxious. It seems to go against what we feel as par...

CheetahCountrySurprise#2      We do not reward “hard work” or “rule following” Nothing makes a kid turn on you like fake praise. It is the blood in the water that draws out the sharks and nothing makes them come for you faster than words of encouragement for mediocrity or for things that are expected for daily existence.  “Great job, you put your coat in your cube” are words never to be heard here.  You would think there would be more cube filling of items if there was praise of cube filling of items- but friend that does not happen!   If your boss told you he liked the report you submitted, and it is just some form to fill out- you would feel weird. The compliment would feel fake. So is the same with students. Students will put items in their cubes and neatly, when they run into trouble finding their items.    Why? Children and adolescents alike will not repeat a behavior just because someone says the behavior made the observer happy...

CheetahCountrySurprise#1 Our Learning Partners are NOT in charge of learning. The real heart of the matter is that at BA Academy the learner is in charge. We make it our daily purpose to shift the power and control of learning to the learner herself! The lab and studio are student-governed. This is both an awe-inspiring and disruptive element that makes our learning community unique. Our learning partners are partners in learning, not in charge of it. Disruptive It is “disruptive” because it is different from what one would expect in a learning environment. It is “awe-inspiring” because when you see it in action, it is quite breath-taking. Talk about "out of your comfort zone" - What do you get when you turn the learning over to a student and give them a long, shiny new bowling alley? The request for bumpers.  This is quite funny. They do not ask for someone to stand behind them. They do not ask for the long metal thing to guide the ball down and ensure they ro...