Building Culture for a New Year
After a summer of exciting work in which the Long-View team led professional development for educators from across the US, some invigorating sessions of Open Math at the school for our kids that weren’t ready to shut off their “math brains,” and some down time too, we’re now fully immersed in our new year at the micro school.
We kicked things off with Launch Camp, when our newest learners spent two days diving right in to the Long-View way of life – building pendulums from scratch to learn about momentum (and collaboration), choosing the first just-right books for their personal book bins (and understanding that THEY are taking charge of their reading lives), and even figuring out how much is too much in one’s backpack on the walk to the park at lunch time (while realizing that the adults at Long-View trust them to manage all of these details).
When everyone else arrived, the next week, we also welcomed four new learning communities: Violet, Aqua, Sage and Crimson bands. New and returning Long-View learners found themselves in fresh combinations of personalities, experiences and interests. In each band, we’re starting to see the particular magic of these juxtapositions emerge as we all tackle new explorations in the four disciplines.
At the beginning of each day, Campfires spark our intellectual curiosity in discussions that often begin in specificity and lead us to larger observations. Recent weeks have found learners leading Campfires on the French Revolution, knot tying, celestial objects, the history of glass, monarch butterflies, the US Open, the anatomy of the bass violin, and the ambitiously titled “We Will Fix It” – a roadmap for addressing climate change.
Mornings – before our school day officially begins – also provide time for learners to take on projects of their own design as well as greater responsibility in the stewardship of various spaces and projects in the Long-View community. Through the trustee programs in the library and Maker Space, learners manage materials to help others make use of these resources more effectively. The library trustees do intake on book donations and organize and maintain the collection on an ongoing basis. Maker Space trustees train and certify other learners in the use of tools and offer consultation on projects. Big + Little Math begins this week, so lunchtime today found “Bigs” (older learners) in search of their “Littles” (younger learners) to introduce themselves ahead of Thursday’s first morning session. For more on Big + Little Math, see Astrid’s guest post from 2019.
September brings a burst of energy to all of us in schools as we get past the settling-in stage and rebuild our capacity to focus and think deeply about the work of our disciplines. Learners in Math, Science, Literacy, and Computer Science blocks are all well into the midst of invigorating units, so here’s to a new year in full swing!
