For the week before Remembrance Day, we spent a lot of time on books and stories that tell the tale of this sacred day, of the poppy we wear and what it symbolizes. One of the studio favourites was "Finding Winnie", the true story behind the bear so many of us know and love, Winnie the Pooh. During World War 1, a Canadian veterinarian, Harry Colebourn, rescued an orphaned baby bear and brought her along with his regiment; first to the fields of Valcartier where they trained, and then on to Salibury Plain in England, where they trained even more. She brought so much joy to the soldiers and was beloved by them all. Harry named her "Winnipeg", or "Winnie", to remind them of their home so far away. When it came time to fight, Cole knew Winnie couldn't come with them. He brought her to the London Zoo, where he knew she would be well cared for and safe. It was there, at the London Zoo, where Winnie met a boy named Christopher Robin. He and his father, Alan Alexander Milne, frequented the zoo often and for Christopher, it was love at first sight. He became so close with Winnie that zoo staff would let Christopher into her enclosure to feed Winnie and spend time with her. Christopher named his favourite stuffed animal at home "Winnie" and would take it with him on all of his adventures around his home. His father wrote beautiful stories about their adventures together, and that is where the beloved stories of Winnie the Pooh came from. Everyone adored this story, and especially the album of photos at the end, full of real pictures of Winnie with the troops and with Christopher Robin at the zoo.
The book subtly and gently conveys the tragedy of war; of families being separated, of soldiers returning home injured. It also beautifully shows the power of a gentle heart and the ripple effect our choices can have. Despite marching his way towards war, Harry never lost his compassion and by rescuing that bear cub, brought so much joy to the young men who must have been terribly afraid. That decision ultimately led to Winnie meeting Christopher Robin and his father A.A. Milne. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The Socratic discussion that followed was very powerful. "There's a war waging across the world and there is a fight between good and evil. The war doesn't directly affect you, however you know innocent people are being harmed and are in desperate need for help. You know if you go you will be risking your life and may not see your loved ones again. Do you (a) volunteer to go. You know the risk, but you would want others to do the same for you if you and your family were ever in such a situation (b) stay at home, you don't want to leave your loved ones without you and cause them that heartache, or (c) something else?"
There were lots of different thoughts on this, but one thing is for certain; putting ourselves in the shoes of these soldiers, of what they faced and why they fought, internalized the message of Remembrance Day and what it is we're honouring.
Last week our studio was introduced to the three monsters we face in an Acton studio; the Monster of Distraction, the Monster of Victimhood, and the Monster of Resistance. It was really incredible to see these monsters come up in conversation amongst the learners. During core skills time, I witnessed learners separate themselves from the group to find a quiet, private spot to work from, saying while walking away, "I'm not going to let that Distraction Monster get me today!". Another, after about 3 minutes on his e-learning program began to shut down his computer, saying, "I don't want to do that, it's boring." When asked which monster is pulling you away from achieving your goal today, he responded, "Resistance!". Then opened his computer back up, sat down, and reached the SMART goals he had set for that day. Being able to accurately identify what it was that was pulling them away from important work, then to know what the "elixir" was to overcome it, proved to be a truly powerful tool and was magic to witness in person.
At Acton Academy Nanaimo, we believe all children are geniuses. The link between creative thinking and genius lies in the ability to generate original ideas and solve problems in novel ways. Genius is often associated with exceptional intellectual or creative abilities, and creative thinking is one of the key traits that defines genius. Creative thinkers can see patterns, make connections, and approach problems from different angles, which often leads to breakthroughs in art, science, and other fields.
In the context of George Land's 1960 study commissioned by NASA to identify genius, the "genius" level of creativity he measured in children was essentially their capacity for divergent thinking - coming up with many possible solutions to a problem, rather than just one. The results were striking: 98% of 5-year-olds scored at a "genius" level for creativity. However, by age 10, only 30% maintained that level, and by age 15, it dropped to 12%. The study highlighted how creativity tends to decline as children grow older, raising questions about how traditional education may suppress natural creative abilities. The study suggested that creativity, a fundamental aspect of genius, is something that we may all be born with, but it can be suppressed or diminished as we age and are shaped by societal or educational systems. In other words, genius isn’t just about raw intelligence - it’s also about the freedom and ability to think creatively and unconventionally.
We don't have a playground at Acton Academy Nanaimo. This is by design. What we do have is access to an inventory of large loose parts, a treed hillside, and a stretch of shallow riverfront along the Millstone. Ample opportunity for truly open-ended play to foster innovative and creative thinking. I got to witness this in action this week when a new learner joined our group. We've been playing at the river for 2 months now, building forts and "bases", playing scavenger and hunter and other games they've invented. On this particular day, this learner's first time playing in this area, the group had decided on a hunter/scavenger game. I watched him look around, reach up to a tree, grab a vine of invasive ivy, rip it from the tree, proceed to tear all of the leaves from it one fell swoop of his hand down the vine, find a stick, and tie it to both ends to create a bow. Genius! The other children's eyes went WIDE.....rope! They'd had rope down here all along and didn't know it! In no time, they were all pulling vine, creating instruments, baskets, lashing sticks together to strengthen their fortress, gathering for meetings about how to defeat "the hunters"....they were all so in it, and I was a happy fly on the wall.
For our artist's workshop this week, and in honour of Remembrance Day, we had a Georgia O'Keeffe inspired art project; large scale paintings of flowers, possibly poppies if inspired to do so. We read a beautiful book about the artist and watched this short video to familiarize ourselves with her work and the impact she had on the art world.
When some of the learners began to paint their hands, I stepped back to watch the creative genius play out. Soon enough, there were flowers being made out of hand prints and big smiles all around at the creations they had made.
To round out our week we read "A Poppy is to Remember" and shared a minute of silence to honour the many heroes, present and past, who defend our freedoms.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” _G.K. Chesterton
I wish you all a peaceful Remembrance Day.
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