Excitement was definitely in the air during this last week before the holiday break. The book shelves were stocked with Christmas themed books, and this week we read the beautifully illustrated "Wild Reindeer" by Jan Brett. In it, a young girl named Teeka is tasked with rounding up Santa's reindeer from the wild tundra and preparing them to pull his sleigh. Teeka takes this responsibility very seriously and feels the only way to wrangle the magical animals is with strength, yelling, and force. The results are disastrous, and Teeka realizes she must work with these gentle creatures in a new way. "Tomorrow," she says, "no yelling, no screaming, and no bossing, I promise." Through gentle patience and perseverance she and the reindeer become a great team, and by Christmas Eve they're delivered to Santa and his elves, calm and ready for the great journey ahead.
We took this opportunity to discuss the various leadership styles Teeka adopted in this story. I asked the group, "Do you prefer (a) to be directed in a firm, serious, loud, bossy tone? or (b) in a gentle, calm, respectful manner?" As you can probably guess, almost everyone voted for (b). We then went further and I asked the group if they could show me, by raising their hand, which leadership style they feel they most often use? For those who identified themselves as firm, serious, and yes....maybe even bossy, leaders, I asked why they prefer this method? The reasoning they gave was because it's the only way others will know they're serious and listen to them. I asked the group to vote on whether they would be more likely to respond in a positive manner if they were asked in a bossy tone vs a gentle tone? Again, most voted for the latter. As we finished our discussion and headed into to core skills, I challenged to group to think of Teeka, her reindeer, and the results of our votes when communicating with their studiomates through the rest of the day.
One of the things I was so drawn to in the Acton philosophy is the role of the adult as a guide, not an authoritative figure. One key role of the guide is to try to inspire children to make heroic choices. One area in which this is often challenging is studio maintenance. The learners can quite consistently be divided into those who diligently take on their role during studio maintenance, requiring no reminders or supervision, to those who help fairly consistently but sometimes become distracted, to those who will always resist this role and require many reminders from their peers. As the adult in the room, it can be very hard not to intervene and direct children to help their peers. How to inspire young children to authentically want to participate in this chore? I decided to try telling an old tale, one I knew we'd all be familiar with. Before studio maintenance, I gathered the group on the rug and said I had a short story to share. I told the tale of a young girl, born to a loving mother and father a long time ago. Her mother tragically passed, and her father, kind and caring, thought it best to remarry so she'd have a mother figure in her life. He married a woman with two daughters, and shortly after, he tragically passed as well. The young girl was now left with her step mother and sisters, who quickly became cruel and cold. They made her toil day and night, doing their cleaning, their cooking, and all their chores. I asked if they knew this story? Of course, they all did. "Cinderella!" they cheered. I then showed them pictures of three character types from the story; Cinderella, her sisters, and the forest animals who became Cinderella's friends. I asked them to name the different character traits of each. For Cinderella they said things like "kind, gentle, calm, helpful". For the sisters they said "greedy, mean, cruel, selfish". For the forest creatures they said "kind, helpful, sweet, selfless". I then challenged them - "During studio maintenance, I want you to reflect on which character you identify most with, and then we'll reconvene at the end of studio maintenance to see how we all did." I'm telling you, studio maintenance has never gone so well! By connecting the traits of both beloved and despised characters they're familiar with to their lived experience, it allowed them to hold up a mirror to themselves. Not one of them wanted to be anything like those step sisters, and they approached their studio chores with a renewed sense of purpose and perspective. It was truly remarkable to witness.
To close our week, the group voted on a last-day-before-the-break trifecta; PJ day, pizza day, and boardgame day! We all brought our favourite boardgames from home, wore our coziest PJs, and feasted on pizza together as we excitedly shared about our own Christmas family traditions. Presents were shared, presents were made, and the day flew by in a flash.
At 3pm parents came but no one was ready to say goodbye! The festivities continued as we poured hot chocolate and played together for just an hour more. We finally all said our goodbyes, big hugs were shared, and we reflected on this momentous occasion; our first full season at Acton Academy Nanaimo. So much growth, so much learning, and such wonderful connections made. I'm endlessly grateful for this community and these wonderful souls I get to spend my days with. Thank you all so much, and a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
"It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters, it’s who’s around it." _Charlie Brown
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