High School Session One - Decision Making Quest 2020

HIGH SCHOOL DECISION-MAKING QUEST

We make decisions, conscious or unconscious, almost every moment of our life. But, are we being intentional when we make decisions? Do we really know how to make hard decisions? What if there were processes, recipes, and algorithms to make better, more rational decisions? What if we could make life more fun, like a game? 

Throughout the Decision Making Quest the High School Eagles will:

• Play a series of games to help them categorize different types of decisions; 

• Discover powerful processes, recipes, and algorithms to help them make  better “bets” at each stage of life; and

They will learn there are some types of decisions where considering a simple bet isn’t a good idea, for example: 

• Small investments in virtuous/good or evil/bad acts that compound over time or through habits, especially with regard to relationships, character, deliberate practice, or decisions you repeat over time. 

• Moral and cognitive blind spots that could cripple and destroy them;

• High stakes decisions that are highly emotional or must be made in an instant;

• Decisions to invest in story, celebration, ritual or a special place; or

• Decisions that require buy-in or large scale mobilization over extended periods.

They will learn the following tools and explore when and when not to use them: 

• Basic Probability

• Normal Distributions

• Power Laws

• System Dynamics

• 80/20

• Ethical Frameworks

• Monte Carlo Simulations

• Utility Theory

• And much much much more...

  Community Building & Contracts Building

  Building the community through team building activities is one of the most fun and enriching experiences of the year. These activities will create the bond that carries these Eagles through their high school years with a genuine appreciation and respect for one another.

  Throughout this session, the HS Eagles will also be creating one of the most important fundamental annual documents, the Student Contract and the Rules of Engagement Contract. These are the contracts that they will abide by throughout the rest of the year. Through this process, an elected committee will gather data from the community about the rules they want to set into place, lead the votes and put together their final product. This process will end with a sacred ceremony in which everyone in the community signs the contract, thus taking the plunge into their 2020 High School journey!

  AAWest High School Guides

  Joey & Jake

Middle School Session One - Passion Projects & Community Building 2020

Every year we like to start off our first quest with a passion project. We love learning more about our Eagles as we see what gets their creative juices flowing!

 We were inspired by Google's Genius Hour idea, in which employees are empowered to explore their own passions for 20% of their day. Here at Acton West, our Eagles are exploring their own passions during project time for the rest of this session. In the beginning stages of Genius Hour, the Eagles will spend time thinking of the things that drive them, excite them and inspire them to gather more information. Some projects are made to solve a problem or satisfy a need. Projects will be planned through idea mapping, gathering supplies and sometimes, collaborating with others. While working alone or on teams, the Eagles will be spending their Genius Hour time researching their subjects, asking detailed questions and working on their end product. We encourage the Eagles to think deeply about the process of researching, editing, revising and creating. We look forward to sharing these passion projects with you through our virtual exhibition, details TBA!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFQUtHsWhc#

Community Building & Contracts

Building the community through team building activities is one of the most fun and enriching experiences of the year. These activities will create the bond that carries these Eagles through their middle school years with a genuine appreciation and respect for one another.

Throughout this session the MS Eagles will also be creating one of the most important fundamental annual documents, the Student Contract and the Rules of Engagement Contract. These are the contracts that they will abide by throughout the rest of the year. Through this process, an elected committee will gather data from the community about the rules they want to set into place, lead the votes and put together their final product. This process will end with a sacred ceremony in which everyone in the community signs the contract, thus taking the plunge into their Hero's Journey of 2020!

AAWest Middle School Guides

Joey & Jake

Elementary Session One - The Call to Adventure Quest 2020

The first session of every year is one that is wondrous! As we navigate the beginning of a new year we have opportunities to strengthen new and old habits, relationships, and answer a brand new call to adventure.

On the Hero's Journey, the Call to Adventure is the moment when a hero is called to a life challenge. When the Hero answers that call, the journey begins. This year specifically, the Call to Adventure looks a little different than in years past, both for Eagles working from home and in-studio. Our first quest, The Call to Adventure, will focus on the allies and helpers along the way, the mentors who help support, and the ways we can build helpful habits and skills to last a lifetime. 

For our virtual exhibition in October, we will be presenting an online gallery of "A Hero's Handbook" that will exhibit our work and self-reflection from this session. We are so honored you've trusted and chosen Acton Academy West for your young heroes. We know this will be our best year yet! 

Here's to a healthy and wonderful new school year! 

AAWest Elementary Guides
Ashley & Kelsey

Elementary Session Seven - Playwrights Quest 2020

During our last session of the year, the Elementary Eagles will use their creativity and skills built in the community during the last six sessions to create a live play. Yes, even in the global pandemic, the show must go on!  During our Playwrights Quest, friends will work in groups to write a play based on published children's books, and then, create a play from scratch, from their own making. These plays will be shown visually in puppet-show fashion, in variations that vary from group-to-group. During our last session, Eagles were challenged to work within "ambiguous instruction." We can't wait to see how this comes to fruition this session as they reach within for intrinsic motivation to finish the year strong. 

To supplement our creativity this session, we'll be working with local artists, Rebecca & Ben with Artful Kids Club. Two days per week, we'll have focused art instruction with these fantastic artists. 

We can't wait to share their final product with the community at our exhibition, on June 26th.

With gratitude,

Ashley & Kelsey

Acton Academy West Elementary Guides 

Middle & High School Session Seven- Documentary Quest & Poetry Writer's Workshop 2020

This session the middle and high school are going to be exploring different forms of art and storytelling. 

Both of the studios are going to be working to make a five minute documentary. There are so many times that the Eagles have practiced the process of creating, editing, proofing, and crafting a compelling story. They will use the same process while this time doing it behind the lens. They will be using WeVideo to piece together a compelling short video while also learning about how to ask interview questions, b-rolls, background music, etc. 

The high school and middle school will also get to try their hand in poetry. Poetry is considered a unique language that combines and uses carefully chosen words to convey meaning and communicate ideas, feelings, sounds, gestures, signs, and symbols. For centuries, Poetry has been a tool for some of the most gifted minds because it relates the experiences and observations of human life and the universe around us. As the school year comes to an end, it only seems fitting that the Eagles reflect upon, and communicate, their successes and failures in a creative way.

In addition to the above, the high school Eagles will continue their journey of mastering Spanish. This session, they will have more dedicated time toward learning more nouns, verbs, grammar, etc. Each week they will be working with our fellow Acton Network affiliates from El Salvador to practice what they learn.

Be sure to read about the art addition for MS/HS, they will also be doing virtual art lessons this session, with Rebecca. We look forward to seeing you at their art exhibit and exhibition on June 26th.

Joey & Jake

Acton Academy West Middle and High School Guides

Virtual Art Lessons with Rebecca Faubion (Elementary-High school)

Over the next five weeks, the Eagles will be diving into Sketching, Painting and a culminating project of a large scale, realistic drawing of an eagle! 

Master artists Leonardo Da Vinci, Wayne Thiebauld, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse are the inspiration for our projects!

Video-driven lessons provide hands-on examples of how to create the projects.  Eagles are encouraged to create alongside the videos and make their own artistic choices and variations throughout!

This curriculum has been designed exclusively for Acton Academy West! 

Ben and Rebecca Faubion (Rebecca was our art guide last year) are co-founders of artfulkidsclub.com.  Rebecca guides all the lessons on camera, while Ben handles the tech/film and design aspects of the curriculum.  Rebecca has been teaching art for over 20 years and holds a BA in Renaissance Literature, and an EdM in Arts in Education from Harvard.  Ben holds a dual graphic design/illustration BFA and has served high profile tech clients, start-ups and design firms around the country.

Middle and High School Session Six 2020- Physics: Classical Mechanics (with Writer’s Workshop lab report)

This session the Middle and High School Eagles will be exploring the world of physics through classical mechanics. We have picked a simple machine, a mouse trap car, to help them explore this world. At the start of the session, they will establish and document a baseline of velocity, acceleration, and momentum of their cars. Each week they will modify their car to see how much faster they can make their cars by using the principles of physics:  

• Acceleration

• Velocity

• Mechanical Advantage

• Hooke’s Law

• Torque

• Friction

• Inertia 

• Potential, Kinetic, & Conservation Of Energy

• Introduction to Free Body Diagrams

• Newton’s Second Law Of Motion
  

  At the start of the session, they will establish a baseline of velocity and acceleration of their cars. Each week they will modify their car and use the scientific method to help them document the changes and put it all together in a full lab report for this session’s writer’s workshop. 

  
  In addition to the above topics, the High School will be diving into the following topics

• Moment Of Inertia

• Static Vs Dynamic

• Free Body Diagrams

• Projectile Motion Work Vs Power

• Calculating Center Of Gravity

  There will also be an opportunity for High School Eagles to get an Honors Physics credit by doing additional assignments. In addition to the above, the Middle School and High School Eagles will be doing some experiments with golf balls, boards, bricks, clamps, etc to further explore the topics above.

MS & HS GUIDES - Joey & Jake

Elementary Session Six 2020-Edison's Lab Quest

During this virtual quest, Eagles are placed in the role of scientists as they turn their homes into Edison’s Menlo Park lab. As innovators, they conduct experiments, write patents, and must consider the materials needed to complete their experiments. Eagles are presented each week with new, open-ended challenges that take them through the process of self-education and research, experimentation, and documentation. 

The goals of this quest include:

• Discovering the joy of experimentation

• Developing a tolerance for ambiguity and problem-solving skills 

• Understanding the difference between invention and innovation, and understanding what traits are necessary to be an innovator 

• Inspiring an appreciation for scientific breakthroughs and how we got to "now" 

• Developing organizational and documentation skills 

• Facing and overcoming failure

The Eagles will explore hydropower, electricity, battery power, voltage, wind power, amps and more! Each week the Eagles are given a bag of supplies to boost their inspiration and complete their inventions using everyday items and upcycled materials from around the house. The Acton West Eagles are already equipped with the biggest skill needed to complete this quest; a growth mindset.

Elementary Guides - Ashley & Kelsey

MS/HS Session Five/2020 Physics Electricity & Magnetism + Historical Speech

This session the Middle School and High School Eagles will be working in their own studios and not in conjunction on this quest. They will be building model neighborhoods that will have a fully functioning power grid. In the process of their build they will explore:

• AC & DC Voltage

• Current

• Resistance

• Circuits

• In Series & Parallel

• Electrical Fields

• Electrical Motors

• Power Generation

• Ohm’s Law

In the process of learning these topics, the Eagles will get hands-on experience with wire-strippers, multimeters, jumper wires, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc. They will also be building actual generators from scratch and get hands-on with magnetic fields. While they are building their neighborhood, they will need to stand in the shoes of a mayor or city planner, balance the wants and needs of different residents, and ultimately build a great city. As usual, throughout the quest, they’ll be challenged to function as effective teams - setting goals, dividing work, and managing projects in the face of uncertainty and aggressive deadlines.
For the High School, they will do all of the above, plus learn about...

• Kirchhoff's Law (Voltage)

• Advanced Circuit Calculations

• Coulomb's Law 

  Also, there will also be an opportunity for High School Eagles to get an Honors Physics credit by doing additional assignments and projects.  

  For Writer’s Workshop, the HS & MS Eagles will also have an opportunity to find their voice and overcome the second biggest fear of human nature, public speaking. Throughout the process of writing a speech from the perspective of a "historical hero", the Eagles will learn the importance of meticulous preparation, capturing their target audience and thorough repetition. Prepare to be moved as they take the stage, costume and all, to give a speech that will surely go down in history!

  Exhibition will be next door at the Shepherd of the Hills Church community center on Wednesday, March 25th.

  MS exhibition 1:15-2:15pm

  HS exhibition 2:30-3:30pm

  MS/HS GUIDES ~ Joey & Jake

Elementary Session Five/2020 ~ Environmental Design

In this session, the Elementary Eagles will explore the concepts of environmental design. Over the next six weeks, we will learn how humans plan, design and execute environmental design in the world around them. Through hands-on experiences, the Eagles will further their understanding of landscape architecture, gardening, ecology, native plants and species, climate & weather, the human impact on the environment and how to contribute to the world around us. Through field trips in and around Austin, we'll learn how to better contribute to our community. 

Here on our campus, we'll cultivate large garden beds with herbs, flowers, and veggies, we'll maintain our very own Lettuce Grow Farmstand. The Eagles also have the unique opportunity to work with and present landscape plans and solutions to Austin's Community First! Village, where we’ll supply planter boxes, arbor plans, and botanicals for the 3-D printed homes and community. By consulting on-site and with representatives from the Community First project, we'll learn how to propose a design in hopes of approval from their advisors.

Finally, for our off-site exhibition at Community First! Village, we will deliver our final landscape products to the newly built homes in the village, plant on-site and leave our mark for years to come.

For those who can make it, we can’t wait for the Eagles to show their parents all of their hard work and community contributions at the village on Thursday, March 26th. 

We're excited about this highly experiential quest as we become stronger citizens within our local environment!  

Check out the following links to learn more about our partnerships so far for this quest.

https://mlf.org/community-first/

https://www.lettucegrow.com/

Elementary Guides ~ Ashley & Kelsey

MS & HS Session Four ~ Entrepreneurship Quest - 2020

This session the Middle School and High School are doing an Entrepreneurship Quest with an introduction to operations. The overall objective of this quest is for the Eagles to understand how businesses become more efficient in creating products and how that has a direct impact on the revenue and waste of a company.

They will optimize an assembly line by performing kaizen workshops and use root cause analysis and spaghetti diagrams to help optimize the cleaning of the studio. After they have found the cleaning best practices, they will create standard operating procedures for each cleaning task. They will learn about basic terms such as bottlenecks, capacity, cycle time, throughput, batching vs continuous flow manufacturing, work in process and scrap.

They will also have an introduction to agile development by creating "to-do cards" and having a daily standup meeting each morning to discuss what they are working on and have completed each day. The exhibition will have the Eagles creating products and presenting how they became more efficient over the session. 

Joey & Jake, MS/HS Guides

Elementary Session Four ~ Entrepreneurship Quest -2020

Welcome to Session Four, the annual Entrepreneurship Quest!

For the (elementary) Entrepreneurship quest, the Eagles are split into nine "companies," and are in beginning stages of creating profitable businesses. Together they will assign roles (CEO, Lawyer, Accountant, VP of Marketing, Finance, etc.), conduct market research, study ethics, marketing, and advertising tactics. They will create their brand, a solid business plan, and strong budgets to make their business a success.

But, just like in the real world,  they must first look within themselves to discover their gifts, talents, strengths, and weaknesses they have to offer. They will use these discoveries to bring their best selves to a group of others, in hopes of discovering new strengths and gifts to offer the world.

Once a company forms, business ideas will emerge in the form of a subscription box product, filled with their hand-picked and curated ideas. The culmination of this Quest will be that of a "trade show" where guests will watch as our young Entrepreneurs present their ideas!

Additionally, they will watch in real-time as a chosen public company ebbs and flows through a stock exchange simulation. As we watch the market together each day, we will be able to collect the data about what it takes to make it in the real world; our favorite thing to explore at Acton Academy West!

As always this annual quest helps promote business ideas and inspiration leading into the spring Business Fair in March!

Happy New Year!
Ashley & Kelsey, ES Guides

Elementary Colonial Acton & Geography Mini Quest ~ Session Three 2019

Beginning this week, your heroes have traveled back in time to the year 1776. Acton Academy West has become the British colony of Acton. All session long, students will immerse themselves in colonial times. Each Eagle will be assigned the role of a well-known patriot or loyalist, and they'll (sometimes reluctantly) play the part. The guides will act as royal governors in this simulation, imposing taxes and other royal "proclamations" that the heroes will have to follow. 

Talk to your Eagle about which side of the debate they are on and the struggles involved with each one. This simulation will culminate with the students debating their position (in character) whether to revolt against King George or not. They will explore the pros and cons of rebellion and use the persuasive powers they have been working on this session to sway their fellow colonists. 

While this simulation runs, the Elementary Eagles will be exploring US Geography! Through a series of gameshow-type experiences and challenges, the Eagles will learn about each state, the capitals, important landmarks, National Parks and other geographical features with a focus on completing a large research-based presentation at the end of the session. During our exhibition, parents will go head-to-head with groups of Eagles to see who can beat the best time with the most right answers involving these topics. Get your flashcards ready, we hope you're up for the challenge! 

We are looking forward to a lot of colonial style fun this session followed by a much-deserved holiday break! Have a great one!

Ashley & Kelsey ~ Elementary Guides

Middle & High School McCarthy Trials Experience Mini Quest ~ Session Three 2019

During this three week session the Middle School and High School Eagles will be doing the McCarthy Trials Experience. In this, they will learn about the roles and processes in a courtroom and will each have a person to research and play at the final exhibition during a mock trial. In addition, they will have a close examination of the build-up to the Cold War and many of the characters and forces involved. They will learn how to differentiate between truth and propaganda and further tune their own moral compasses by standing in the shoes of key historical decision-makers. 

The High School Eagles will continue to prepare for their next great adventure by creating an online portfolio, creating a college admissions schedule (Gantt Chart), meeting with our college admissions consultant, and registering for ACC classes (optional). 

Joey & Jake ~ Acton Academy West MS/HS Guides

Middle School Session Two 2019 ~ Professionalism Quest

Welcome to Session Two, The Professionalism Quest! The Professionalism quest will cover the overall apprenticeship process and also include a deep dive into important professional skills to be used while meeting with executive-level professionals. The Eagles will explore their gifts, injustices they see in the world, and opportunities that they see around them. They will use this to create a list of candidates they would like to work with and then fellow Eagles will help them narrow down to a final list of three to send an email. The Eagles with more apprenticeship experience will be working along side the High Schoolers throughout parts of the quest, as well as being mentors to those without apprenticeship experience, both providing significant growth opportunities. During the apprenticeship process, we want Eagles to experiment with what they truly believe is something they might do in the future and learn how to approach the owner of a business/high-level executives and how to build a relationships.

~ Acton Academy West

High School Session Two 2019 ~ Stars & Stepping Stones

This session the High School Eagles will start to explore what they want to do after they graduate, picking their Star. They will then work backward to see all of the steps they need to take to get there, setting their Stepping Stones). They will come up with a clear and actionable plan for how all of the components of Acton Apprenticeships, Core Skills, Quests, ACC, etc will lead them to their Star. In addition, they will learn professional skills to be used while meeting with executive-level professionals and start building a portfolio that they will use to help with their college application process and/or networking with professionals.

~Acton Academy West Guides

Elementary Session Two 2019 ~ Game Design!

During this quest, Eagles will become game designers! They will explore probability and game design while playing and analyzing games of luck, strategy, and skill. The quest culminates with the Eagles each designing an offline game and an online game to present at a public Game Expo on November 21st.

Our goals this quest include:

• Introducing the Eagles to game design as a calling and the heroes who chose it

• Inspiring a love of design and creation

• Inspiring a curiosity about probability in the real world

• Instilling a deeper understanding of the iteration process and the importance of taking a deliberate path towards excellence

Eagles will have the opportunity to learn about game design and playing as callings, experimental vs. theoretical probability, calculating probability, elements of game design, attention to detail, and working with customer feedback.

~Acton Academy West Guides

Session One 2019 ~ Building the Tribe + Lip Dub

Acton West Families,

Welcome to Session One! This year is already shaping up to be one of the best yet as we dive into our quest study on Building the Tribe! During this Community quest, we focus not only on what makes a community as a whole but also what our role is within the group. We learn what it means to be a responsible citizen online, in groups of people, and alone. In pairs, small groups and in large groups, we will challenge ourselves, we will discover our learning style and how to work with people who have different learning styles, love languages and ways of thinking.

Another way we strengthen our community during Session 1 is through the LIP DUB! One of the Eagles' favorite challenges is creating a music video! A thoughtful song will be chosen for the Eagles to perform along with the Middle School & High School, on video. They will choose how and when each person performs, plan the choreography, costumes, scenery, and filming. 

During this session, the Eagles will create the contract they will abide by throughout the rest of the year. Through this process, an elected committee will gather data from the community about the rules they want to set into place, lead the votes and put together our final product. This process will end with a sacred ceremony in which everyone in the community signs the contract, thus taking the plunge into their Hero's Journey. 

We are looking forward to wrapping up Session 1 at our Exhibition on October 10th. 

We can't wait for all of the elements to unfold, to watch each other grow and build our community even deeper! 

With gratitude,

The Acton West Guides

Graphic Design + Genius Hour Quest - ES Session 7 ~ 2019

During our final session of the year, we will be exploring Graphic Design & Genius hour! The beginning of the quest was spent learning about design fundamentals, color, typography, layout & composition, using images, video and putting it all together to create images, websites, logos and more! They will also be working simultaneously, over a 3 week period of this quest, on a special art project with our Art Guide, Rebecca Faubion. They will be holding an Art Exhibit on Friday, June 21st from 2:15-3:15pm.

During the second half of the quest, we are inspired by Google's Genius Hour Idea, in which employees are empowered to explore their own passions for 20% of their day. Here at Acton West, our Eagles are exploring their own passions during project time for the rest of this session. In the beginning stages of Genius Hour, the Eagles will spend time thinking of the things that drive them, excite them and inspire them to gather more information. Some projects are made to solve a problem or satisfy a need. Projects will be planned through idea mapping, gathering supplies and sometimes, collaborating with others. While working alone or on teams, the Eagles will be spending their Genius Hour time researching their subjects, asking detailed questions and working on their end product. We can't wait for you to see the final Exhibition on Wednesday, July 3rd!

MS & HS Session Seven 2019 ~ Chemistry II - Rockets Quest

In this session, teams learn how to choose between random trial and error—which means just trying something to see if it works—and scientific experimentation, which is also a kind of trial and error, but much more carefully controlled and planned. They will begin to understand the deep theories behind thermodynamics, which help explain how explosions happen, how volatile chemicals react, and how heat is generated and transferred. Teams will compete at the exhibition to see who can launch their XPC rocket the highest.

In writer's workshop, Eagles will be exploring self-reflection. They will look back through their quests and overall year to see what they have done well, what they could have done better, and what specifically do they want to change for next time.

MS & HS Guide ~ Joey