Elementary, Middle & High School Session Two - Music Quest (2023)
This session, our Elementary, Middle, and High School studios will be exploring the world of Music. They will start off by getting introductory lessons on the guitar, ukulele, keyboard, and drums. We are doing this to expose them to several instruments to help them know what they might be interested in and allow them to see a different perspective on each role of the band and on music in general. They will then form bands and pick from some simple songs to play and re-write the lyrics to. They will make recordings of their music and review the recordings to help them make improvements, and perform their songs for other bands to give each other feedback.
Along the way, Eagles will be doing experiments to learn more about the anatomy of the ear, how sound waves work etc. They will also learn about musical heroes ranging from Beethoven, B.B. King, The Beatles and so many more.
The High School and Middle School are going to take a deeper dive into music theory such as:
Why do we use a framework of 12 notes? How do Rhythm, Tempo, & Time Signatures relate? And many other major music theory questions. As the quest goes on, they will be working with production tools to help them put together music.
For the exhibition, Eagles will take a trip to record their songs in a recording studio. Parents and Eagles will watch the videos of their Eagles performing their songs on the big screen at the theater, and we will get an early screening of Trolls 3 for ES and the Elf movie for MS/HS.
-Acton West Team
High School Session One - Community Building & Negotiation Quest (2023)
1st half of of this quest: Team Building, Lip Dub, Contract Creation
The Eagles spent the first few weeks practicing team building exercises, including their lip dub music video, and creating their Student Contract and Rules of Engagement Contract, as well as setting themselves up for success for the school year through Journey Tracker and our core skills programs.
2nd half of this Quest: Negotiation
“Negotiate in their world. Persuasion is not about how bright or smooth or forceful you are. It’s about the other party convincing themselves that the solution you want is their own idea. So don’t beat them with logic or brute force. Ask them questions that open paths to your goals. It’s not about you.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
In this session, the High School Eagles will be participating in simulations from the Harvard Business School, Acton Business School and Chris Voss (former FBI negotiator) to learn the art of negotiation. They will learn to understand their counterpart’s perspective, how to mirror their counterpart to make them feel at ease, use their words and observations of feeling to neutralize negative emotion, and much more.
They will become familiar with terms such as Tactical Empathy, Mirroring, Anchoring, Labeling, Bargaining, Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA), and Worst Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (WATNA). They are going to read the Harvard Business Review’s Top 10 Articles: On Negotiation. They will use the topics covered in these articles and work through simulations and play games to practice negotiation tactics.
Then, to put these into a more real world scenario, the Eagles will all be a part of the Acton Auto Company. Some will be a part of the Management, and some will be a part of the Union. They will use their new tools and negotiate a strike that is currently going on at the Acton Auto Company. It is a full case, where the union is demanding higher wages, better benefits, better working conditions, etc.
The exhibition will have each team presenting to families how their side “won” and their lessons learned from the process. Families will get to vote on each side and eventually there will be a winner of the negotiation (not based on the side they would be on, but on which side was able to walk away with a better deal).
For Writer’s Workshop, our High Schoolers are learning and writing reflections on the Next Great Adventure, NGA, Process. The Eagles will go through exploring who they are through assessments, feedback from friends and family, and reflection on personal traits. They are using this information to narrow down their gifts/strengths, jobs/careers they are interested in, and where they would like to work (company/location). They will then pick between several badge options this year to help them navigate their next steps. The tools in these badges will be priceless in their journey through High School, and even more valuable after their high school experience. The badges include:
Stars & Stepping Stones Interviews
Mentorships
NGA Freelancing (Job)
Deliberate Practice
NGA Credential
Apprenticeships
Acton Academy West High School Guides - Joey & Tyler
Middle School Session One - Community Building and Becoming a Conversationalist Quest (2023)
1st half of of this quest: Team Building, Lip Dub, Contract Creation
The Eagles spent the first few weeks practicing team building exercises, including their lip dub music video, and creating their Student Contract and Rules of Engagement Contract, as well as setting themselves up for success for the school year through Journey Tracker and our core skills programs.
2nd half of this Quest: Becoming a Conversationalist
The art of conversation is an important skill - making it easier to try new activities, meet new people, make new friends, and help put others at ease. Deep conversation and sharing, moves heroes from self centeredness -- believing that; this quest is all about each individual’s personal path to become a servant leader, who finds completion not through competition and winning, but by serving others in relationship and community, on the great journey of life.
During this quest the Eagles will examine the tools and traits of what it means to create and hold a great conversation as well as practice the skill of networking.
The exhibition will have each Eagle conduct several conversation with a parent who they are not familiar with in a networking convention style set up. They will then be given feedback in the form of a rating on their conversation skills. The highest rated conversationalists will win.
For Writer’s Workshop, our Middle Schoolers are learning the art of interviewing. This will coincide with their conversationalist quest with the intention of learning more about a heroic figure in their lives. They will research and reach out to several heroic figures in order to schedule an interview. Using prewritten questions they will conduct the interview, take notes, then use that interview to write a reflective summary of said heroic figure in order to use what they have learned as guiding light throughout their heroes journey.
Acton Academy West MS Guides - Joey & Tyler
Elementary Session One - The Call To Adventure Quest (2023)
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. Every year, the Call to Adventure looks a little different, 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.
Per Acton tradition, Eagles are putting their big-picture thinking, project management skills, and team building into practice by planning and organizing a Lip Dub (plus, it's lots of fun)! The Lip Dub is a full-length music video, with a well-known song "dubbed over." Eagles are responsible for 100% of the process. They plan choreography, filming, editing & publishing.
The Eagles are also creating new student contracts and rules of engagement this session. The Eagles have been able to have many productive conversations about what rules need to be put into place and why they are important for their studio environment.
For the exhibition in October, we will be presenting a gallery of "Hero's Handbooks" and screening the Lip Dub that will exhibit Eagle's 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!
Elementary Guides - Ms. Cat & Ms. Maya
All Studios Session Seven - Multi-Art Quest and MS/HS WW Podcasts! 2023
The quest for this last session is focused around multiple forms of art! The Eagles will be introduced to and experiment with several different forms of art (depending on their studio) including drawing, painting, sculpting, origami, art recreation, photography, sewing, and design/3d printing. After they have experimented with 3 art forms they are then free to select the one or more that they were most interested in, or select an entirely new art form that they will present at their Art Gallery exhibition!
As for the MS/HS Writer’s Workshop this session the Eagles will be creating their very own podcasts! They will be learning how to outline, record, edit, publish even monetize podcast all on a web based platform!
We look forward to seeing you at the art gallery exhibition!
-AAWest Team
Middle & High School Session Six - Classical Physics Olympics Quest (2023)
This session the Middle and High School Eagles will be competing in the Acton Physics Olympics! They will be competing in the following events:
Powerlifting - During this event, the Eagles will be learning about simple machines to gain mechanical advantage. They will be specifically using pulleys to see which group can lift the most weight. They will also be covering:
Work
Power
Mechanical Advantage
Car Racing - The Eagles will be making CO2 cars and they will be racing each other to see who the overall winners are going to be. They will be exploring the following to understand how their cars are moving and how they can modify their cars, using physics principles to make their cars go faster.
Friction
Velocity
Acceleration
Inertia
Potential, Kinetic, Vs Conservation Of Energy
Newton’s Laws Of Motion
Shot Put - The Eagles will be making Trebuchets, and the group that can launch the projectile the farthest will win the competition. In this event they will learn more about:
Projectile Motion
Gravity
Moment Of Inertia
Archery (High School Only) - The High School is going to learn about springs and torque, and how they are used with potential and kinetic energy to predict the translation of energy in a bow transitions to an arrow.
Hooke’s Law
Free Body Diagrams
Torque
There will also be an opportunity for High School Eagles to get an Honors Physics credit by doing additional assignments.
For Writer’s Workshop, the MS Eagles (and most of the HS Eagles) will be doing lab reports where they will be using the scientific method to hypothesize, document, record, and present results of each of their events. In addition, Juniors will have the chance to work on their college essays (for fall applications) and Seniors will be writing their graduation speeches.
Joey & Tyler - Middle & High School Guides
Elementary Session Six - Hydrology Quest (2023)
In this session, the ES Eagles will dive into the world of hydrology! The session's guiding question will be, "How does hydrology affect our lives?" This quest uses hands-on projects and experiments to explore the powerful ways that water shapes the world in which we live. The Eagles will also be introduced to basic principles of scientific inquiry using the Scientific Method through a series of experiments. Eagles will look for signs that water has shaped the land at Acton Academy West, in Austin, and around the world. The quest introduces the fundamentals of hydrology, including the water cycle, landscapes and erosion, the world's water supply, and hydroelectricity. We are very excited and hopeful to be in the process of putting together visits and field trips with various organizations and Austin city departments pertaining to our local water systems. Last year we partnered with Dr. Staci Loewy from UT's Jackson School of Geosciences for a fantastic day of field trips and learning from experts; we have been working with Dr. Loewy in hopes of planning something similar this year.
- ES Guides
MS/HS Session Five - Physics Electricity & Magnetism + Writers Workshop 2023
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
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 be working to put together their own blogs. They will explore the basics on how to put together their own websites that will include reflections on the "day in a life" of an Acton student. They will do this through a series of writing and videos.
Joey & Tyler - MS/HS Guides
Elementary Session Five - Computer Science/Coding Quest 2023
As technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives, the need for computer science skills becomes increasingly important. So, the ES Eagles will learn about problem-solving and how it relates to computer science.
Our quest begins with an introduction to the problem-solving process. Eagles will be presented with puzzles, challenges, and real-world scenarios that require problem-solving skills. They will learn to break down problems into smaller parts, identify patterns and relationships, and develop creative solutions. This skill set is essential for success not only in computer science but in many other fields as well.
After mastering the problem-solving process, Eagles will learn how computers input, output, store, and process information. They will be introduced to programming concepts and learn how to write simple code. This knowledge will help them understand how computers can help humans solve problems.
Finally, the quest concludes with a project in which we will design an application that solves a problem of their choosing. This is where all the skills they have learned will come together. They will work collaboratively with their pod and apply the problem-solving process to create a helpful solution.
Overall, this quest is a highly interactive and collaborative introduction to computer science. Eagles will gain problem-solving skills, programming knowledge, and experience working on a group project. These are all valuable skills that will serve them well at Acton West, and beyond! We can’t wait to showcase our new skills at the Exhibition.
Ashley & Kelsey - Elementary Guides
MS/HS Session Four Entrepreneurship (Operations) - 2023
This session the Middle School and High School are doing an Entrepreneurship Quest in 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 & Tyler, MS/HS Guides
Elementary Session Four - Entrepreneurship (Subscription Boxes) Quest - 2023
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 in hopes of further creation or a new inspiration toward the AAWest Children’s Business Fair on Saturday, May 6th! Be sure to encourage your Eagle(s) to apply for a booth!
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!
Happy New Year!
Ashley & Kelsey, ES Guides
High School Session Three- Behavioral Economics Quest - 2022
As you journey through life will you be rational or irrational as you make decisions? What about those around you? This will be an opportunity to analyze how rational or irrational individuals act when faced with a specific behavioral economics experiment. This session the High School Eagles will be exploring the world of Behavioral Economics.
Since the time of Adam Smith, the Science of Economics begins with the premise that an economic man is a rational creature who makes rational decisions. But, what we have discovered over time is that we are not. This session is built to explore how and when we typically make irrational decisions. They will do experiments all session to explore concepts such as: Halo Effect, Aversion Loss, Relative Value, and many many more. The goal of this is to help Eagles recognize their possible irrational errors, possibly use others’ irrational behaviors to persuade them, and ultimately to be fully aware of the decisions they are making without unintentional influence. Their writer’s workshop will be to create a Behavioral Experiment Writeup according to APA, American Psychological Association, standards to summarize their “big” experiment.
Joey & Tyler - Middle/High School Guides
Middle School Session Three - Mock Trials Quest - 2022
During this three week session the Middle School will be doing a Mock Trials Simulation, focusing on the McCarthy Trials and the Trial of President Harry Truman. They will learn about the roles and processes in a courtroom and each person will research and play a specific character role at the final exhibition during a mock trial. In addition, they will have a close examination of the build-up to the end of World War II, 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.
For Writer’s Workshop, Middle School Eagles are going to be working together to write their apprenticeship emails and role-playing interviews (by phone and in-person). This will be a great opportunity for new Eagles to get some momentum toward getting their apprenticeship and the more experienced Eagles to pass on knowledge they have learned. They will use each other to brainstorm, narrow down, and contact apprenticeship opportunities. This will be a great time for you, as a parent, to ask about what your Eagle is interested in and share about how important networking has been important in your experience.
Joey & Tyler - MS/HS Guides
Elementary Session Three - US Geography Quest! - 2022
This session, the Elementary Eagles will be exploring US Geography! Through a series of game show-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 research-based presentation at the end of the session. We are so excited to see you at their interactive exhibition!
We are looking forward to lots of fun this session followed by a much-deserved holiday break! Have a great one!
Ashley & Kelsey - Elementary Guides
Middle & High School Session Two - Coding and Journalism Quest - 2022
This session the Middle School & High School Eagles are going to be learning about coding.
The Eagles will be learning all of the foundational concepts/terminology of programming. If/then statements, assigning variables, loops, etc. In addition, they will be learning how to run a software organization with agile product development and software project management process, scrum, to help the teams work together to make a great final product, on time! The scrum process includes doing stand-up meetings, taking feedback from “clients”, design reviews and defining work in weekly sprints. And yes, “scrum” is a term taken from rugby.
To help the The Middle School Eagles learn these concepts, they will be making the ACTON ARCADE! Each Eagle will make their own video game based on the theme of their group. Parents and families will be able to play those games at the exhibition and decide which games they would like to invest in.
The High School is going to take it to another level by working in Python to program mini-robots to perform tasks and eventually compete against each other in the Acton Robotic Games. Parents and families will be able to watch each competitor participate in the games. The team with the most points will be the winner! We chose the coding language Python so that the Eagles will learn a practical programming language that they could use in the “real world”, or in a future application. The Eagles will be using Python in combination with sensors (proximity, color, accelerometers, etc) to help them program their robots to complete obstacles.
Both studios are going to be doing Journalism this session for their writer’s workshop. They are going to explore the different types of journalism, choose a type they want to write, and show their work at the exhibition.
Joey & Tyler - MS/HS Guides
Elementary Session Two - Ancient Civilization Quest 2022
During this session, Elementary Eagles will explore the history of Ancient Civilizations. This quest is designed to help develop collaborative group work skills, presentation skills, and research tools, while learning about different Ancient Civilizations and their origins. At Acton West, we encourage Eagles to find answers independently, take charge of their education, and share their findings with peers. Over the next five weeks, the Eagles will sharpen these skills through discussions about ancient cultures and myths to draw comparisons and contrasts, thus practicing more than just regurgitating information found online or in books but truly synthesizing it.
We are excited to introduce these stories through various cultural traditions while encouraging the Eagles' love of literature. Through these stories, myths and legends, the Eagles will learn the power of narrative on paper, through oral storytelling, and in art.
We will wrap up our session with a field trip to the Blanton Museum of Art. There, the Eagles will walk through the ancient art collections, exploring pieces on display and learning the significance of myths and legends involved in these artifacts. Not only will they see the artifacts, but they will also learn more about careers in art history, philosophy, and antiquities.
Finally, we hope you will join us at the ES Exhibition!
Kelsey & Ashley - Elementary Guides
Middle & High School Session One - Contracts, Systems, Organizational Development and Lip Dub 2022
Hi Parents,
It’s wonderful to have all of the new and returning Eagles in the studio excited for this new year! This session the MS and HS Eagles have been working on getting to know each other, building contracts and systems, and going through an introduction to Organizational Development.
The team building activities are geared toward bringing the group together and working through team challenges to help them get to know each other and to start to trust each other. The biggest example of this is the Lip Dub. The Eagles are put into small groups and each small group has to work together to create a finished product that eventually has to communicate with the other groups to make a bigger final product. There are many lessons learned about communication, organization, and basic project management all while being totally self led (some of them for the first time).
The Eagles are also creating new student contracts and rules of engagement this session. The Eagles have been able to have many productive conversations about what rules need to be put into place and why they are important for their studio environment.
On top of everything else, we have rolled out a short Organizational Development Quest that is based on the book Traction which is the EOS system that defines an organization system to help: Define Core Values, Vision & Big Rock Goals for this year.
For this session’s exhibition, the MS & HS (in their own exhibitions) will be presenting their core values speeches and studio vision and then will be going over how Journey Tracker works. The MS will individually present their Hero Boards and show you their personal progress through Journey Tracker. The High School with be presenting part of their Life Walk and their personal Journey Tracker progress.
