I've already spoken at length about how the word Curriculum is a 4 letter word at Acton. And though it may seem trivial, I would argue the difference between Curriculum & Learning Design is just as vast as the difference between Academics & Education.

"Curriculum" stirs up feelings of administration staff, who have never worked a day in a classroom, selecting textbooks from a list of suitors all trying to sell their version of "what children need to know" in this specific subject at this specific age.

For me, it implies something that's being chosen for you and done to you and is in no way learner-driven.

"Learning Design" on the other hand is simply a series of invitations, challenges, and questions designed to peak your curiosity and actively engage you in the learning process. 

I also tell every family that tours Acton - "We are NOT an Academically driven school, rather we are a Learner-Driven Community that emphasizes character development and leadership (Learning to Be)."

But just because we don't emphasize Academics doesn't mean we don't see Math, Reading and Writing as foundational skills needed to lead a successful life. We still believe in Learning to Do & Learning to Learn (Education).

That said, we also believe we don't need to artificially push a child along, label them as ahead or behind, or add pressure to learn a specific skill by a specific age.

We believe every child who enters our doors possesses the ability to learn these skills on their own and at their own pace.  We desire to see learners establishing a true LOVE of learning, then continuing to take on more and more challenging work overtime. 
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​The idea of focusing on MORE than simply academics can most easily be summarized in three words: Whole Child Development. Yes, Math and English are important pieces of the learning design, but they certainly are NOT our only focus:
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​Shifting gears slightly, here are some very brief thoughts on the more academically driven pieces of our Learning Design:

1. We regularly leverage the network of 300+ Actons and 20,000+ pages of learning design documents for everything from selecting Coreskill programs to building badge plans, from individual launches to Quests and Civilization. This is the beauty of the Acton network - though we have the ability to adapt and change things, we aren't having to create everything from scratch and can lean on experts from around the world!
   
   
2. Our basic learning design map for any given year (though it varies in scope based on the studio) is:
   
   

• Quests (7 Sessions): Quests are real-world projects to master 21st-century skills. Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history. 
  
  ​The annual formula we have adopted from Acton main : (1) Team Building/ Communication Focused Quest, (1) Entrepreneurship/ Psychology Focused Quest, (1) Civilization Focused Quest, (3) Science/ Design Logical Thinking Focused Quests, (1) Art/ Curiosity Focused Quest. 
  • For Example, this year the plan is for the Discovery Studio to complete the following Quests (always subject to change, but still following the formula above):
    • Build the Tribe/ Lip Dub (Communication/ Leadership)
    • E-Ship Quest (Entrepreneurship 101)
    • US Citizenship Quest (History/ Civilization)
    • Detective Quest (Science/ Logic)
    • Zookeeper Quest (Nature/ Science)
    • Community Garden Quest (Science)
    • Growing Curiosity Quest
      
      
• Writer's Workshops/ Communication Challenges (4-5 Sessions): This process varies greatly from studio to studio with our Discovery Studio building this into their morning work rotations and our Adventure Studio working to perfect their craft. These workshops/ challenges range from podcast creation to writing persuasive speeches, from crafting an email to secure an apprenticeship to fiction-based writing. 
  
  I must also note that they are learning to write/ communicate in many other ways too, it just doesn't look the same as it did for you and I in school. They write townhall slips and draft meeting agendas, write 360 peer reviews, write reflections on Quest Challenges, and most importantly learn to formulate thoughts and craft arguments multiple times a day during Socratic launches. 
  
  A great example of some non-traditional writing opportunities that the heroes have just this week are:
  • Writing a thank you note to a veteran on Veteran's Day
  • Just yesterday, I posted a request to all studios to start having 1-2 representatives from each studio handle weekly posts in the Acton app, updating parents on studio life, launches, etc whatever they feel is important for parents to know.
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• ​Civilization Badges (5 Sessions): For Discovery & Odyssey this is utilizing the Story of the World books, while the Adventure Studio focuses on moral dilemmas and hard choices throughout world history.
  
  This is Acton's version of World History, Geography, Sociology, etc.
  
  Putting heroes in the shoes of citizens and heroes throughout world history and asking 'why'. Why do some societies rise, while others fall?
  
  We also complete one Civilization based Quest each year too (Acton Athens, Colonial Acton, US Citizenship, Cartography, etc).
  
  
• Core Skills (Daily 90-120 minutes): These are self-paced gamified programs designed to make the learning fun & engaging. The bulk of a learner's morning each day is spent building on these foundational skills as well as meaningful works & montessori works in the Spark & Discovery Studios.
  • ​Three facts, I often leave out with these programs and our mastery based system:
    1. We are asking heroes to MASTER each concept/ level. Not simply complete the work. This means we are asking FAR more of the learners than a traditional setting that pushes students along at an artificial pace set by the teacher, not the student. In short, we are asking learners to get an A+ on all their Math & English lessons. For some this means it will take them longer to move to the next concept, but you can be assured that the are building a STRONG foundation for what's to come next.
    2. The software programs we use go far more in-depth than a traditional textbook and worksheet method. Khan Academy for example (one of our Adventure Studio options for Math) covers 3x the material that a traditional Math curriculum would cover, because a traditional program simply doesn't have the time to go that in-depth and must continue to move on to cover all the material.
    3. As a fellow Acton parent, one thing I always come back to is a study that was done true self-paced learning in Math. The study found - if we waited until learners were truly ready & eager to learn math concepts they went from 2+2=4 to MASTERING Algebra in 75 hours!! In a traditional setting this takes 7-8 years of work!

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My hope is this blog post gives you a glimpse behind the curtain of our learning design.  (Even my wife, Heidi, said she learned something new in proofing this blog!). ​​We are always assessing and adjusting as we continue to learn more from everyone in the network.

​This constant state of assessing and learning is also why we changed math software this year. Dreambox wasn't as fun & engaging, nor did it provide the immediate feedback loops for self-correction like Beast Academy. Plus Beast is actually far more comprehensive in nature too with built in instructional videos for when learners get stuck. Beyond that, we are able to lean on the Acton network here too, Beast came highly recommended from the network/ learners at other Actons which made the decision easier for us.

We didn't even have the space to touch on things like independent reading, handwriting, typing, foreign language, PE, Servant leadership badges, our outdoor program, or really any of the Learning to Be & Learning to Learn concepts in the "Whole Child Development" graphic above. 

All of which play a VITAL role in the overall learning design and badge plans of each of our learners.


My questions for you are,

1. Are you willing to trust your child with their learning journey?  Trusting they can & will learn these basic foundational skills on their way to discovering their world changing passions...
   
   If the answer is yes, then ask yourself:
   
   
2. Is Acton's Learner-Driven Community the right setting for that journey to unfold for your family?
   
   No school is utopia, Acton certainly isn't either. But it is a place that affords EVERY learner that sets foot inside our doors the opportunity to learn to learn, learn to do, and learn to be. All on their own timeline. It's messy. It's hard. It's certainly not the same linear, well mapped out path that comes when curriculum is mapped out for students day by day, quarter by quarter, age grouping by age grouping. No the journey at Acton is FAR richer, and FAR more empowering for a hero on a journey of becoming a life long learner. 
   
   If the answer to both of these questions are yes, then ask yourself:
   
   
3. Given the time, space, and resources, Do I believe there is anything my child can't learn on their own that they need for their journey?
   
   If the answer is yes, I would love to hear your reasoning so we can dig into this together, before taking on the challenge.
   
   If the answer to the final question is no, then I want to leave you with a challenge to continue to equip you for the Acton parenting journey:

My challenge for you, should you desire to dig deeper on our Learner-Driven Learning Design is to complete one or more of the Learning Design Family Badges. There are badges for parents to learn more about: Writing at Acton, Quests, Excellence, Mastery, and more!

Onward!
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To understand what I mean, I’d like to invite you to step into my shoes for a moment and imagine this: It’s about 8:15 AM and you’re standing at the door greeting a steady stream of learners as they get dropped off at school to start a day filled with important work. Lots of smiling faces. Energy, life, excitement. It’s a great way to start the day. 
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But inevitably, this complex moral dilemma plays out: A smiling hero shakes your hand and says, “Good morning, Mr. Luke, how are you today?” I get that for most people, this isn’t exactly a crisis, but as a guide who signed a contract explicitly stating you won’t answer questions, this situation poses a problem. It seems like you have a couple of options:

1. Just answer the question. Sure, you made a promise, but it’s just a little one. No big deal right? Surely, they don’t really mean that guides don’t ever answer any questions…
2. Refuse to answer. Take their warm friendly greeting and throw it back in their face. Guides don’t answer questions. Period.
3. Give an awkward, sort of snarky sounding non-answer like, “How do you think I am this morning?”

What would you do in my shoes?

If I’m completely honest here, I’ve probably done versions of all three of these at some point. All might seem to have their merits, but if none seem terribly satisfying, that's actually good - because in reality none of them are the response of a true Socratic guide.

It’s true that guides DON’T answer questions, yes, but the flip side of that is that we DO - commit to remaining Socratic 100% of the time.  Being Socratic means more than just avoiding questions. It means that the way we respond to questions is by offering choices, tools, or additional questions with the purpose of igniting curiosity and equipping learners to solve their own problems.

Here’s something really important that needs to be clear: We actually want learners at Acton to ask lots of questions. Research shows that children around the age of 5 ask an average of 100 questions per day. And then they start school and that number simply falls off a cliff until about age 11 where many children are essentially asking no questions at all.

So at least a part of our goal in remaining Socratic is to honor and encourage children’s curiosity. Our intent is to communicate the idea that a question asked by a learner is an awesome thing and that one question should lead to more questions. We want to trust and equip them to go out and search for the answer and hopefully uncover even more interesting and exciting questions along the way.

We’ve found that when we simply answer questions, we are robbing heroes of incredibly valuable opportunities to follow their own curiosity, make their own decisions (and learn from the consequences), or draw others in and make important connections. We want them to ask questions, but in the process to gain the confidence to search for answers themselves.
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To show you what I mean here are three different examples of how a Socratic guide might respond to different sorts of questions:


Learning Questions: “Mr. Luke, I’ve been working on this Math problem for like 20 minutes and I can’t figure it out.”

• Not Very Socratic Response: Well, have you done 3B4G?
• Socratic Response: Wow, It sounds like you’ve been working at this for a long time. I’d call that some serious grit. Tell me a little bit of what you have done so far that hasn’t worked? 
  
  

(Depending on how they answer offer options/ A-B choices like the ones below)

1. Would it be more helpful to take a break and come back to math in 15 minutes OR go back now and read through the instructions and problem slowly and carefully one more time? 
2. Do you think it would be more helpful to review the video and hints in the practice section or do a Google search for dividing with complex fractions?”
3. I know that Angie just finished that unit and Fred is on the same one - would you like to check in with one of them to see if they have any insights?

Process/Information Questions: “Mr. Luke, what time is PE today?”

• Not Very Socratic Response: Guides don’t answer questions. Figure it out yourself.
• Socratic Response: Great question - That’s awesome that you’re planning ahead and trying to stay on time. But as a Socratic guide, I’m not going to answer that question because I trust you to find your own answer. Would you like to check the schedule on the wall or ask a fellow traveler in your studio?

Personal Questions: “Mr. Luke, how are you today?”

• Not Very Socratic Responses: See the three options given at that start of this post
• Socratic Response: Thanks so much for asking! Your curiosity about me shows a deep kindness that I admire. But you can trust me as a Socratic guide which means I care about you enough to not answer even little questions. I’d really love to hear about how your day is going so far OR if you’d rather, you could head out back to the playground to find somebody who looks like they really need someone to ask how they are doing. 

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• Launches serve three purposes: to inspire, equip and connect.

How do you demand attention, teach key skills or keep young people in order if a guide has limited authority and is unable to questions or lecture?

In many ways, it’s a mis-framed question for a learner-driven community. But the short answer is that Heroes get everything they need for the day in a few 15-minute Launches, written and delivered by a guide or (even better) a Hero.

• To Inspire by connecting to a challenge, hero or world-class example that lifts your eyes to the horizon and gives you energy.
• To Equip by offering a process, recipe, algorithm or framework that leads to better decisions and habits.
• To Connect by bringing the tribe closer together with each other, fellow travelers or loved ones.

“To Inspire” comes first, because without a “Why?” it’s unlikely Heroes will embrace a new process or want to work together.

Description
The 15 minutes of group time at the start of the day, before a work sprint, and to kick off project time is called the “Launch.” It’s a powerful moment because it gives your studio the opportunity to get inspired, equipped, and connected before embarking on the next challenge. At the end of a successful Launch, everyone is ready to get something important done.

Questions for your studio
It’s 8:30 a.m. Heroes are arranged in a circle. The Exhibition is in two days and there are at least four days of work left to do. Do you launch by: inspiring Heroes with a moving video about a sprint to the finish; equipping them to create a plan to prioritize and execute on the last stages of the Quest; or connect the tribe by sharing personal experiences of sprinting towards a deadline?

A week later, it’s early in a new Learning Arc. You start preparing for your next launch by assessing needs. Do energy and intentionality need attention? Is there a key process or framework that needs to be introduced to uplift the culture or execute on a difficult learning challenge? Do you need to introduce incentives or encouragement to unite the tribe or break up cliques?

How will you inject energy, right from the start of the launch? Will you do a quick physical activity, watch a short video, or tell an “imagine this . . .” story? Or perhaps you will share a personal testimonial, tell about the struggle of a hero, describe a big upcoming event, or do a centering exercise?

Which opening question will place each Hero in his or her own shoes or the shoes of a protagonist, facing an extremely important and difficult moral decision that requires immediate action and someday may be faced by each Hero in real life?

What two to four “anchor questions” will you ask, in what order, to dig deeper, provide more perspective, diagnose a problem or create an action plan? During today’s launch, will you focus more on Socratic process to enhance critical thinking skills, the needs or a few to be heard or making progress on a critical decision faced by the studio?

Finally will you close the day with “lessons learned;” next steps or a call to action, for example:

• “What do you absolutely have to get done today?”
• “How many minutes until we are focused on important work?”
• “What is the one thing you promise not to do today to make sure you don’t get distracted?”

It's through these daily launches that we develop

• Clear thinking, which leads to good decisions,
• Good decisions lead to the right habits,
• The right habits lead to character and
• Character becomes destiny!

Acton Academy’s Learning Philosophy is:

• Clear thinking leads to good decisions,
• Good decisions lead to the right habits,
• The right habits lead to character and
• Character becomes destiny.
  
  

Learning to learn means finding the recipes, processes and algorithms that help us make better decisions and more deeply embed the right habits of critical thinking.  

Learning to do means making practical decisions in the real world to accomplish great tasks, as a way to change the world.    

But however important the tasks of learning to learn and learning to do, the most important part of finding the Grail in the Hero’s Journey is not the Grail itself, but how the hero is changed in the process.  This is the essence of learning to be.

We want Eagles near the end of a successful, satisfying and fulfilling life to have answer to three important questions:

1. Did I contribute something meaningful?
2. Was I a good person?  and
3. Who did I love and who loved me?
   
   

As such, through launches, studio processes and Servant Leader badges we continually stress the connection between daily tasks and “learning to be” or the process of becoming who you were meant to become.

Variation Across Studios

In the Elementary Studio, much of the “learning to be” impact comes from hero stories, working together in curiosity-filled quests and “learning to be” badges, supported by Full-Circle Feedback from peers.

In the Middle School Studio, 360 feedback and Hero Bucks become even more critical for earning additional freedom and responsibility through Freedom Levels, all supporting the habits of self-management and self-governance, as recorded in Servant Leader Badges.

By Launchpad, many of the most important “learn to be” habits are deeply embedded, and increasingly put into action in lower studios through Servant Leader badges, while attention shifts towards who Launch padders will become in their “next great adventure” in the real world.