Hero-centered Learning
Each day, our heroes actively pursue their own learning, driven by their individual interests, needs, and abilities. What they learn and how they learn it is centered on the choices they make. They thrive when given the responsibility for their own learning. Empowering them to meet their learning goals based on their own choices provides our heroes valuable opportunities to increasingly engage in their learning, independently make decisions, and assess their individual competencies.
The heroes are empowered when they are involved in planning, implementation, and evaluation. They excel in a task when they are given their voice in what, why, and how they learn. Our heroes achieve their goals because of their involvement in choosing the focus of the content. Their interests drive the skills they would like to develop and concepts that they would like to learn about. Throughout the day, whether they are working on core skills, writer’s workshop, and project time or collaborating with friends for PE, music, or civilization, our heroes make their own choices in what area content they would like to work on, the amount of time they would like to work on it, where to do their work, with whom to work with, what materials or programs they would like to work with, and how to demonstrate their learning. And because their choices perfectly match their interests and needs with the skills and concepts, our heroes succeed and achieve their goals.
Our heroes especially thrive when they are given a chance to take charge of learning activities, regardless of mastery of content skills. When given the opportunity, they demonstrate their ability to lead, negotiate, communicate effectively, engage in higher order thinking, and problem solve. Hero-led learning experiences have proven to be effective in addressing the specific needs of each hero and presenting context that is more meaningful to them. The opportunity to confidently apply skills in a meaningful way keeps them engaged in authentic learning, wherein they tackle challenges that they are likely to encounter in their real world.
Our Week At A Glance
Week 5: January 22 – 26, 2018
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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Launch |
You’re with friends when they start teasing another hero, taking his things and calling him names. If you stick up for him, the group could turn on you. You start to slip away, but someone throws you the boy’s backpack. What will you do? (James 4:17; Ecclesiastes 4:10) |
You’re in the middle of an intense video game. Just a few more points and you’ll beat your high score. You hear Dad say it’s time to turn off the game. The game’s loud, so it would be easy to pretend you didn’t hear. That way, you could finish the game. What will you do? (Colossians 3:20) |
You heard your best friend and some others lying to the principal about who started a fight. You didn’t see the fight, but your friend told you another good friend of yours started it. Now an innocent person has been blamed and will be suspended from school. What will you do? (James 4:17; Proverbs 12:17) |
You’re playing with two good friends. They both want to be your best friend. You think you like one friend better. That friend says, “Let’s go play by ourselves.” You know your other friend’s feelings will be hurt if she’s left out. What will you do? (Proverbs 17:17; Luke 6:31) |
There’s a new kid at school who hardly talks and seems to look at the ground a lot. The other kids laugh at him, and they expect you to laugh with them. You know this child needs a friend, but if you become his friend, the other kids might not be your friends anymore. What will you do? (John 15:12-14; 1 John 4:11) |
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Relaunch Apologetics |
How do we learn about God? Do you learn more from the Bible or the world? Why should we believe the Bible? |
Where did everything come from? How do you know? |
How do we know what is good or bad? Do we know even without anyone telling us? Do people who do not know God also not know what is good or bad? |
What is free will? Why did God give us free will? |
Why do bad things happen? Whose fault is it when something bad happens? |
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Project time |
Role play defending your faith |
Church service Worship |
Church service Message Youth ministry |
Record personal mission statement videos |
Website presentations |
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Close Manners |
What do you do when friends do not include you in some activities? |
Is it ok to disagree with a friend? What do you do if they get upset? What words can you say to help them feel better? Role play disagreement |
How do you help a friend who needs help making good choices? What do you say when they choose to make sad choices? |
What should we do when a friend does not want to play? What if they would like to play something you do not want to play? |
Who helped another friend make good choices? Character callouts |
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