Day 78 of the pandacademic year would be the final day of the cycle for the Learners, while the Facilitators would be meeting for an all-day professional development on Wednesday. This fifth cycle was our most challenging one of the year as it was our first entirely remote cycle given the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in Central Texas, and there was nothing we could do about that (other than ignore it as most schools in Texas are doing).
Facilitator Ariel led the morning meeting with a quick review of practices that we were working on and announcements. Then everyone shared what they enjoyed doing with friends: creating art, playing video games, talking, conversation and travel, playing Minecraft, breathing, playing video games, shred mountain bike trails, playing video games, talking, talking and hanging out, and play games. As a follow up, folks then commented on whether they could do that at Abrome. Most said that they could host or show up at more offerings, and be sure to attend the meetings, as well. Some said that they already do what they like to do with friends at Abrome, with one Learner saying that their only friends are at Abrome. A couple of people came up with ideas for new ways to share with the Abrome community, such as more outings and field trips post-pandemic.
After the morning meeting on the last day of the week we usually have our Check-in and Change-up meeting. But because we just had one on Friday it did not make sense to have another one, so we adjourned the meeting and folks went off in various virtual directions. At 10:45 a.m. I held my final 7-minute workout of the cycle with the usual crew showing up for it.
Coffee and read
At 11:00 a.m. Facilitator Ariel hosted coffee and read. I was the only person who joined the offering but this has become a Facilitator favorite for us. We both continued to read books that have really captivated us, The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas for him, and Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco Book by Savannah Shange for me.
Catapults offering!
Like it always does when engrossed in a book, the time quickly passed. I was hosting a catapults offering at 12:00 p.m. so I muted and turned off my Zoom camera and relocated to the main room that had plenty of space for shooting projectiles.
The catapults offering was inspired by our friends at Bungalow Lane ALC. At the Set-the-Week meeting I shared what the offering would entail, and then I asked for firm commitments from anyone who wanted to participate. I then sourced the materials and early on Tuesday morning I dropped off all the materials needed to make the catapults.
When we came together I asked if folks wanted to experiment with making catapults their own way, or if they wanted me to lead them step-by-step on how to make the catapult. The asked for the latter and we all did our best to make the catapults look the same. Then we shot our projectiles and were uniformly disappointed in their mostly upward and slightly forward trajectory. Then we all began tinkering with our designs. Some of us moved the fulcrum toward and away from the projectile. Some of us stacked additional popsicle sticks at the fulcrum. And then we tried stacking sticks underneath the far end of the bottom stick to create a more forward trajectory. It was a lot of fun and it may inspire some fun offerings for us in cycle six.
Although it was not placed on the calendar in the Set-the-Week meeting, one of the Learners proposed playing Among Us. It can be hard enough to rally folks to show up for an offering when it is placed on the calendar, but it is even harder when it is not. This day the Facilitators were fully engaged, so the Learner was looking at an even smaller group of possible players than usual. But by reaching out to Learners on Discord, and with one of those Learners also joining in on the recruiting effort, two Learners who typically do not participate in remote offerings joined in on the game.
Art and fart (and late lunch)
Meanwhile, Facilitator Lauren was hosting her art and fart offering. Only Facilitator Ariel joined for the offering. While it was initially disheartening to the Facilitators to have no Learners showing up for offerings at the beginning of this remote cycle, and from March through July of last year, we have reminded ourselves that our job is not to entertain Learners or to pressure them to show up, but just to hold space for them. Further, we are really enjoying hanging out with each other even when Learners do not show up. Nonetheless, we are still hopeful that Learners will show up a bit more often in cycle six while we are still stuck in remote. Following art and fart, I hosted free write which only Facilitator Lauren dropped in on.
At 3:00 p.m. all the Facilitators jumped on a call with the parents of a Learner to discuss how the remote experience is working for the Learner, his participation in meetings and lack of participation in offerings (which we made clear was perfectly acceptable), and future plans. Some families have schedules which make it really difficult to connect with them and it was really great to be able to carve out time in the middle of the day to make the meeting work.
Wrapping up the cycle with a final afternoon roundup
At the afternoon roundup I led with a review of our practices and then opened up the meeting for announcements. Then we took turns sharing one thing we each wanted to do for ourselves over the long weekend: sleep well, try to get out more, breathing, less screen time (go on a social media break), decorate room more, hike every day and spend more time outdoors, have fun. Then we shared what we would do for others: hang out with brother more, help my mom, spend more time with family and pets, make sure they’re breathing properly, talk to mom more, let them spend time with me, and go camping. While folks were still sharing, one of the newer Learners (who joined just in time for us to be fully remote) sent me a private chat message asking if he could leave the meeting since he already answered the prompts. I encouraged him to stick around for everyone else, and he did.