Disco Bomb, the Penokee Players, and Creativity

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of watching an original adaptation of the era I grew up in. Stevie Nicks, Jimmy Hendricks, Charlie’s Angels and the Love Boat all rolled into one. What is truly amazing about the production was it was written, produced and performed by young people ages 5-19 that attend the Penokee Mountain Cooperative School.

The Penokee Mountain School is a little gem tuck away in the rolling farmlands of Northern Wisconsin. Formed in the 80’s as a cooperative, parents and youth gather on Fridays in the fall and conduct classes for home school enrichment. One of the classes is the Play Writing. The older youth meet the first ten weeks and write an original work to be performed in the winter session. During the winter, the written word transforms into weekly play practice, set design, costume creation and healthy doses of fun.

Sitting through the production I was amazed at how the youth leading this effort hit upon many higher order thinking skills, that many innovative educators would drool to see happen in their classrooms. Yet I would cite with caution that trying to recreate this special night in a classroom may be its undoing. The youth that produced this show had some things that are very hard to recreate in a classroom. Daniel Pink talks about drive and motivation (See his RSA Video). In a nutshell, Pink talks about Autonomy, Purpose and Self-Mastery as the elements for motivation. It only took five minutes into the play to reveal that these performers had all three.

Too often the factory model of schooling tries to artificially create the magic that happens when kids are given the freedom to explore, resources from adults, and access to spaces without an overabundance of conditions, control or the dreaded rules. Often I have seen that this kind of learning is used as a reward for compliance, which at the start kills the magic.

In terms of assessment, the play was a prime example of authentic assessment. The audience was filled with community members, and their responses i.e. laughter, clapping came at the appropriate moments of a relevant 70’s flashback. It struck me with awe how kids born 20 years later were able to re-create the flavor of the 70’s sitcom era. They must have done a tremendous amount of research to nail their parts. Much better than a standardized test.

I was also struck by the cooperative nature of the performance. This was a multi-generational production. Every kid who wanted a part was written into the play. I saw validation and pride in the faces of them before, during and after the production. This multi-age project capitalized on the strengths of the members of the community. Adults were seen as facilitators and supporters of the journey not the leaders.

I want to thank visionaries of Penokee for keeping this organization alive and thriving for my own children to participate as members. This truly was a special night.

Hidden Treasures: Splitting Geodes

Have you ever just picked up a rock and thought, "Gee. I wonder what's inside there?" Well, when my kids found out they could split open a Geode, they were absolutely thrilled. Especially Charlotte. She's my little rock hound. Every time we go to the beach, she comes home with a huge bag of rocks. We recently joined the Penokee Mountain School ( the local Homeschool Co-op) back in early October. The kids have been waiting so patiently for the arrival of this day. Last Friday we had a local guest speaker from Marengo, Kathie Snyder, an avid rock hound, come share her buckets of knowledge (and Geodes) with our children. When I say buckets, I mean that each child was able to choose one Geode from three different states. I wish I could remember which Geode came from where. These were mostly from southern states and each had their own look about them. In this photo, the Geodes appear to be very round. When you pick them up, they seemed pretty light.The kids seemed to have the most luck with these Geodes called "Coconut Geodes" from Mexico.This bucket had what I would describe as "bubbly shaped" geodes called "Thundereggs" from New Mexico. They felt pretty dense and ended up to be hard to split.This bucket looked like it was filled with "mini brains." Also very dense and very hard to split. These came from Arizona and Tennessee.We walked away with from this experience learning how to choose a good Geode. One must pick up many and compare them to one another. Looks can be deceiving. You must go by weight. The bigger and lighter, the more space there may be inside. You want light and hollow, as they split easier. We found through trial and error, that small and dense were really hard to break. Mind you, this is done with a chisel and a hammer. And safety goggles of course. For those who could not break theirs open with the chisel, there was the option to take the Geode out to the sidewalk and just hit it with the hammer. If you have to do this, chances are you'll end up with more pieces. So, here are some samples of Charlotte and Finn pounding away.

Not only did she bring her Geodes, but a tray full of Agates, which this family is particularly fond of. She offered one to everyone.There was a table of her beautiful rock collection. Sometimes, I take pictures and I don't even know what I'm taking a picture of. I just know they are pretty and sparkly. That big thing in the front is a petrified cactus. (One of the kids told me.)I think this is a fossil of some kind.Ok. Look at this colorful beauty. So vivid!I've never seen anything quite like it. So, later I asked Kathie what kind of rock could have so much color in it. Well folks, it is NOT a rock. This is a slice from the floor of a car factory. Yes, this is layers upon layers of car paint.

Another station she had set up were animal skulls. This was a very popular display.It was a spectacular day. I have to give Kathie a ton of credit for her patience, bravery and very steady hand. She split Geodes with about twenty kids and walked away with all limbs attached.