Dear Acton family,
At some point this year, your young hero has likely come home talking about a "Comms" project. Or perhaps your middle schooler mentioned working on a "Genre."
You may have found yourself wondering:
What exactly is that? And are they actually learning to write?
Fair questions. Let us explain.
"Comms" stands for Communication Challenges, and the name is intended to reflect a more comprehensive approach to communication — one rooted in our recognition that in the 21st century, good communication involves far more than just writing the tired book reports of yesteryear.
Want to land that dream apprenticeship in the middle school program? You're going to need a good pitch about why they should hire you as a 13 year old.
Starting a business? You'd better be able to communicate why your product or service is worthy of someone's hard-earned money.
Passionate about a cause and want to educate others through a white paper or a speech? You'd better be able to organize your thoughts and deliver compelling content that will inspire people to get involved.
We could keep going, but you get the gist.
Communication is power. Indeed, the pen is mightier than the sword, but it's time to broaden the applications of our metaphorical pens to include all the forms and styles that matter.
So what does all of this mean for writing at Acton?
Our approach rests on a few core beliefs:
1. The best way to become a great writer is to write — a lot. And revise — a lot.
Throughout the year, learners produce an extraordinary amount of writing through Communication Challenges, journaling (a studio favorite), free writes, and structured practice. Several of those pieces go through multiple rounds of revision and editing until they become their highest-quality work.
2. Communication that matters.
Traditional essays and book reports are often boring not because the book was bad, but because the whole exercise lacked relevance or meaning. However, if what we are communicating has real life implications that matter to us and those around us, what was once dead and lifeless becomes filled with joyful excitement.
For example, we might have a contest to pitch a field trip, with the winning pitch becoming our next outing. Or the winning story from a creative writing contest will be professionally printed and added to our library. Or the pitch you're writing will be delivered to a stranger who is considering spending real money on something you've made.
3. Love the written word.
Our overarching goal is for your young hero to love writing: to experience the joy that comes with telling a story, constructing a compelling argument, or finding just the right word to convey an idea — and to know the incredible sense of empowerment that comes with seeing someone's eyes light up with excitement at your creation or watching someone's opinion change based on your words.
Taming the Monster Within
While this all sounds nice, actually putting it into practice is far more difficult. For it requires that we tame one of the most heinous monsters we face as parents: the monster of perfectionism.
Without question, the most surefire way to ensure that your child will dislike writing is to litter their work with red ink and focus their attention solely on what they've done wrong.
Forget the ideas. Forget the magic of using words to paint a picture or communicate something important.
Writing is about not making mistakes. That's misspelled, and the comma goes there.
If we are able to tame the perfection monster, what we will find is that as our learners refine the work that they love, they will become committed to its excellence. This means that it must be punctuated correctly and use proper English conventions. After all, no one will take it seriously if not.
This is why by middle school and Launchpad, something remarkable begins to emerge. Yes, they have command of standard conventions, but more importantly, they also have the more elusive traits of creativity and passion, enabling them to wield their swords with power toward the things that matter most.
