SPIRITED ’21
Read moreThis October, somewhere in Southern California, rural Maine or maybe San Francisco, our 50,000th program participant was about to meet the SPIRIT SERIES challenge. They sat in a classroom with no idea of the transformation that lay ahead. But we knew. By the end of their residency, this student would come to experience her/his own capacity for success. After three weeks immersed in the epic challenges and triumphs of a great historical hero, grappling with text – probably two to three grades above their reading level, collaborating with fellow classmates, reflecting on life’s most demanding questions, and facing their own fear in high stakes public performance, the results would very likely be profound: for this student, their teacher, and the entire school community.
SpiritCorps: 2021 Maine Celebration Event
Read moreThis winter/spring in Maine, the first 500 students — grades five through ten — completed our new positive core values and 21st Century skills curriculum: SpiritCorps. They began their journey by viewing personal video stories of challenge and triumph from SERIES staff and program friends, inspired by the historical heroes we celebrate in SPIRIT SERIES and the attributes their lives
SPIRITED ’20
Read moreThis October, somewhere in Southern California, rural Maine or maybe San Francisco, our 50,000th program participant was about to meet the SPIRIT SERIES challenge. They sat in a classroom with no idea of the transformation that lay ahead. But we knew. By the end of their residency, this student would come to experience her/his own capacity for success. After three weeks immersed in the epic challenges and triumphs of a great historical hero, grappling with text – probably two to three grades above their reading level, collaborating with fellow classmates, reflecting on life’s most demanding questions, and facing their own fear in high stakes public performance, the results would very likely be profound: for this student, their teacher, and the entire school community.
#SpiritCorpsMaine: Together We Grow!
Read moreOnly by working together toward a common goal can we actually tend to the spirit of our communities and ourselves. This is the promise of #SpiritCorps, which begins with short video stories of personal challenge and triumph from SERIES staff and program friends, inspired by the lives of the historic heroes we celebrate. These videos — each focused on an
New Friends: Partnering with Lakota Culture-Bearers
Read moreBringing SPIRIT SERIES online has opened wonderful possibilities, among them the chance to actively partner with leaders from the cultural traditions we celebrate. This summer, two elders of the Lakota nation lent their talents and perspective to the online presentation of “Ballad of Sitting Bull.” Our On Screen Launch performance of the play now features Darrell Red Cloud, direct descendent
SPIRIT SERIES On Screen: Fall Update
Read moreThis summer’s newsletter featured the pilot of our program adaptation for distance learning: On Screen. Since then, over 400 students in 28 cohorts have met the SPIRIT SERIES challenge on Zoom. Our thanks to the partner educators in greater Los Angeles who have been early adopters of the program online this year: Paul Revere MS, Fairburn ES, Broadway ES, Antonio
ON SCREEN: Drama-Based Distance Learning
Read moreFor those looking to fully engage students and build community online this fall, we may be able to help. In May, as a response to Covid-19, we launched a bold experiment: taking fifth, sixth, and seventh grade participants in each of our three regions through the drama-based SPIRIT SERIES experience…on Zoom! Could we achieve the same transformative social-emotional and academic
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