From the ES guides:
As our session comes to a close the Elementary studio begins the process of reflection. Reflection may seem like a useless task at times, especially in the fast paced, task by task, post by post, like by like, life we tend to live in as adults. For the ES Lions, reflection is one of the most important processes they take part in each session.
Reflection time allows our young heroes the opportunity to slow down, to remember the promises that they made to each other and to themselves just a few weeks ago. The promises that they spent hours creating, debating, revising, and voting for. They reflect on how they held themselves to these promises and how the studio as a whole did as well. The Lions use a scale of 1-5 to rate the success of each promise and write them on the white board.
Quickly our Lions noticed a pattern of self ratings being significantly higher than whole studio ratings for each of our promises. This realization led them to a deeper reflection. What or who is truly responsible for the health of the ES studio? Is it the systems and contracts that have been created and implemented? Is it the studio as a whole? Or is it the individual Lion?
As we continued though our reflection time we began noticing the ratings becoming more realistic. We heard from individuals raw honesty about how their own actions and attitudes may have affected the studio this session, along with ways that they would like to be held accountable in the future.
Sometimes as adults it can be hard to see the value in slowing down and in the proccesses. We find happiness and worth in what we have accomplished and in what our own children accomplish. We fear that they will not be as "far along" as their peers and look for scores and grades to measure their worth. Let's be honest! It's much harder to share with our friends the success in a self reflection, a resolved conflict, or in the lessons learned through a failed attempt because as a society we have chosen to find a higher value in a letter grade on a transcript or an SAT score.
Imagine what the future holds for the brave heroes that see the value in the process and not just in the accomplishment!♥️

As week 3 came to a close Miss Sarah and I had the opportunity to reflect on the ES Lions and the progress they have made to cultivate a community of lifelong learners filled with the love of Christ.

One moment in particular stood out to us that involved one of our new Lions.
This Lion tends to be more of an introvert and is completely happy spending time on her own during lunches, but we did notice that she seemed to become more interested in the games that her fellow Lions were playing. We became curious in seeing if she was ready to challenge herself a bit more by joining into the latest game of capture the flag. As we watched her, another lion noticed and quickly ran over to invite her to play. We truly thought that she would have declined as she had in the past, but this time her face lit up and she said yes! She then spent the afternoon playing a game with her studiomates. This may seem like a minute victory or maybe no victory at all but, in this environment where we have chosen to let our Lions choose to challenge themselves instead of relying on someone else to tell them what they are capable of, this was a big win!

You see, this hero entered the studio on day one filled with anxiety for the uncertainty of what the year would hold and plenty of scars from past school experiences. The Friday before, we watched her boldly place her handprint onto the studio canvas signifying her commitment not only to her own hero's journey but to also help her fellow ES Lions on theirs.

There were many times in the first few days where she chose to follow the protocol she created and believed would help her transition into our studio successfully. As week three progressed she relied on her protocol less and less.  Miss Sarah and I were beyond impressed with her ability to voice her feelings while recognizing the difference between challenging herself to grow or pushing herself to a point of panic that would produce no growth. 

It is true when we say that children are far more capable than we have ever imagined. We have seen that they learn best through taking the reigns and leading themselves through fun challenges and real-world impact.

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