2022 – A Year in Review
If 2022 could be summed up in one word, it would be Joy. FableVision Learning had the JOY of traveling across the country working with educators and students as we launched new programs, celebrated family nights, and worked to spread creativity into every classroom.
The team has pulled together their favorite moments from 2022.
The Kindred Spirit Constellation
Preparing for Dot Day at the MET in NYC!
I will often refer to the educators I work with as “my teachers.” This phrase confuses my husband as we met in high school and had the same teachers. But I truly do mean it, the teachers I connect with either through Zoom or at events are “my teachers.” The silver lining of the COVID years is we were all able to “connect” through technology. The highlight of this past year was finally connecting in person with “my teachers.” This really hit my heart on International Dot Day when I was awkwardly dancing/standing on stage at The MET in New York City before the live stream with Flip launched. I looked into the audience filled with “my teachers” - my FableFamily - that traveled from states away and now sat shoulder to shoulder to celebrate the courage to create bravely.
FableVision Learning added some new spices to our cabinet this year with teacher PD, family nights, virtual visits with Peter H. Reynolds and workshops with students. Every school added their own flavor to the mix, but each adventure - whether it was at Brookstone School in Georgia or Somerville Elementary in New Jersey - had the same sparkle of creative energy. Yet one moment from the student workshops stands out: in New Jersey, during the last kindergarten writing session, a room of giggly 5-year-olds excitedly wrote a story about a chicken nugget king. The story didn’t make logical sense, but it had us all laughing.
Continuing our mission to empower teachers with the creative SPARK, the FableVision team hit the road and headed to Beacon, NY for a hands-on PD event at the Clarkson Beacon Institute. Surrounded by the beauty of the Hudson Valley, educators from Georgia, Alabama, and across New York explored their creative strengths, created from “Going Places” kits, and were left recharged for the school year. Those that know me know I love to talk, and more specifically I LOVE to talk about science, space, Sci-Fi and television. Clarkson was where I met my people - the unique souls that love Star Trek and can talk Richard Feynman for days .
This is the point where I am going to get a bit sappy and personal. There were a few folks this year that brought great personal joy to the work. And here they are in no particular order:
Carly & Adam. There is great overlap in the FableVision and Carly & Adam community, as we’ve been part of the STEM Teacher Summit since the beginning. I’ve had the pleasure of virtually collaborating with the creative couple, from mapping out sessions, to organizing logos and of course chatting about TV. This year, along with Jed Dearybury (a soul that brings me JOY every day) Carly & Adam ran the summit from Dedham, MA and then they all traveled to NYC for Dot Day. It truly felt like a family reunion.
Eric Yoder, Jigar Patel, Melody Weintraub, Paul Branagan, Melissa McDonald, and Melissa-Ann Pero. A lot goes into planning conferences and the behind-the-scenes heroes that ensure everything runs smoothly. In 2022, the world was back in-person and I was able to hug the folks that made everything possible.
The Big Picture Living kids. I call everyone under the age of 35 a kid, and these amazing teenagers do fit that definition. For three years I’ve been working on the Big Picture Living program (if you haven’t checked it out, please do). For three years, I’ve been meeting through Zoom with the same group of teenagers - watching them grow, working on the website, and learning from them. This summer, we finally met face-to-face at Big Picture Learning’s Big Bang conference. Hopping on a flight from India, Alisha made the longest journey and I am blessed she did. She is an amazing young woman that is going to change the world. Over the past few months, I’ve worked directly with Angel and Jasmin, students from Rhode Island that have been traveling across the country presenting on their work around Big Picture Living. They each bring their own spark and passion to the project. Watching these three grow has been the highlight of my 2022.
Terry Shay and Peggy Healy Stearns. FableFamily doesn’t accurately describe these two - they are family. Terry reminds me to show grace, kindness and to pause to laugh. His energy launched Dot Day ripples across this globe. I am blessed to have him as my “brother.” Peggy Healy Stearns, the brains behind FabMaker Studio, is the creative fuel for the program. She reminds me to stretch my engineering muscles and that a letter in the mail is better than an email.
Mary Johnston, Deanna Braunlin and Pauline Connors. Three names and three faces I see everyday, and with their own creative skills, they are the power that makes FableVision Learning succeed.
The people, the moments, the journey creates the Kindred Spirit Constellation that lit up the sky in 2022 and sent sparks of joy throughout the year.
We laughed, we played, we saved some Zoombinis
How can kids learn through play? This year, FableVision Learning and TERC teamed up to answer this question. Members from both TERC and FVL collaborated to run several focus groups that would become the launchpad for Zoombinis Club, a gaming club for kids.
Zoombinis is an award-winning adventure game that takes players on a journey through 12 computational thinking puzzles. Zoombinis Club is no ordinary gaming club – it supplements playing time with live-action activities and group discussion.
I attended Zoombinis Club focus groups all over Massachusetts and met some awesome kids (and staff!) during their afterschool programs. In Hyde Park, we were lucky enough to have some parents try out the game, and found that it is just as effective on adults! One mom said, “I wish I could play this at home!” We asked participants their opinions of the game, the activities, and the marketing materials. We laughed, we played, we saved some Zoombinis!
The Zoombinis Club focus groups taught TERC and FableVision Learning so much about how kids would choose to learn, offering a wealth of knowledge as we move forward into 2023. Look out for a Zoombinis Club near you!
On the Road Again
This southern girl loved spending a gorgeous autumn day in Peekskill, NY animating with some extra fun teachers. People of all ages light up when they succeed in getting an animation to show what’s in their imagination, and this group was no exception! Now for the rest of the school year, they’ll get to watch their after-school kids light up in the same way with a full animation curriculum we customized for them.
It’s hard to beat our visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts for eye candy, though. Standing in front of Diego Rivera’s fresco and so many beautiful Van Goghs was awe-inspiring. Even better were the 70+ art teachers from all over Detroit, so ready to engage in creativity. They fabricated rocking horses, animated their moods, and practiced possibility thinking. The energy from this group was exhilarating and only outdone by their students who piled into the DIA’s theater to start an impromptu singalong with Peter H. Reynolds!
When not traveling, we still got to connect with groups via Zoom, like the educators of Maine’s special purpose private schools, who piloted our North Star Classroom this year. The goal of The North Star Classroom is to help students really explore who they are and where they want to be going, and the Maine teachers did some incredible work with students along the journey of our months-long PD. Each time we gathered, we discussed a new aspect of creativity, social-emotional learning, and best practices, and we all came out the other side more thoughtful about students and how to support them.
That brings me to my other favorite thing: all the fun learning experiences we get to create and share with schools. This year we launched our Start with a Story lesson packs that bring Peter’s books to life with activities that explore and celebrate creativity, collaboration, and compassion. When I develop these, I love imagining the young faces of students sharing their hearts and finding their creative strengths. It’s even better when I get to hear from teachers and camp counselors (Hi, MetroWest YMCA!) how much joy and growth their students experience reading Peter’s books and engaging with our lessons. I am currently writing more of these Start with a Story packs and can’t wait to put them out into the world to see what wonderful things come back from the classrooms that employ them!
Celebrating with Family & Friends
Our team is so thankful to have had an opportunity to meet new friends in 2022 and reconnect with so many of you at your family night events!
Imagine being able to transform gymnasiums in New Hampshire’s SAU #6 School District and New Jersey’s Somerville Elementary School, into Creativity Central family night events with selfie stations, collaborative murals, scavenger hunts, Peter H. Reynolds Film Festival and more. We enjoyed all of the rays of laughter, beams of creativity, and of course, lots of lots of dots!
The fun and laughter continued in Colorado when we helped turn Challenge to Excellence Charter School’s STEM lab into an animation studio for their STEAM night celebration. Student ambassadors were helping family and friends between the ages of 3 and 75 animate a special design. The student ambassadors reminded everyone to just Start with a Dot!
I Am Brave!
In Claremont/Unity New Hampshire, Family Night led into a month-long celebration that included a dot-inspired coding activity at each elementary school. The students were all smiles and took such pride in their work! By creating and deciphering binary code necklaces, students carried an important message of bravery with them around their necks.
Off to San Antonio, Boston, and Wyoming
What a pleasure it was to meet so many accomplished educators in San Antonio, Boston, and Wyoming! We set sail with the North Star program this summer and spent a day with educators from the San Antonio Independent School District and ended our journey in Boston where we spent time with student activity advisors and educators at the National Conference on Student Activities. We focused on new strategies to help students explore their strengths and leadership skills, learn resilience, and discover their power to create.
I journeyed to Wyoming’s beautiful Wind River Country in August for the Wyoming Native American Education Conference. It was wonderful to spend time with so many amazing educators as we looked at new ways to help students find their voices and make the world a better place using Peter H. Reynolds’ book, Say Something! We also explored the power of Animation-ish to help students capture and ignite their imaginations and then share their stories with their classmates, family, friends, and the world.