Wayfinder offers compassionate, illuminating insights to help students navigate their futures with purpose
Community Review for Wayfinder
My Take
The crisis of meaning and community has plagued schools for decades. As an English teacher, I have tried to bring in texts and offer choice of texts to help students develop a solid sense of who they are as individuals and as a class community. But nothing in my 31 years has worked as well and as quickly as Project Wayfinder to help students build self-awareness and community-awareness. Wayfinder also helps them to take charge of their learning by developing the skills and tendencies of motivated, self-directed learners who are capable of discovering not only what matters to them, but who also exercise their agentive muscles to actually do something about it.
While almost all the lessons, done right, will take more than a 45 minute class period unless something is cut out (easily done given the different versions of the lessons on their amazing digital portal), there is no wasted time in any less. All activities are intentional, research - based, and crucial to the next step/lesson in the project.
As the project has evolved some of the lessons have changed in response to feedback. I still, however, run the first four lessons from the original 2018 iteration as their focus on building community through humor, active listening, improve, and group problem solving is one of the highlights of my school year...and it occurs in the first month of classes!
How I Use It
I've used Wayfinder as a year-long adjunct to a class in social entrepreneurship, but I've also used it with my Sophomore English classes. One particular lesson, "Building the Boats" helped students develop a working understanding of their core values, tie that to their sense of self, and engage with others to build community around shared understandings of who we are. All of Wayfinder's activities are built around Kolb's cycle of experiential learning and the manner in which these lessons affect the teenagers I work with is nothing short of beautiful. Trust the process, understand that not all of the lessons will work all the time with all the classes and you'll see a community grow in any class where once there was but silence and "I don't know her name." That phrase never occurs in my classes. While experiential learning often requires a bit more from introverted students, there is no pressure and plenty of alternative ideas to move all students from individuals to members of a community of creative, purpose-driven people who believe they have the ability to make a substantial change not only in their own lives, but in larger communities.
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