It's the same lessons and questions I wonder about for the youth in the community center, but this time it's for my own child.
~ words from Divine that keep us thinking and wondering ~
Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
Notice what you notice. Wonder what you wonder. There is no quiz, no right way. Read until something stays.
this film has no words. notice what you notice. notice what you wonder. wonder out loud. and don't forget to notice what you feel, too.
Superpowers
I’m so happy you’re sharing this birthday with me today. Thirty-four trips around the sun…what a journey. My crazy ideas and enormous imagination have only grown since we started the community center in Canarsie. It’s so exciting to think back on that time and everything that has happened since then. Today, I’m a proud husband and father of two children here in the United States.
My boy, Max, he’s 3 - but man, sometimes I wonder what planet he came from. He’s so smart. Sometimes when my wife and I are driving, he’ll bring up something that we were talking about weeks ago. And we had no idea he was listening… but he was. It reminds me how beautiful and serious is the responsibility of being a father. While he’s already clearly his own being - I’m his father!
I’m always asking myself what that really means. How can I ensure he’s developing the right values? How will he learn to care for the needs of others and his community? How will he view himself? With love? With potential? How can I ensure that he grows up knowing that his path is his own to create, too. It’s the same lessons and questions I wonder about for the youth in the community center… but this time it’s for my own child.
Being a father is a really, really incredible feeling to me.
It’s also a massive responsibility.
Have you ever thought of the responsibilities of a good father?
Or guardian?
Can you give some examples?
Why do you say that?
Where have you learned what a good father can be?
So while I continue to pursue my dreams, I find myself more conscious of how I manage my time. I’m making a short film about the day in the life of a dollar bill in New York City. I just bought the 3rd floor of an office in Newark to use for events like networking carnivals. But I often find myself asking...if I spend all my time focused on creative adventures and new projects, how will I have enough time to spend with my family? How do I decide where to place my attention? What’s really important to me?
It seems to me that once I identify what I value most, my decisions will become easier. I’ll be able to choose the things that are closest to my heart. The ability to consistently make decisions that feel aligned to my beliefs is everything to me. Happiness is kicking it (or "hanging out") with Max for an hour playing video games. Not because it reaps an important project outcome or makes a new connection, but because it helps grow my relationship with my son. That’s something I really value.
Do you ever find yourself wondering what holds value to you?
One thing you could start doing is looking at what you spend most of your time doing or paying attention to.
That’s generally a good indicator for learning what you’re really prioritizing.
What do you find yourself giving most of your time and attention to?
Why is that?
One thing that I find incredibly valuable is taking time to imagine. It might sound like a funny thing to which to devote time, but I find I don’t know many adults who set aside time to imagine anymore. Often, it seems like people’s minds are constantly projecting everything they have to do and stressing over how they’re going to get it all done. I want to convince you that our Imagination is a real superpower. With a little practice and training, you can develop that superpower and create the absolute best version of yourself. I promise you.
Let’s try something.
I want you to take the next three minutes and imagine your life in ten years, with the best possible outcome.
The more vivid the details, the better.
Where do you live?
What will you do for work?
For fun?
What kinds of friends will you have?
What will you value most?
For me, I want to see the people and world around me tapping into their greatest potential. Therefore, inspiring personal growth in others has become sort of this common denominator that I use when facing decisions. Whether it’s where to eat with Max or what projects should I take on next, if the outcome is that I’ve helped someone take a step towards their dream-self: Count me in! And once I decided this, everything else sort of fell into place. It allows me the clarity of when to say “no” to projects or opportunities that could ultimately be divisive or simply not worth my time. After all, we only have 24 hours a day - so picking wisely is really important!
I really encourage you to take the time out of your day to imagine the path you want to build for yourself. How old will you be 10 years from now? I’m trying to think of how many days will have gone by in 10 years. If there are 365 days a year, how many days are there in 10 years? If we were to commit to improving one thing about ourselves each month for 10 years, how many steps toward our dreams will we have taken after 10 years? How can we make sure to make the most of each of those days?
Learn more about Divine here.
For this lesson on superpowers, ask students to help arrange seats in a circle to encourage inclusivity.
“What do you imagine your life will look like in 5 years from now?” To encourage students’ engagement, start by sharing your own answer to this question.
Express the scenario you would like to see yourself in five years from today. You can also talk about how difficult it can be to imagine what your life will truly be like. In this lesson, you’ll be exploring your student “superpowers” and their ability to create the life they imagine.
Begin with the video above, "I am Divine", gearing up to popcorn read Divine’s story, “Another Year Of Life.” Encourage students’ observation skills by asking, “What do you notice in the video?
What emotions were present? How did you notice this?” Facilitate a brief discussion about what students noticed, looking for common bonds - “What could you relate to in this video? What would you guess Divine might value?” Then move on to reading the story. After reading, try asking, “What stood out to you the most in this story? Was there anything Divine said that you felt like you could apply to your own life?” As you hear more answers, try to point out the values you hear in what students are saying. Divine talks about imagination as a “superpower.” Ask students, “What other superpowers might you have?” Approach this as an exercise in self-acknowledgement, encouraging students to recognize their own positive traits and how these might be “superpowers.” Then delve into the envisioning activity Divine suggests, “How will these superpowers help you achieve that vision of yourself 10 years from now?” You could approach this exercise as letter writing practice, addressing it to “Dear [ their name ] at [ age + 10 years ]”. The challenge: write letters of advice to themselves 10 years from now, pointing out their superpowers and vividly describing their vision. Make sure you write one, too!
Consider how to make the most of each day and take tangible steps to self-improvement while learning about how 10 relates to place value.
In the story, Divine leads you through calculating how many days and months exist in this 10 year envisioning period, providing an opportunity to explore how 10 relates to place value and multiplying by 10s. To dig deeper into the math and how feasible self-improvement is, raise the question, “Imagine improving 120 things about yourself?! Let’s think about this as developing 120 more superpowers. Do you think it’s possible to develop so many superpowers? Is there a limit to who we can become and how we can improve? What goal would we start with this month? What’s a big, scary self-improvement goal that you’re most afraid to start?”
Go back to the Learning Journey story and find Divine’s prompt in the story, suggesting you assess what you spend most your time doing or paying attention to.
Ask students to free-write on this prompt for 5 minutes, then do a pair share in which they share these priorities with a buddy and help each other point out what values these priorities reflect. Encourage students to ask themselves, “Is there a value that is really important to me that I’m not currently acting on? What could I do to change that?”
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Coming Together
What would you change for the better about your community? Do you wonder if many people in your community want the same things as you, too? Is there something everyone in your community collectively wants, but it hasn’t happened yet? Why do you think that is? How might you be able to accomplish it? It’s always puzzled me. If we all want the same thing, why can’t we come together and accomplish it?
Do you have safe places in your community? Where do people come together and talk about how we can make things better? Are those conversations happening in your community? Where? And by who?
Have you ever asked questions to which you didn’t have answers? How does that make you feel? Excited? Discouraged? Scared?
If you could create a safe space for your community, what would it look like? What kinds of things would you keep there? How would people get there? Can you draw what you imagine your dream community center to look like?
To build a pyramid, we have to start with a design. A simple shape to begin with when thinking about a pyramid is a triangle, right? Will you help me with some designs? Let’s start by drawing a circle to represent the space within which we have to work. If the base of the triangle is flat, stretching from the 90° to 180° points of the circle, and the top of the triangle at the top of the circle, what angles are in the triangle? If two of the angles are 31°, what is the third angle? What are some other options for triangular shapes and angles? Why do you recommend that shape?
We soon realized that, while a pyramid might be the perfect place to start, we didn’t need a perfect place to start. We just needed to start. So, we looked for places to which we already had access. What spaces do you already have access to in which you could bring people together? Your home? A park? Under a tree?
You know what’s amazing? We raised that $25,000 USD in 2 weeks! It was such an amazing feeling- we were one enormous leap closer to starting our community center! Have you ever been surprised by the amount of support you’ve received around an idea of yours? Have you ever donated to someone else’s idea? How did it feel?
Carry out this lesson in a circle, preferably outside, in order to mimic concepts in the Learning Journey.
“Do you have a place where you feel totally comfortable to be yourself?” Open up the class by telling a story of a place you feel really comfortable.
It can be a physical place like a park or a home, or a person around which you feel this sense of safety, or activities that make you feel safe. Then, invite students to either pair share or share popcorn style as a class. In this lesson, you’ll be learning about a community leader who worked hard to create a safe space in his community.
Watch and Read the video and Learning Journey story, “I Am Divine”. Sit in a circle with your class and ask them, “What most stood out to you in Divine’s story?
What could your relate to?” Hear out whoever feels like sharing, and if no one points out that you are sitting in a circle like Divine and his friends, go back to 2:43 in the video. “Divine and his friends created a safe space of their own. Do you think we could do that? To what extent do we already have that in our classroom?” Excitedly suggest, “Let’s imagine that we could create our own community center like Divine and his friends! How would we start? What would we need to get started?” For this activity, divide the class into groups of 2-3 people. Give 5 minutes to each group to discuss what their ideal community center would look like. After the 5 minutes are up, assign the groups another 3 minutes to make a list of things they’d like to acquire for the new community center. Encourage them to be as creative and imaginative as possible. Afterwards, each group will have the opportunity to practice public speaking by sharing their responses with the class. To incorporate extra math here, give the groups another 10 to 15 minutes to estimate the cost for each item they listed, and a total cost for all items. Encourage them to consider quality, brand, quantity, and where they will purchase the goods. “What would be our next step after this?”
Practice working with angles by helping Divine think of designs for their community center. Divine and his friends are interested in building a pyramid-type building for their community center.
To represent this pyramid more simply, you and your class can work with triangles while thinking about the design. Consider giving students the choice to paint, draw in sand, or use blocks to replicate and classify triangles in this exercise. By following the prompts provided by Divine in the story (near bottom of story), students will practice constructing and measuring angles, drawing angles in circles, and decomposing angles. You can use the circle to imagine the space within which Divine can build his community center. You’ll also need a protractor. You could follow similar prompts designing your own community space, as well! Feel free to give students various angle degrees beyond the two 31° offered in the story for varied practice decomposing angles and classifying triangles. To stay in context, ask students, “Which type of triangle feels best for a community center? Why?”
Once you’ve thoroughly thought through plans and ideas for your “community center,” suggest a zoom out look at the bigger purpose. “What are you most excited about for this new community center?
Who are some people you’d like to invite? What would you do together? Would you all be working towards a similar goal or goals? How would you work together?” Bounce around ideas about how you can apply this same excitement to your classroom activity, encouraging the group to keep thinking about these questions after leaving.
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
If a moment stayed, follow it. If a question rose up, hold it. The quiet teaching is still teaching.
Three or four real stories woven into one lesson, your topic, your time. Divine is one. The weaver finds the others, threads the math, the literacy, the values, the reflection.
Open the weaver →