Week in Review - Week 7

Zoom Gatherings

Zoom Gatherings

In Monday and Tuesday’s Zoom Gatherings, we had our first round of learner-led launches in the Studio, and both sets of launches prompted great discussion among learners! Wednesday’s skill-builder focused on how to approach the learning modality: Explore. Eliza and Chrissy role played learners and walked through how we would complete an example Explore task, with Eliza taking middle school and Chrissy taking high school. Next week for Part 2, we will debrief in breakout rooms about other best practices and strategies for exploring a topic. Thursday’s young changemaker launch was on The Cost of Being Heard, and was based on the true story of 16 year old Aretha Brown, an Indigenous Australian youth leader and activist for First Nations rights and education reform. Learners discussed whether it's better to soften your message and retain supporters or speak your message truthfully and risk losing support. 

Some highlights from Zoom Gatherings this week included:

  • Learners had the opportunity to see several strong learner-led launches this week

  • There were a few communication faux pas that took place during Zooms, which led to some learning moments on how we can better communicate respectfully and tactfully

  • Great middle and high school break out conversations for the Cost of Being Heard launch, which was a timely discussion based on current events

Week 7 Highlights

This week stretched learners in important ways as they leaned into courage, creativity, and community:

Respectful Communication: Learners have been grappling with the challenge of how to communicate and disagree respectfully. This is difficult even for adults, but our learners are leaning in with courage—asking for coaching, practicing how to handle offense, and working to keep our culture one where everyone feels safe, seen, heard, and valued. We’re proud of the effort and growth happening here.

Learner-Led Launches Begin: Huge shoutout to Nebiha and Ayub, who kicked off our learner-led launches with excellence! Their topics were relatable, powerful, and set the tone for meaningful Socratic discussions.

Entrepreneurship Challenge Winners: Congratulations to Mati, Annie, Aziza, Hunter, and Harrison for designing a cooling box to solve a real-world problem! Their collaboration earned them 10 points each for their Houses.

Badge Work Momentum: A wave of submissions has been coming through Headrush—great job, learners! Keep making sure your instructions are fully followed and your answers, evaluations, and maker challenges reflect the time and effort you’ve invested.

Collaboration on Slack: We’re seeing an exciting increase in idea-sharing and peer feedback. Thank you, learners, for stepping up—your voices are what make this community thrive.

Session 2 is moving quickly, and we’re so proud of how learners are building skills that matter far beyond school.

Family Conversation Starters:

  • What’s the hardest part about disagreeing respectfully, and what helps you keep the conversation constructive?

  • Which part of Nebiha and Ayub’s launch made you think the most?

  • If you were on the entrepreneurship challenge team, how would you have improved the cooling box?

  • What’s the most valuable piece of feedback you’ve given or received on Slack this week?

  • Which badge submission are you most proud of so far, and why?









Tyler Thigpen