Celebrating Black History Month! - Year 3, Week 22
This week we celebrate Black History Month! Our Middle and Highschool Learners geared up for their Quest tournament and our Elementary Learners continue work on their bridge designs.
spark studio
Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. - Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut
We began February celebrating Black History Month. We will be creating a wall of wonder as we celebrate. We began learning about space and what it takes to become an astronaut. Did you know Dr. Mae Jemison was the first African American woman in space? She went on to create her own company, The Jemison Group, which researches ways technology can help people in their daily lives. She also started the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence which launched The Earth We Share, a science camp for kids. We found ourselves wondering what it would be like to fly into orbit?
It’s hard to believe we are going into Week 6 of Session 5...the time is flying! We are having so much fun learning about the human body. We look forward to seeing everyone at Exhibition on Thursday, February 11 at 8:30 over at Trilith Lake. Be sure to bundle up!
elementary studio
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin
School can be considered preparation for the real world. At the Forest School, we take this notion and implement it into our daily schedules. Heroes have the opportunity to not only learn, but to put their learning into action. Throughout their time at the Forest School, they will solve problems for real world “clients”, prove mastery of learner outcomes, and ultimately find their calling to change the world. That’s a pretty tall order for elementary heroes, so how does that look?
This session heroes began to observe high school practicals, the process of proving mastery of our Learner Outcomes. Elementary heroes left feeling a sense of understanding for what is expected of them in the future, and encouraged by the guides feedback to the high school hero. Some responses were, “It was helpful to see and start thinking about how I could implement what I’m doing now.”, and “It was good to see you may not get approval the first time, and that failure is part of success.”
This is just one way heroes are learning to prepare not only for small goals but also long-term goals, and just what preparation looks like at the Forest School. Success is when preparation and opportunity meet. While we may not be in control of the opportunities we will encounter, we are in control of how we prepare ourselves, and these young heroes are learning the importance of preparation daily.
middle school studio
Learners have spent this week gearing up for their Quest tournament, the first round of which will take place on Monday, Feb. 8th. Heroes will work, with their teams, to pitch their plan for expanding the golf cart paths in Fayetteville. Outside experts (residents, architects, business owners) will evaluate the pitches. The second round of the tournament will take place Wednesday morning. Finalists will compete in front of members of the Fayetteville city council and economic development team on Wednesday evening at our virtual exhibition. They will choose the winning pitch, which will be considered for implementation by the city!
Also this week, learners practiced the craft of creating a graphic novel by looking at exemplars, working on the visual perspectives of their illustrations, honing their dialogue, and receiving peer feedback. They also practiced writing mechanics by creating lessons and activities for the other Studios in sentence structure and paragraph organization. They are putting those skills in practice themselves as they complete capstone essays reflecting on their design process for this Quest. And, as always, they continued to plug away at Core Skills (two learners moved from behind to on track this week!), practiced governance (we had a change in council as some members weren't living up to their promises), and continued to build the skills of learning to live together.
high school studio
You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right. -Rosa Parks
Welcome to Black History Month. The time in which America shows homage to the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. This week in the high school we will dissect inventions created by African American inventors, look back at the history, and brainstorm ways moving forward.
As we look back, here are three individuals we learned about this week:
John Mercer Langston was the first Black man to become a lawyer when he passed the bar in Ohio in 1854. When he was elected to the post of Town Clerk for Brownhelm, Ohio in 1855, Langston became one of the first African Americans ever elected to public office in America.
Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American ever elected to the U.S. Senate. He represented the state of Mississippi from February 1870 to March 1871.
Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives. She was elected in 1968 and represented the state of New York. She broke ground again four years later in 1972 when she was the first major party African American candidate and the first female candidate for President of the United States.
Thank you to those who paved the way in making America what it is today!
In an effort to switch things up, earlier in the week heroes built functional robots for civilization in addition to building their graphic novels. With one weeks left in the session, heroes are bunkering down and preparing for exhibition. Session 5 Exhibition is next Wednesday, February 6th from 6:15pm-7:30pm. The two runner ups will battle to see which path design the city of Fayetteville will choose. As there are only 72 school days left, heroes are reminded of where the school year began, and are now reflecting on how they want it to end.
-Onward
Banner image via