Session 2 Week 2 in Review

Elementary Studio

"Every human has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change. -"Stephen CoveyWhat a fun week we’ve had in the Elementary Studio! We discussed the 3 of the 7 habits during morning launches. So far, we’ve talked about habit 1: be proactive, habit 2: begin with the end in mind, and habit 3: put first things first. in circles, learner‘s shared their perspective on different signature learning experiences and was able to provide input for their personal motivators, and desires for future signature learning experiences. As always, we ended the week with our fun Friday morning lunch! This week, learners participated in a grammar focused Kahoot and Kahoot trivia about the different seasons!They also participated in an experiment called "I'm not here" where the guide was only physically present to facilitate Socratic discussions, check-ins, and share outs. The learners were not be able to use the guide as a thought partner during this experiment. Instead, they used their resources which included, but not limited to, Google Calendar, Session 2 Calendar, Google Classroom, Slack, studio mates, and information obtained during studio sessions.In Quest, learners dove into food choices! The first challenge of the week was to research and compare the nutritional facts for their favorite junk food and least favorite healthy food. During share outs, each learner presented their findings to the studio, reflected on their current selection of food, and shared changes they wanted to make to their selection of foods based on their research. Their next challenge consisted of creating a healthy meal. Thanks to Fantasia McGuffie for providing her nutritional expertise during this challenge! With her knowledge, learners were able to create a healthy meal that included every item from the food pyramid. Our final challenge for the week was to cook the meal they created! ES learners put on their chef hats and created a variety of delicious meals! In Story Arts, learners continue to build their knowledge about branding. This week, they practiced categorizing different types of logos such as word mark, letter mark, brand mark, combination (word and brand), emblem. In Civilization, learners began drafting the Elementary Studio Contract of Promises. After creating an individual list of rules, they shared with the studio, and then voted on rules from each list to create our first draft!

Middle School Studio

We had another busy week in Week 2 in the Middle School Studio! Highlights included some spontaneous announcements of candidacy for school-wide Town Hall positions and celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by competing in a Kahoot game with questions related to Hispanic Heritage!This week in Quest learners took on the role of gastroenterologists by researching various conditions and diseases that can be caused by a poor diet and poor gut health. Then, they reviewed a medical file for “John Doe” who had been diagnosed with Leaky Gut Syndrome, IBS, Acquired Immune Deficiency, and Arthritis, all caused by a poor diet. They looked for various treatments for these conditions and created a treatment plan that they would use to help the patient reverse the conditions. Next, we watched a documentary called What the Health, which brought to light some research and concerns about the food industry, the way our food is processed, and some of the negative health effects of poorly processed dairy and meat. Most of the learners were shocked to see how food is handled, processed, and advertised. It caused us all to reflect on our own eating choices and think about what changes we might want to make. We ended our week by welcoming two guest experts who visited the Studio to talk to learners about diets. Maxwell Smith, our Head of School, led a launch based on the video The Game Changers, and facilitated a great discussion about the differences between animal and plant fat and how each interacts with our bodies and impacts performance. Jill Bucaro, an Integrative Health Practitioner (and FSO parent) talked to learners about a balanced approach to nutrition, and how she recommends a whole-foods and plant-based approach to eating versus any one diet like Keto, Vegan, or Paleo diets. She led a great Q&A with learners, where they were able to ask her questions and advice about their own diets, the way they want to initiate change within their families, and specific questions about sourcing healthy food. Learners are now armed with ample perspectives and research based facts on nutrition to begin creating their Exhibition projects next week!In Civ, learners continued working towards their Contracts & Covenants badge by looking at how ethics and morals should play into contracts. They explored the 30 Human Rights outlined by the United Nations in 1948, and completed a challenge in which they chose 10 of the 30 rights that they felt were the most important. Then, learners were grouped to compare the top ten list of rights they created and how they would rank those 10 from most to least important. They also looked at which rights their group chose in common, and debated what the consequences should be for violating human rights.For the next step in our Story Arts Branding SLE, learners were introduced to a client called The Green Revival, who was looking for a new logo for their company. They had to read a client brief that outlined the history of the company, who their target audience is, the mood and feel they want their logo and brand to have, and some basic requirements for the logo they want. Learners took time to read through the brief, highlighting words and phrases that stood out to them as the branding designer. They then got to work creating a mood board for the client that demonstrated their vision for the branding of the company including a color scheme, example logos, fonts, and other images and graphics. In Share Outs, other learners acted as the client and gave feedback on how well their mood board captured the essence of what The Green Revival was looking for.

High School Studio

The second week of Session 2 has flown by in the High School Studio. In preparation for Contract Signing in October, we spent our morning launches discussing contracts and covenants, and worked as a studio to create a rough draft of our Contract of Promises. In addition, we discussed the benefits and limitations of written contracts, and reflected on how we can individually grow as members of the studio community. During our Circle on Tuesday, we discussed motivation, and learners were able to share what specific intrinsic and extrinsic factors motivated them as self-directed learners. For our school-wide Town Hall, we heard from candidates running for council positions, in preparation for our vote next week.Our Master Chef Quest was in full swing this week; on Monday, we learned about Food Theory and Food Science, diving into various food science topics, such as the Maillard Reaction, and how yeast works as a natural leavener. Our studio discussed the importance of understanding the theory and science behind cooking and baking, and how basic food science knowledge can make us better chefs. On Wednesday, we dove into Baking Basics, with the help of visiting expert and vegan pastry chef Bonnie Shultz, who shared her tips and tricks for how to tweak recipes and use substitutions in baking. Friday saw us focusing on Cooking Basics, including important topics such as seasonality, primal cuts of protein, and our five tastes (sour, salty, bitter, sweet, umami). Learners spent their work time brainstorming and working on their final Quest projects, with most of them opting to create a signature recipe.During our History of Music Civ session, learners explored how music can affect the brain and body. After watching a Ted Talk on the subject, learners went on to choose a challenge prompt and researched and presented their findings on how music can be used to treat mental health disorders, physical illnesses, or how music can be beneficial in educational environments. In Story Arts, we continued our Branding theme by examining a sample client brief, and creating mood boards as a jumping off point for customized logos. All in all, it was another jam packed week in the high school studio.