Session 2 Week 3 in Review

Elementary Studio

"Choose to focus your time, energy and conversation around people who inspire you, support you and help you to grow you into your happiest, strongest, wisest self." -Karen SalmansohnSession 2 is coming to an end! This week learners wrapped up their Quest work to prepare for exhibition. As they continued to build their knowledge about nutrition, they learned how what you eat and do can aid in living a healthy lifestyle. On Monday, they researched different eating habits and diets that support living a healthy lifestyle. Our head of school, Max, popped in the studio to share his expertise on veganism. learners researched diets such as vegetarian, keto, vegan, and many more! On Wednesday, learners researched physical habits that can be included in a daily routine to positively influence a healthy lifestyle. The Learners discovered a variety of physical habits such as drinking plenty of water each day, getting at least 8 hours of sleep consistently, eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, taking a break from technology.... The list goes on!In Civilization, learners experienced the true meaning of self-governance as they collaborated to finalize their contract of promises. During this process, they encountered many difficult challenges and thought they would never reach a consensus! Through resilience, determination, and consistency, they were able to reach an agreement and submit a finalized version that everyone agreed on.

Middle School Studio

Another great week in the books! Our highlight this week was school-wide elections in Town Hall, and we are happy to announce that Rico from the MS Studio was elected Town Hall Secretary. Congrats Rico! Great job to the other MS learners that ran as candidates as well! We had some great morning launches this week that focused on developing learner-led launches for the Socratic Leader Badge, and learners are now able to begin scheduling and creating their first learner-led launch! Today we ended the week with another Hispanic Heritage Month themed Fascinating Friday for morning launch. We learned about Tito Puente, a famous Hispanic musician by reading a story about him, listening to some of his music, and doing a quick biography challenge about his life!In Quest this week, learners reviewed the project rubric for their 2nd Exhibition, and chose a project they were interested in that relates to nutrition. The rest of the week was spent planning for, designing, and creating their Exhibition projects! Learners had plenty of work time, received feedback from their Guide and other learners, and had some time on Friday to make revisions based on the feedback they received. We are excited to present their projects to parents and Dream Teams next Tuesday at Exhibition!This week we doubled up on Civilization, spending Tuesday and Thursday completing Civ challenges, so that we could finish up our Studio’s Contract of Promises in time for Contract Signing after the break. Learners worked with Max on Tuesday to create a Declaration of Rights that outlined what rights every learner that enters our Studio should have. Thursday, we looked at past contracts and identified which promises on those contracts we liked and wanted to use for our own contract. We also brainstormed some new promises our Studio felt was important to include. We finished our Studio Contract of Promises, and can’t wait for Contract Signing (in-person or online) the first week of Session 3!Next week, we will double up on Story Arts to finish our Branding badge on Wednesday and Thursday!

High School Studio

We had another great week in the High School studio. On Monday, learners made some finishing touches on their co-created Contract of Promises, and voted on its final draft, in preparation for Contract Signing in early October. We enjoyed two learner-led socratic launches this week, as well, with a presentation on The Art of Photography by Andres and one on The Ethics of Animal Testing by Seth. Town Hall focused on an exciting vote for school-wide council members, and two of our very own studio members were voted into office; Marcos is the 2022-2023 Chair of FSO, and Taina is the 2022-2023 Vice Chair of FSO. It was inspiring to see all three studios take a step toward self-governance through a positive and productive campaign season.During our Master Chef Quest time, we had a visit from Fine Dining Chef Henry Zimmerman, who discussed the culinary industry and what goes into the job of being a chef. We rounded out our Quest by discussing and learning about plating and presentation, as well as menu development. Learners were given work time during each Quest session this week to work on their respective exhibition projects.Our Civilization lesson this week centered around Ethnomusicology, which is the anthropological study of music. Learners discussed the ethical dilemmas present in the field of ethnomusicology, such as who gets ownership over recorded music, how and where archived music is stored, and how colonization creeps into the field of ethnomusicology. With these points in mind, learners were challenged to craft a sample message to a musician, pretending to be an ethnomusicologist interested in recording their work. For our Story Arts lesson on Branding, learners took the mood boards they created based on a sample client brief, and turned them into three sample logos. After receiving feedback from one another on their logos, learners began to choose their favorite logo to pitch to the client next week.All the while, learners have been sending and approving Deep Book pitches and reviews, meeting with their guide during Check-ins, and getting feedback from their running partners. It was a busy second-to-last week of Session 2, and I’m excited to see everything come together during our retrospectives next week.