Session 5 Week 2 in Review

Elementary Studio

"You've done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination." -Ralph MarstonThis week in Quest, learners focused on universal youth rights. We began the week by comparing and contrasting staying the Universal declaration of human rights and the convention on the rights of the child. Mostly paying attention to the right to education for each document. Next, learners were introduced to their service project for exhibition. They started The research process of finding a youth service or youth-led organization in their area to learn more about the organization and help create a solution to a problem the organization is facing. To end the week, we merged with the High School Studio during a visit from Jamie Erdheim, an expert in youth leadership and advocacy, and learners defined what makes a good leader.For Civilization, we discussed language! After watching a video of Lera Boroditsky sharing how language shapes the way we think, we continued the conversation by answering questions such as does it shape our identity and influences the way we think, what it means for a language to die, how language affects culture and many more! They were challenged to make a list of words they associate with a particular culture. This challenge helped us learn a little more about each other from a cultural perspective.During Story Arts, Jeffery continued the conversation about TV writing. He briefly explained the different levels of job titles in a Writers’ Room to support learners in completing their challenge. The challenge was to choose between MLA or APA format to write the citation for a TV episode of their choice. The learners really zoned in and focused to complete this challenge! Next week, we'll learn more about the Writers' Room!

Middle School Studio

Another week of Session 5 is under our belts! This week we got back into our regular morning launch rhythm. We had some great discussions in Circles, worked on developing a proposal about Fascinating Friday during Town Hall, and played Books, Books, Books! on Kahoot! to test our knowledge of popular children and young adult books. Congrats to Yagna on the win!Our Art & Creativity Quest took us on an exploration of the issues that artists and the art world face, which included negative public opinion of art, the complications of art being used as assets and investments, and copyright issues with AI created art. Learners read articles, discussed the issues, wrote a short debate using their own opinion of art, and even tried out a self-portrait.In Civ this week, learners completed a Maker’s Challenge in which they had to create something that brought corruption into the light, similarly to how Martin Luther exposed the practice of Indulgences with his 95 Theses. Some learners chose to expose modern-day corruption, while others chose corruption that went unchecked in the past.Our Story Arts challenge this week focused on character development and point of view. Learners discussed the ways that different points of view can change the tone or mood of the story, and decided which point of view their short story will be told through. Learners then began crafting the story elements for their short story, such as characters, setting, theme, conflict, and resolution. We will continue refining these story elements as we begin assembling a plot next week.

High School Studio

Week 2 of Session 5 led us into some really wonderful discussions and learner challenges in the High School Studio. In keeping with our Youth Rights unit, we began the week with a Morning Launch on Gen Z; what qualities does Gen Z have and why? Learners shared their opinions about their generation and gave advice to other generations (namely, listen to their thoughts and feelings!). Learners shared one academic and one personal priority for Session 5 during Tuesday’s Circle, and reviewed how to create badge plan customizations during Wednesday’s launch. On Friday, Seth led a Socratic Discussion on the American gun debate, which sparked thorough conversation in the studio.This week’s Civ session focused on language and culture- specifically, endangered languages and what we lose when a language dies. After watching some videos and reading articles about endangered languages, and how they are ranked from vulnerable to extinct, learners were challenged to research an endangered language, learn about the culture and demographics of its speakers, and provide suggestions and ideas for how that language could be saved.Our Youth Rights Quest continued with a discussion with the Elementary Studio on Monday about universal child rights. High schoolers examined primary documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and compared and contrasted their contents in regards to the right to education. On Wednesday, high school learners debated whether or not the voting age should be lowered, stay the same, or even be raised, taking into account the various ways that teens can be involved in civic engagement. On Friday, we were visited by a guest speaker, Jamie Erdheim, an expert in youth leadership and advocacy, and learners defined what makes a good leader.Lastly, in Story Arts, high school went back to basics for our Essay Writing unit, and discussed what makes a good thesis statement, as well as what a topic sentence, body paragraph, and essay map are. Learners had time to brainstorm their topic for their expository or persuasive essay, and begin mapping out their essay research on an outline. It was a packed week to say the least!