Session 5 Week 5 in Review

Elementary Studio

What a fun week we’ve had in the Elementary Studio! During morning launches we have been focusing on building the tribe as we continue to learn from one another and create a caring community. This week we discussed different personalities after discovering our own, where each learner is on their hero's journey and the difference between reacting and responding. We end the week by participating in a Kahoot game titled Breaking Barriers – A celebration of Black Inventors as a reward for the learners' hard work this week.During Quest, we focused on violence, expression, and student rights. On Monday, we welcomed Denita Bullock as our expert. She has a background in corrections as an officer and currently serves as a social worker for men and women who have been released from prison. She spent 15 minutes with elementary and high school learners, sharing her expertise and answering questions provided by the learners. Before leaving, elementary learners had the opportunity to use her as a thought partner while they worked to create an action plan to help prevent youth violence. On Wednesday, learners had the opportunity to create a product (art, poetry, dance, song, or something else) that allows them to express themselves. During share outs, they shared their creations with the studio. On Friday, we focused on student rights by looking at various student rights cases throughout time and learners dissected their top three choices.During Story Arts, learners entered back into the writers' room! They were divided into two groups. In each writers' room, the showrunner provided the character description for the other team members. Once they received the character description, they were able to brainstorm ideas about their pilot episode. In Civilization, we discussed the differences in food around the world. One major difference is that insects are considered a protein in some countries. Learners were challenged to research what other countries eat for the holidays.

Middle School Studio

We blinked and another week went right on by! All of us in the MS Studio agree that time feels like it’s just flying by this session! We had a great week, with highlights being the virtual art gallery tour (see Quest below for more on that), an amazing leader-led Morning Launch by Simon on National Parks, and a really funny launch about figurative language! We learned a lot this week!We kicked off the week with Quest, which entailed a virtual visit by The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Mr. Robinson, a volunteer docent, walked learners through a virtual gallery tour called Exploring Identity Through Modern Art. He showed learners three works of art from the Gallery that were created by Native American, African American, and Asian American artists. We examined each work closely, focusing our discussions on what we saw, what we thought, and in what way the work explored identity. Our learners received rave reviews from Mr. Robinson about the quality and maturity of learners' discussions and their engagement with the program! The rest of the week in Quest was spent choosing Exhibition projects, creating a to-do list to get started on the project, and work time to dig into the first set of tasks!This week’s Civ challenge was a really fascinating Maker’s Challenge in which learners put themselves into the shoes of either an explorer tasked with colonizing new lands for their king and country, or a native person of an “undeveloped” land that is about to be colonized by Europeans. Learners had to create a way of colonizing or resisting/accepting colonization in the least violent way possible, trying to ensure mutual benefits of the relationship for both sides. Learners came up with some really interesting concepts and plans, but ultimately all agreed that any colonization (even peacefully done) is never truly benefitting the colonized.Figurative Language was the focus of our Story Arts this week, and we had so much fun learning and talking about similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and allusions! I challenged learners to share one example of figurative language that they could add to their current short story, and a few learners shared some really clever ideas that fit really authentically into their existing story! Afterwards, learners paired up and spent a while carefully reading each other’s stories (or at least what they had written so far). They then shared 3 pieces of feedback about each other's story: 1 thing I like, 1 thing I’m wondering, and 1 thing I would change/add/remove. Learners were having some really beautiful discussions about plot, character development, and writing in general that made me so proud! Lastly, they spent the remainder of class getting back into writing flow and putting the feedback they received into action!

High School Studio

It was a busy week in the High School studio. We welcomed the interim guide, Madeleine Finley, to shadow our studio to begin meeting the learners and getting to know the flow of our studio. On Monday morning, we discussed the importance of keeping Badge Plans up-to-date, and on Wednesday, the learners shared their tips and tricks for getting work approved, in order to avoid a revision and resubmission process. Tuesday’s circle focused on gratitude, Thursday’s Town Hall consisted of a brainstorming session for what topics learners want to explore next school year, and on Friday morning, learners supported David in his Mastery Credit Practical, in which he was the first learner in the FSO HS Studio to earn Mastery Credits for graduation in Goal Setting & Reflection, Time Management, and Gratitude.Our Youth Rights Quest focused on three topics this week: violence prevention, expression & identity, and student rights. On Monday, we had a visit from guest expert Denita L Bullock. Denita discussed her work with folks re-entering after incarceration, and how providing necessary social services to her clients can help interrupt the cycle of violence. Then, high school learners discussed bystander intervention, and brainstormed safe ways they could intervene in various scenarios. On Wednesday, we used the example of school uniforms to debate the pros and cons of self-expression through clothing in schools. Then, learners created identity maps and shared with their peers to learn more about one another. Lastly, on Friday, student rights were examined and learners used their research skills to focus on a historical or modern example of a student-led protest.In the Culture Civilization unit, this week was all about food! Learners shared their opinions about what food can tell us about a culture, and how fusion cuisine can bring different cultures together. For their challenge, learners designed a menu that fused two different cultural cuisines together, and we all shared our feedback as if we were “food critics”. There were some really unique fusion ideas, from Icelandic Italian food, to Chinese Soul Food, all the way to Moroccan Afghani food!Lastly, for our Essay Writing Story Arts unit, we were visited by expert Meredith Alton; learners were provided with resources about the differences between revision and editing, and were able to solicit individual feedback from Meredith on their essay drafts. Next week, learners will bring their first drafts to the studio time to receive multiple rounds of feedback from their peers in relation to the rubric, before setting out to complete their final drafts. For a long session, it is moving quickly, and Friday came before we knew it!