Session 5 Week 6 in Review

Elementary Studio

Welcome to Week 6! In our morning launches, we continued to build the tribe by discussing ways to increase the culture of a kind and caring community, the importance of compliments, and motivators for completing challenges. Learners were presented with a yes day! Learners that earn all of their signature learning experience badges by next Friday will be able to participate in games and watch TV shows, or a movie during our studio sessions the day we return for Session 6. Learners that do not earn all of their signature learning experience badges will be able to continue working on earning them in breakout rooms.As we get closer to the end of the school year, we are starting the thinking process about signature learning experiences for the 2023-2024 school year. This week, learners were able to provide their input on Quest and Story Arts topics and end products that they would like to participate in for the upcoming school year.Our signature learning experiences were pretty light this week. During Quest, learners spent the week working on their service project presentations that will be shown during the exhibition on Tuesday. During Story Arts, they continued creating their pilot TV episode for our Scripted curriculum, in addition to three other episodes. During Civilization, we discussed what families look like around the world by comparing and contrasting what makes our own family systems unique.

Middle School Studio

Week 6 has come to a close, and we are eager to end Session 5 next week with Exhibition, our end of session Retrospectives, and a special End of Session Celebration! This week, many of our morning launches were utilized as Town Hall sessions, in which we brainstormed ideas for next year’s Signature Learning Experience, voted on our favorite ideas, and developed the topics for each session so they can be shared with FSO families! Rico also led a great morning launch on careers in engineering!In Quest this week, we continued learning about the 7 elements of art, and learners continued to find beautiful pieces of art that exemplified each element. The learners really got these elements down and picked truly perfect works to reflect each one! The rest of our Quest time this week was dedicated to Exhibition work time for learners to work on developing their projects. Today learners shared their projects (in their current state) and got constructive feedback from other learners about what they are doing really well, and what improvements or changes they could make before Monday’s Dress Rehearsal!Our topic this week in Civ was a difficult one: The Transatlantic Slave Trade. We watched a mini documentary and educational video about the beginnings of the slave trade, how it developed and intensified over the course of several centuries, and how it finally came to an end. Through first hand accounts, we heard how horrific the Middle Passage crossing was, contemplated the vast numbers of enslaved people who died during the passage, and tried to comprehend what life would have been like in slavery a world away from home. History often focuses on enslaved people in North America, but we also got to see a new perspective from people who were taken to South American countries and some of the differences in treatment of slaves between North and South America. The learners’ challenge this week was simply (but not simple at all) to reflect on what we saw, heard, and felt as we watched the videos and discussed this tragic time in the world’s history.In this week’s Story Arts studio time, we were joined again by expert author and editor A.E. Williams. This time, A.E. popped in to give learners some pro tips on beginning to edit and revise their writing and provided personalized feedback on learner’s stories! After his visit, learners got back to work on their stories - either finish up their writing or beginning the editing and revising process using A.E.’s tips!

High School Studio

This was the last week of new content for Session 5, and the High School studio accomplished a great deal. During Monday’s Morning Launch, learners explored the beginnings of Black History Month and discussed how they see it being celebrated today. Our Circles topic had us reflecting on what qualities make us a good friend, and it was wonderful to hear the variety of responses from each of our community members. Shriya led a fascinating Morning Launch on Wednesday about superstitions and where they stem from; learners discussed the pros and cons of superstitions. On Friday morning, learners participated in a favorite end-of-session tradition in which they give one another anonymous shout-outs on Padlet.
During our Quest time this week, learners got extended work time to focus on their Exhibition Projects highlighting what they have learned in relation to Youth Rights. Some learners chose to do informational interviews with local youth groups in their areas, while most chose to examine FSO through the lens of youth voice and choice. Learners had time during Quest to interview learners in other studios, as well as Guides and the Head of School. I look forward to hearing their findings and recommendations during next week’s exhibition!In our final Culture lesson for Civilization, we focused on family traditions globally and culturally, and discussed the variety of family systems that folks can be a part of, from chosen family, to nuclear families, to blended families and more. Learners reflected on their own family traditions during their challenge time, and created their own family trees to share with their peers.Lastly, in Story Arts, learners continued to focus on their essays. This week was all about revisions and edits, and learners were able to get into small groups and give one another round-robin feedback on their essay drafts, so that by the end of work time, they each had multiple perspectives on their essays to take with them before editing a final draft. Throughout the week, we continued to welcome interim guide Madeleine into our studio, and have greatly enjoyed getting to know her! Before we all know it, this long session will be in the books.