This was a short week, but it is gonna be hard to capture all of the awesome stuff we did. First and foremost, I want to highlight the incredible writing the class tackled this week. Last week we started by doing interviews around heroes. This was fine, but it was not the end goal. This week the class was tasked with taking these straightforward interviews and transforming them into a bit of legitimate journalism. After all, when we read an interview in a magazine or newspaper, the questions and answers are used in service of a larger conversation. After reading over examples, the class used their interviews to share history, biographies, statistical analyses, whatever flowed out of those interviews. This transition, from straightforward transcription to journalistic discourse, is deeply challenging but has resulted in some incredible pieces. We are doing revisions next week, and I can’t wait to see the polished final pieces.

Another highlight was a social studies discussion on the nature of agency and power in society. We opened with a four-corners activity to get the class interacting and sharing their perspectives and went into a silent discussion via tables and quotations. It was deeply powerful to see the class circling around to see responses and the way conversation blossomed when we came back together. In fact, the biggest critique of the procedure was that it was too hard to hold themselves back and they wanted to be able to talk together sooner (not the worst feedback a teacher can receive). These discussions are going to serve as the foundation for our social studies work, so it was wonderful to see them grappling with these topics.

The final highlight this week was our partnership with Ms. Anna’s class. We’ve been focusing on the Engineering part of STEM and building pasta racers (think pinewood derby, but lasagna and penne instead of wheels and wood). The sheer diversity of designs and schematics has been impressive. We started sketching last week and this week started building. There were a couple disastrous test-runs (one car hit the bottom of the ramp and basically exploded), but that’s what the design process is all about. We are looking forward to the final race and will be sure to report the results!

It was a jam-packed week and I’m so proud of the work the class did! Great job everyone.