ICEE #2, the 360, Share Chair, and a Quest block that asks the studio to describe itself out loud for the first time. Two weeks is exactly enough shared history to be honest with - and everything written on the wall today comes back out in Week 6.
By 3:15 today the studio has described itself honestly - including the unflattering parts - and every learner has a finished Personal Working Guide v1.
If the second survey is a wall of top marks, honesty hasn't been modelled hard enough. Rate yourself low, out loud, first.
Every section, every learner. Chase the gaps in the morning, not at 3pm.
Something uncomfortable is written on WE'RE NOT and nobody got in trouble for putting it there.
Standard rhythm. Greet every learner by name. The Daily Thinking Puzzle is up by the cubbies.
Bell, tidy, walk to the launch space. By Week 2 this should need no narration - if it does, narrate it once more.
Talking points, not a script. Hit these in your own words - the studio can tell the difference, and the ones that land are the ones you actually mean.
The opener (2 min):
"Two weeks. That's it. Some of you have been in this room for a year and some of you for nine days - and either way, this version of this studio is two weeks old. Nobody's done this before."
Then read out two or three specific things that happened this week - by name, small, concrete. Not a speech. Just evidence.
The core (6 min):
"Today we look at ourselves honestly. The ICEE survey, the 360, and this afternoon a Quest block answering one question: what kind of tribe are we becoming?"
Then one line on honesty rather than three - the norm was set in Week 1 and most of this is repeat, so don't relitigate it:
Next week every learner spends an afternoon with Spark. Three short dilemmas run at the start of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - but this one runs today, because it's the safeguarding one, and Team 1 goes upstairs on Monday. If it waited for the rota, the first team up would be the only team that never had it.
The setup (2 min):
“You're sitting with a Spark learner. Halfway through the book she leans over: 'I'm going to tell you a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Promise?' What do you say?”
Let them answer. Most will say "I promise" - it's what a friend says, and a five-year-old asking you for something is very hard to refuse.
The second half (2 min):
“Okay. You promised. So she tells you: 'I hid my brother's inhaler in my backpack because I was mad at him.' Now what? You promised.”
Someone will say "but I promised." Someone else will say "you have to tell." Both are right about something, which is the point.
The thinking (4 min): 90 seconds silent, 90 seconds in pairs, 60 seconds open. Take the disagreements first, not the consensus.
The move (2 min):
The teaching underneath: a secret is a form of power, and a younger learner handing you one is handing you influence over them. The honest move is to refuse the power before you have it. Adults get this wrong constantly - worth saying out loud.
Guide note: don't resolve it fast - the discomfort of "but I promised" is the lesson. If they get there in ninety seconds, make the secret smaller and more sympathetic until it's hard again: "I took a toy from the classroom and I'm scared to give it back."
The close (2 min):
"Next week we go out into the school. So today matters - it's the last look at ourselves before other people start looking at us."
Week-close version: learners look back at the goal they set on Monday and write one line on how it actually went. Honest answers modelled by the guide first.
Standard rhythm. PWG v1 is due today - every section filled in. Use the first five minutes for anyone with gaps.
Standard rhythm.
Standard rhythm.
11:20–11:40 - ICEE #2 and the 360:
11:40–12:00 - Share Chair:
Standard rhythm.
Friday afternoon improv. Forty minutes, runs straight into Quest catchup.
Two weeks in, the studio finally has enough shared history to describe itself honestly. This is the first time we ask them to - and the answers become raw material for the Studio Contract in Week 6. Thirty minutes, silent first, no editorialising from the guide.
Setup (3 min): Three large sheets on the wall, spaced apart:
The silent round (12 min):
Reading them out (10 min):
The close (5 min):
Carry forward: Photograph all three sheets before they come down and file the photos. In Week 6 the studio will not believe they wrote some of it, which is exactly the point.
Back to its normal shape this week - the makeup slot was only needed in Week 1.
Friday maintenance is bigger: a full deep clean so Monday opens clean. If any roles were taken on Wednesday, this is their first real outing.
Add one thing: the studio walks the room together at the end and looks at the walls - the rules posters, the trading cards, the tower photo, the Work It Out poster. Two weeks of evidence. Ten seconds of looking is enough.
Longer and warmer than usual, since it's the week close. Push for callouts that reach across the room rather than between friends.
Guide closes with one callout for the studio as a whole - specific, and naming the trait.
One question: "What's one thing you want to be true about next week that wasn't true about this one?"
Then name what's coming: next week we go out into the school. Don't over-explain it - a little anticipation over the weekend is useful.
Send-off by name. It's Friday - make the goodbye a beat longer than usual.
Talking points for this week's email. Drop these into an AI assistant along with two or three live notes from your actual week - a name, a moment, something that surprised you - and it'll give you a draft in your own voice. The specifics are what make it land; the structure below is just the scaffolding.
The draft underneath is an example of the shape and the tone, not a template to send as-is. A parent who gets the same email as every other parent can tell.
Subject: Two weeks in - and next week we go out into the school
Hi families,
Two weeks down. Today the studio did its first proper look in the mirror: our weekly ICEE survey (learners rate themselves and the studio on intentionality, civility, excellence and energy), a review of the week, and Share Chair, where anyone who wants to can read their writing aloud.
In the afternoon we put three sheets on the wall - WE ARE, WE'RE NOT, WE'RE TRYING TO BE - and everyone wrote on all three, in silence, so nobody just agreed with whoever spoke first. Some of it was flattering and some of it wasn't. All of it goes in a drawer and comes back out in Week 6 when the studio writes its contract for the year.
Every learner also finished the first version of their Personal Working Guide this week - their own written account of how they work best. Ask to see it.
Looking ahead: next week D2 starts spending time with our youngest studio, with a few learners each day helping Spark learners settle in and read. More detail on Monday.
Have a good weekend.
- [your name]