The studio watches every take with fresh eyes and votes on which one goes in front of its families - including the option of shooting it again next week. One rule, agreed out loud first: we comment on the film, never on each other. Plus mentorship pairings named, and the full five-week ICEE trend.
By 3:15 today the studio has chosen the take its families will see - or decided it wants another go - and every learner is named in a pairing that runs both ways.
Not once, including jokingly. If it happens, stop the playback immediately and restate the rule.
Including if it isn't the guide's. They made it; they choose it.
A one-way arrow is a ranking and it will be read as one. Nobody left off the board.
Standard rhythm. Thinking Puzzle up by the cubbies.
Standard rhythm.
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 (3 min):
"Something has been happening in this room for five weeks that nobody has said out loud."
Then name two or three real, specific instances - by name, with permission asked quietly beforehand. Not big dramatic ones. "When [learner] loses the place in the read-along, [learner] slides their book over without being asked. Every time. Nobody told them to do that."
The core (12 min):
"That's mentorship. It's not a title and it's mostly invisible - and today we make it visible, because a thing that's invisible is a favour and a thing that's named is a role."
Be careful with the framing. Say this part deliberately:
"This is not a list of who's ahead and who's behind. Every pairing goes both ways. If you're helping someone with reading and they're the reason you didn't quit on your boat, then you're a pair - and I want to know both halves."
Each learner writes down one person who has helped them and one person they could help. Private, on paper, handed in.
The close (5 min):
"This afternoon you watch yesterday's takes and choose the one that goes in front of your families. That's your call, not mine."
Standard rhythm.
Standard rhythm. Week 5 note: math sits inside schedule ownership now, so the block may move - what doesn't move is that it happens and the PWG opens first.
Standard rhythm.
Standard rhythm.
Five minutes, standing, planning sheets physically in hand. One question, asked exactly this way: "Who is currently off their plan?" Hands up - yours first if it's true. Each hand says what they did instead and what they're changing this afternoon, then writes it on the sheet.
It is a navigation check, not a confession. "Being off your plan isn't the problem. Not noticing is the problem.say this exactly" Last one of the week: ask who stayed on plan more often than they expected.
Full version - why it exists, and what to watch for → · costs 5 min off the 11:20 block
11:25–11:43 - ICEE #5 and the 360:
11:43–12:00 - Share Chair: Tuesday's prompt is the one to encourage - it's the most honest writing the studio has produced. Share Chair Standard observed throughout.
Standard rhythm.
Friday afternoon improv. Runs straight into Quest catchup.
Watching your own work honestly, without getting defensive and without turning it on each other, is a genuinely difficult adult skill - and today it has a decision attached, which makes it real. The studio chooses what goes in front of its families. That has to be their call or Exhibition isn't theirs.
Before anything plays - the rule, stated and agreed out loud (2 min):
"We comment on the film. We never comment on each other. Not how someone looks, not how someone moves, not how someone sounds. The film, or nothing."
Show of hands that everyone has understood it. Not a formality - it decides whether a learner spends next week dreading Exhibition.
Watching jobs (2 min): nobody watches freely; everybody watches for something. Timing (does the camera arrive before people are ready?), holes (is the frame empty when it shouldn't be?), energy (where does it drop, does it come back?), sound (where can't you hear the song?). "With a job you're watching the film. Without one you're watching yourself."
The viewing (16 min):
The vote (8 min):
Carry forward: The chosen take gets backed up in two places today.
2:10–2:12 - The mentorship pairings go up. Fast: read the board out, both directions of every pairing, no discussion. The detail is in the guide notes below.
The board stays up for the year, not just the quest. When a learner is stuck in November, the first question is "have you asked your pair?"
2:12–2:37 - Standard of Excellence v2 (25 min).
The last v2 of the week, and the one that has been promised in four places without ever being built. Week 1's Standard was written from imagination on day four - what the studio thought excellent would look like. Five weeks later they've seen it. This is the version written from evidence.
Both go on the Exhibition wall. The gap between them is the evidence - and it's what makes Friday of Week 6 land, when the studio reads v1 aloud and asks "did we do it?" They'll have asked it once already, which is why the second time is honest rather than ceremonial.
2:37–2:40 - Week 6, day by day. No surprises going into the final week:
Friday deep clean - full tidy so Monday opens clean. Last one before Exhibition week, so hold the Standard properly.
If the ten minutes have been handed back (see W5D1) - this block is 2:50–3:00 and the Standard of Excellence v2 block ran to 2:50.
Callouts for anyone who gave a critical note about the film without it landing on a person - name that as the skill it is. And for whoever watched the whole thing without hiding.
One question: "What's one thing you want to be true about next week?"
Send-off by name.
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: They chose the take - and Exhibition is a week from Friday
Hi families,
This afternoon the studio watched every take from yesterday's shoot and voted on which one goes in front of you at Exhibition. That had to be their call - they made it, so they choose it. I also gave them a genuine option to shoot it again next week if they weren't happy, and let them decide that too.
One rule was agreed out loud before anything played: we comment on the film, we never comment on each other. Not how someone looks, moves or sounds. They held it completely. Everyone also had a specific thing to watch for - timing, gaps in the frame, energy, sound - because without a job you only watch yourself and see nothing.
This morning we also named the mentorship that has been happening quietly for weeks. Every pairing runs both ways: this is not a list of who's ahead and who's behind, and both halves get read out.
Exhibition is a week from Friday. Next week the studio goes back through everything it has made, decides what it wants to change, and builds the room itself. Timings attached - please arrive a few minutes early.
- [your name]