If any week encapsulates the frantic design process of putting a new school program together, this is it.

1. On Monday, we fine-tuned our one-page info document with language reviewed by teachers, admins, and basically anyone that would listen to us. We feel like we have a concise message that we can’t wait to share at our first round of department meetings on October 8th. There are only so many of us, so we will get to departments outside our own ASAP afterwards.

2. Tuesday night, we were invited to the Greenwich Alliance‘s donor reception to speak about our project and our progress thus far. Sarah spoke eloquently and accurately about the program and the rest of us appreciate her taking that on. Much of our meeting time Tuesday was focused around brainstorming potential questions about Innovation Lab and making sure we had the accurate answer for those interested. Part of our efforts turned into what Sarah said to the room. We were approached afterwards by a considerable amount of attendees and we shared ideas on potential students, our unit plans, the flexible scheduling, and more. Many thanks to the Alliance for having us.

Writing on windows is sort of our thing.

3. Major props to Dana S. for giving us a block of his time and dreaming up some foundations of what could be an ideal Physics/Calc course in the Innovation Lab. Do we have great Physics courses and great Calculus courses now? Sure. Is there room for an innovative one where we intertwine the topics in a way only possible in the Innovation Lab? We think so.

4. What do junior and senior year look like? We spent a considerable amount of time putting hypothetical students through three years of the Innovation Lab and writing their schedule. We know the ins and outs of the course of study guide more than we ever thought we would. There are some really cool ideas getting thrown out as course combo ideas for senior year – psychology/sociology/stats as a complement to different types of world literature, for example – and we’re excited to talk about them. When we get confirmation on a few of our proposals, we will share a full post on transcripts/schedules.

5. We’re off to Springfield and NYC today. Updates on that forthcoming!

Topics of discussion: what Algebra is necesary and useful in Physics, the ideal foundation for a Physics course, where topics like related rates and Riemann sums genuinely fit into Physics.