This was a short but charged week.

On the Humanities front, the team focused on turning the theoretical into practical. The process began by crafting a narrative arc in which the content and, more importantly, the conceptual connections between English and American History are laid out in alignment with each quarter’s end goals. This document serves to show how the two subjects will work in tandem to support each other and to move students through a conceptual framework. In writing this piece, we gained even greater clarity and vision. Armed with this vision, we began to layout what the first two cycles of next year will look like. This lead to rich conversations about everything from Summer Reading to the nuanced differences between Mark Twain’s short pieces. With a clear idea of what the opening cycles will look like, we have a new To Do List. The list includes creating common rubrics and common language for student tasks. We want tasks like written reflection to become second nature- We just can’t resist it, the kids can’t do without it. Boogie woogie, woogie.

Meanwhile, STEM enjoyed the week’s beautiful weather and continued their adventures in solar energy exploration. They used a recently acquired “ginormous” solar panel, charge controller and inverter to attempt to produce a charge. They were able to measure 21V going into the charge controller and 14-17V out to a “battery” from the charge controller with the inverter attached to the battery out. Once they attached the inverter to the battery out, the internal fan of the inverter turned on (Fun fact I learned today: Fans run on DC power), but after conversion to AC they didn’t measure any current out through the inverter. When they tried another connection configuration, the fan didn’t start. Since the panel is meant to charge a car, RV or boat battery perhaps the presence of the actual battery to charge is the key because the panel generates sufficient voltage but isn’t able to generate a sustained current. They can’t choose it- it’s electric. Boogie woogie, woogie. They know it’s there.

Seeing the connections link up, and both the literal and metaphorical currents, made for an exciting and inspiring week. Yeah, here, there, everywhere.