DICTIONARY · The Forge

Mentor Fade

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

The Intervention Decision Tree

1 · Is the student unsafe?

YES →Step in immediately. Safety first.

NO →Continue ↓

2 · Is the debate procedurally collapsed?

YES →Step in for 1 minute. Fix the process. Step out.

NO →Continue ↓

3 · Is the role competence demonstrated?

YES →Fade.

NO →Revert to Handoff (whisper-card) for this role only. Do not revert the whole room.

How to step in without shame

1Use a specific phrase: “I'm stepping in for one minute.” Not “You need help.”

2Fix the immediate problem. Do not take over the role.

3Step back out: “You're running it again.”

4Record the intervention in the Forge Record. Use it for the 1:1 conference, not punishment.

A moderator who fails does not return to Demo. They return to Handoff. The student still runs the room: the mentor just runs beside them.

FADE · 52

DICT

Tab 11 / 11 · Shared Vocabulary

DICTIONARY

Every shared term, one line: the same vocabulary your students' binder uses. Mentor-only terms are marked ◆.

11 Tabs · the last word

START WHY MENTORS WEEKS CYCLE UNITS WORKSHOPS FINALE PROTOCOLS FADE DICT

DICT · opener

The Forge Dictionary

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

The terms below are the same ones in the student binder, so you and your students speak one language. Mentor-only terms are marked ◆.

Sessions

Trial Forge	Week 1. A demonstrated practice debate, students watch one, then try a rough one. Orientation, not assessment.
Arms Room	Week 1 of a unit. Students prepare: mine quotes, build arguments, get a role and side.
The Forge	Week 2 of a unit. The live 35-minute debate.
The Tavern	Week 3 of a unit. No debate, retro, one taught skill, Story Forge, celebration.
Forge Workshop ◆	Overlay on the U2 / U5 / U7 Taverns: after a shorter Story Forge, students turn their lines into a thesis and a talk outline.
Final Forge	Three April sessions: draft → revise → rehearse the Anvil. No new reading.

The Debate

Oxford-style debate	Jury votes before and after; the score that matters is minds changed.
Affirmative / Negative	The two assigned sides, for / against the claim.
Aff1 · Aff2 · Neg1 · Neg2	The four debater seats. “1” = opening + closing; “2” = opening + rebuttal. Each speaks twice.
Pre-/Post-vote · the shift	Jury's silent positions before / after; the gap is the only number announced.
Hook	A short visceral opener that puts students inside the question before they argue.
Socratic fallback	What the Forge becomes with 2+ debaters absent, the question is argued through the jury. The debate never cancels.

Roles

Debater · Moderator · Researcher · Jury · Bench

Argue / run the room / supply evidence / judge and vote / backup who preps both sides. Roles rotate; nobody repeats back-to-back.

DICT · 1/3

The Forge Dictionary

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Prep & Reading

Evidence Forge · Blade / Shield / Range	The Arms Room build block: opening (blade), counter-answer (shield), honest gaps (range).
Evidence Map / evidence packet	Jury prep (2 quotes per side) / Researcher prep (4 pieces, both sides), due by the prep deadline.
Reading guide	Per-book scouting report; splits the book into chapter blocks (chapters, not pages, editions vary).
Document Study Reader	The book holding all 8 units' document-study readings, plus the full U8 trio texts (O'Connor · Tolstoy · Bonhoeffer). Read together in class at each unit’s Arms Room; rights resolved for classroom use.
ACTOR loop	The nightly reading habit: Aim, Compress, Test, Own, Run.
Trunk vs. leaves	The one core idea (trunk) vs. the pile of quotes around it (leaves).
48-hour rule	From U4 on, prep is due 48 hours before the Forge, hard. Miss it: jury or bench, not debate.

What Students Keep & Write

Forge Journal	The student's one notebook all year. Becomes their Anvil.
Forge Reflection	Post-debate write about the argument. Analytical. Kept, not graded.
Story Layer / Story Forge	Per-unit story set 5 years out, about the student or someone they invent, then one line: “What I think [trait] is now.” / The Tavern block where they write it. The debate question stays out of the story.

The Finish

The Anvil	Each student's six-minute final talk, given holding their Forge Book: one story, two lines and a thesis, three proofs, the cost.
The Gauge	Four-tier argument measure: Unformed / Assembled / Forged / Tempered. A gauge, not a grade.
The Reveal	From U2: the Weaver reads one anonymized line from the written reflections aloud. Year-end (May 11): the Weaver's one true sentence per student.
Forge Book	The stapled booklet each student assembles at Final Forge 1: cover, opening page, eight Story Layers with their lines. The student keeps it.

DICT · 2/3