Mentor Unit Packages · Source pages 26–36
UNITS
Unit 1 debate/journal spread + Units 2–8 complete packages
UNITS
Tab 06 / 11 · Per-Unit Cards U2–U8
UNITS
One card per unit, U2–U8, then that unit's week schedule, the full Reading Guide, Debate Questions, and Document Study. Each unit's five Debate Questions are a menu: the card marks which are priority for the Forge debate; the rest are warm-ups, essays, or discussion prompts.
11 Tabs
START
WHY
MENTORS
WEEKS
CYCLE
UNITS
WORKSHOPS
FINALE
PROTOCOLS
FADE
DICT
UNITS · opener
Units — How to Read This Section
UNITS · Intro
This section covers all eight units two ways. Unit 1 (Project Hail Mary) gets the fully-worked treatment: a Reading Guide, five Debate Questions, and a Document Study, walked through live in the WEEKS tab. Units 2–8 each open with a one-page card, the unit at a glance: when it runs, the book and trait, the fade phase, which debate questions to prioritize, the signature failure for this unit and its fix, the reading-window stress note, and any workshop overlay, followed by that unit's own week schedule (Arms Room, Forge, Tavern), full Reading Guide, Debate Questions, and Document Study. Pair each card with that unit's Reading-Guide-[Book] and Unit-[N]-Debate-Questions pages right after it.
The eight books, at a glance
| Unit | Trait | Book | Fade phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| U1 | Discipline | Project Hail Mary | Demo |
| U2 | Perseverance | Little Women | Handoff |
| U3 | Interdependence | The Boys in the Boat | Warm Fade |
| U4 | Resilience | Pride and Prejudice | Warm Fade |
| U5 | Acceptance | A Man for All Seasons | Independent |
| U6 | Courage | All the Light We Cannot See | Independent |
| U7 | Hope | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Emergency Only |
| U8 | Moral Courage | A Good Man Is Hard to Find | Emergency Only |
Reading order is the spineRead Unit 1’s full package next, it’s the fully-worked example the rest of the year leans on. From Unit 2 on, each unit follows the same three-week rhythm, new book, a little less mentor each time.
UNITS · Intro
Reading Guides
U1 · PROJECT HAIL MARY
U1
DISCIPLINE
Project Hail Mary
The Forge question After securing Earth’s solution in the Beetles and beginning a newly possible journey home, Grace turns back to rescue Rocky and Erid, knowing he may die. Is that disciplined loyalty to a larger responsibility, or an irresponsible sacrifice of his duty to return with unique knowledge?
Five reading days · mentor view, students do not see the “What happens” column
| Day / read | What happens (mentor only) | Focus question · thread |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 The Awakening Ch 1–5 | Grace wakes with total amnesia, connected to tubes and robot arms. He doesn't know his name, his mission, or why he's on a strange ship. | Focus. What does Grace’s body know before his mind does? What training reveals itself before his conscious memory returns? Thread. He tests his environment, counting, measuring, recording, before he knows why. Where does that method come from? |
| Day 2 The Solitary Scientist Ch 6–10 | Grace works alone on the ship and begins to understand his mission: find out why Tau Ceti is not dimming. | Focus. When does Grace shift from reacting to acting? Thread. No supervisor or audience, but survival and Earth are at stake. What keeps him working? |
| Day 3 First Contact Ch 11–16 | Grace and Rocky build a shared vocabulary across radically different biology and dominant senses. | Focus. How do they build enough trust to rely on each other? Thread. What sustains effort when progress is slow? |
| Day 4 Adrian & Discovery Ch 17–23 | Within Tau Ceti, Grace and Rocky travel to Adrian. One failed model, about two weeks of engineering, and hazardous sampling lead to Taumoeba. | Focus. How do Grace’s observation and Rocky’s inference and engineering combine? Thread. Where does discipline live in that chain? |
| Day 5 The Final Choice Ch 24–end | Natural Taumoeba cannot tolerate the needed nitrogen. A bred strain escapes xenonite containment and consumes Rocky’s fuel. Grace secures Earth’s solution in the Beetles, begins a newly possible return, then turns back. | Focus. When does Grace decide to rescue Rocky and Erid? Thread. Return with unique knowledge, or protect the lives he can still save? |
U1 · 1/2
U1 · Discipline Journal
Reading Guides
What students keep — Project Hail Mary
THE DISCIPLINE JOURNAL
Each student flags 3 moments where discipline (or its absence) shapes the outcome: their Compress (C): the trunk, not the leaves. For each moment they name what actually drove it.
| # | What happened | Discipline, conditioning, or something else? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 |
Definitions students use
Discipline, choosing to continue the hard thing when the easy thing is available and you know the difference. Conditioning, a trained response that fires automatically, without conscious choice. Something else, curiosity, fear, love, hope, or habit. Discipline is one lens on this book, not the only one.
At the Arms Room
Ask one focus question from the facing page aloud to confirm depth, not just completion. A student who read will have a moment flagged; a student who skimmed will reach for the plot.
U1 · 2/2
Debate Questions
U1 · PROJECT HAIL MARY
U1
DISCIPLINE
After securing Earth’s solution, was Grace disciplined or irresponsible to sacrifice his newly possible return and rescue Rocky? Q1 formal; Q3 warm-up. First unit: keep register accessible.
Q1, The Final Choice priority: central debate
Curriculum-authored formal question; see the complete wording below.
Curriculum-authored question. After securing Earth’s solution in the Beetles and beginning a newly possible journey home, Grace turns back to rescue Rocky and Erid, knowing he may die. Is that disciplined loyalty to a larger responsibility, or an irresponsible sacrifice of his duty to return with unique knowledge?
Hook (5 min). If you were coerced into a one-way mission, then unexpectedly gained a way home, would you risk it to rescue a partner and another world?
Position A. With return newly possible, Grace owed Earth his unique knowledge rather than risk it in a rescue.
Position B. Earth’s jointly developed solution was secure in the Beetles; loyalty to Rocky and Erid was now the larger responsibility.
Research: search-and-rescue duty; unique knowledge versus secured data; responsibility after coercion.
Hook (5 min). If you were coerced into a one-way mission, then unexpectedly gained a way home, would you risk it to rescue a partner and another world?
Position A. With return newly possible, Grace owed Earth his unique knowledge rather than risk it in a rescue.
Position B. Earth’s jointly developed solution was secure in the Beetles; loyalty to Rocky and Erid was now the larger responsibility.
Research: search-and-rescue duty; unique knowledge versus secured data; responsibility after coercion.
Q2, The Body That Remembers
Curriculum-authored: Grace’s hands know how to test and measure before his mind catches up. Discipline, or something wearing its clothes?
Hook (5 min). Name one thing you do correctly without thinking about how you learned it. Is doing it well proof of discipline, or proof discipline once happened and isn’t needed now?
Position A. It’s discipline trained so thoroughly it survives even losing his memory of why he has it.
Position B. By this guide’s curriculum definition, discipline requires knowing the easy option exists. Amnesiac Grace isn’t choosing anything: that’s conditioning, not discipline.
Research: habit formation/procedural memory; does discipline require present-tense awareness?
Position A. It’s discipline trained so thoroughly it survives even losing his memory of why he has it.
Position B. By this guide’s curriculum definition, discipline requires knowing the easy option exists. Amnesiac Grace isn’t choosing anything: that’s conditioning, not discipline.
Research: habit formation/procedural memory; does discipline require present-tense awareness?
Q3, No One Is Watching priority: warmer, pairs with Q1
Curriculum-authored: Grace works without a supervisor or audience, under survival pressure and existential stakes. What kept him going?
Hook (5 min). If no supervisor watched but lives depended on your work, would persistence show discipline or necessity? Write, don’t share yet.
Position A. No supervisor or grade directs Grace; sustained method can still show internal discipline.
Position B. Grace expects to die whether he succeeds or fails. Curiosity, responsibility to Earth, fear of a meaningless death, or the need to make his remaining life matter may drive him more precisely than “discipline.”
Research: solo endurance workers on their motivation; intrinsic vs. extrinsic discipline.
Position A. No supervisor or grade directs Grace; sustained method can still show internal discipline.
Position B. Grace expects to die whether he succeeds or fails. Curiosity, responsibility to Earth, fear of a meaningless death, or the need to make his remaining life matter may drive him more precisely than “discipline.”
Research: solo endurance workers on their motivation; intrinsic vs. extrinsic discipline.
U1 · 1/2
Debate Questions
U1 · PROJECT HAIL MARY (cont.)
Q4, Building Trust Across a Total Stranger
Curriculum-authored: Grace and Rocky begin with no shared language and radically different biology and dominant senses. What kind of effort builds trust?
Hook (5 min). Think of explaining something important to someone with almost no shared context. What did that cost you?
Position A. Building a relationship from zero shared ground, one confirmed signal at a time without giving up: that’s discipline applied to something harder than any solo task.
Position B. They persist because each needs the other to survive, and something like real friendship grows. Naming that “discipline” flattens what’s happening.
Research: field linguistics building shared vocabulary from zero; what builds trust under shared high-stakes pressure.
Position A. Building a relationship from zero shared ground, one confirmed signal at a time without giving up: that’s discipline applied to something harder than any solo task.
Position B. They persist because each needs the other to survive, and something like real friendship grows. Naming that “discipline” flattens what’s happening.
Research: field linguistics building shared vocabulary from zero; what builds trust under shared high-stakes pressure.
Q5, Where the Discovery Actually Lives
Curriculum-authored: One failed model, about two weeks of engineering, hazardous sampling, Grace’s observation, and Rocky’s inference produce the Taumoeba discovery. Where does the discipline live?
Hook (5 min). Think of a discovery that depended on several people doing different kinds of work. Who gets credit?
Position A. The observation depends on recovering from a failed model and engineering a hazardous sampling method.
Position B. Engineering alone is insufficient; Grace’s observation and naming and Rocky’s inference turn the sample into a usable discovery.
Research: collaborative scientific discovery; observation, inference, and engineering as distinct contributions.
Position A. The observation depends on recovering from a failed model and engineering a hazardous sampling method.
Position B. Engineering alone is insufficient; Grace’s observation and naming and Rocky’s inference turn the sample into a usable discovery.
Research: collaborative scientific discovery; observation, inference, and engineering as distinct contributions.
Mentor notes
The room’s first Forge debate: spend extra time on format before content. Q1 is the anchor, already set up by the reading guide; run it last, after warming up on Q2 or Q3. Q2/Q3 are the gentlest on-ramps (no interpersonal stakes). Q4 previews Unit 2’s partnership theme: keep the discipline framing tight. Q5 is the best essay alternative. All five can run as Socratic seminar topics.
U1 · 2/2
Document Study
U1 · McRAVEN · MAKE YOUR BED
U1
DISCIPLINE
William H. McRaven, Make Your Bed (2017), Ch. One, the bed inspection. Read from the Document Study Reader.
The document is the floor of the evidence, not the ceiling.
The document
William McRaven was a career Navy SEAL. Make Your Bed grew out of a 2014 University of Texas commencement speech built around ten lessons from SEAL training. At the start of each training day, McRaven and his classmates made their beds to an exact standard, inspected bed by bed, with a quarter landing on the mattress as the final test. The instructor acknowledged a correct bed with a nod, but offered no praise; correctness was expected. McRaven later sustained the habit without that original inspector. While Saddam Hussein was held after capture, the covers remained crumpled at the foot of his cot and he rarely seemed inclined to straighten them.
Close-read questions
1. No praise, and it still matters. McRaven says making the bed correctly “was not going to be an opportunity for praise. It was expected of me.” In training, an instructor inspected the bed. Why sustain the same exact standard later, after that original inspector and his nod are gone?
2. The smallest possible task. Of everything a SEAL training day could have started with, why a bed? What does getting one tiny thing exactly right teach a person that a bigger task wouldn’t?
3. The hospital bed. Recovering from a serious parachute injury, the first thing McRaven did once he could lift himself unaided was pull the sheets tight so the hospital bed “looked presentable,” his “way of showing that I had conquered the injury.” How is making a bed while recovering at home different from making one in training? What is the habit doing for him there?
4. Saddam’s cot. McRaven notes “with some sense of amusement” that Saddam did not make his bed: the covers stayed crumpled and he “rarely seemed inclined to straighten them.” Why include that detail about a man who once ran a country?
U1 · DS 1/2
Document Study
U1 · McRAVEN (cont.)
Anchor-bridge · Project Hail Mary
5. Alone on the Hail Mary, Grace runs procedures and solves problems by trained habit, sometimes before he even remembers who he is. Is Grace’s discipline the same as McRaven’s made bed, a standard first enforced by an instructor and later sustained without that original inspector, or something different? Find a place in the book where a drilled habit carries Grace when feeling wouldn’t have.
6. McRaven first learns the bed standard under inspection, then keeps it aboard a submarine, while recovering at home, and on an Army cot in Iraq. Grace works with no human instructor present to enforce his standards. What changes when an externally taught standard becomes self-sustaining? Argue from both.
The trait link, why this scene is discipline
| Moment | Face of discipline | The hard question it raises |
|---|---|---|
| The inspection | A standard enforced from outside, checked closely and acknowledged without praise | What can external inspection teach that self-imposed effort cannot? |
| The one constant | Repetition across every circumstance, hospital bed, war-zone cot, no exceptions | Is discipline the habit itself, or the refusal to make exceptions for hard circumstances? |
| Saddam's cot | The absence of the habit in someone powerful | Can you tell something true about a person from one small, unwatched habit? |
Discipline is the trait because nothing about a perfectly made bed is dramatic. It earns no medal and saves no one. The unit's live question sits inside the movement from inspection to independence: what makes a standard taught and checked by someone else become one you sustain across later years, after the original inspector and his nod are gone?
Mentor prep
1. Students read this study before class from the Document Study Reader. End after the observation that Saddam “rarely seemed inclined to straighten” the covers; stop before “During the ensuing ten years.”
2. This is the room's first document study. Budget a few extra minutes to explain what a document study is and how it's used later, at the Forge debate and in the Researcher's brief. The content here is deliberately gentle; the format is the real thing being taught.
3. Hold the frame on the smallness of the task, not on SEAL training itself. Keep steering back to the bed, an ordinary, repeatable act, as the site of discipline.
4. McRaven's later closing paragraph (the “life is hard” passage) states the lesson directly. Do not let it replace the students’ work of drawing meaning from the scene.
5. Citation format: (McRaven, Make Your Bed, Ch. 1, “quoted phrase”).
2. This is the room's first document study. Budget a few extra minutes to explain what a document study is and how it's used later, at the Forge debate and in the Researcher's brief. The content here is deliberately gentle; the format is the real thing being taught.
3. Hold the frame on the smallness of the task, not on SEAL training itself. Keep steering back to the bed, an ordinary, repeatable act, as the site of discipline.
4. McRaven's later closing paragraph (the “life is hard” passage) states the lesson directly. Do not let it replace the students’ work of drawing meaning from the scene.
5. Citation format: (McRaven, Make Your Bed, Ch. 1, “quoted phrase”).
U1 · DS 2/2
Units
UNIT 2
U2
PERSEVERANCE
Little Women
WEEKS 5–7OCT 13 / 20 / 27FADE: HANDOFF
Lens
What perseverance costs the people around you, not just you.
Priority questions
Q2 (The Cost) is the formal in-class debate; Q4 (The Ledger) is the emotional anchor; Q1 (The Right Call) warms up. (Order: Q2, Q4, Q1.)
Affirmative position
(Q2) Jo's perseverance was selfish, she left for New York while Beth was already declining, and it took Beth's death to make her quit her ambition.
Signature failure → fix
The debate lives in the back half of the book, which is exactly where students are most likely to have skimmed or fallen behind. Fix: at the Week 6 private readiness check, confirm Day 3–4 (through Ch. XLI) and use a private plot-anchor slip on Jo at Beth’s bedside. Never cold-call late-book facts at the Week 5 Arms Room.
Reading note
Little Women is long (~500 pp) and runs back-to-back with Project Hail Mary, the heaviest reading stretch of the year. Send the Project Hail Mary reading guide to families in August so students arrive Week 1 having read it.
Workshop overlay
Forge Workshop 1 replaces Story Forge at the Week 7 Tavern (Oct 27).
Handoff note
The first unit students moderate. Forge Coach sits beside the moderator with a whisper-card, present, but not running it.
UNITS · 41
Week 5
WEEK 5 · ARMS ROOM
Week 5: U2 — Arms Room (120 min)
SESSION TYPE: INVESTIGATE · MENTOR VISIBILITY: HANDOFF — FORGE COACH BESIDE MODERATOR, WHISPER-CARD
Pre-class setup
Confirm reading guide Day 1–2 (Ch. I–XXI: "The Ambition" + "The Cost") was due tonight.
Prepare Q2 hook materials: one slip of paper per student.
Print Evidence Map templates and extra blank ballots.
Have Q2 debate text ready to display or read aloud.
Confirm the student moderator for this unit's Forge; print the whisper-card.
Reading check (top of class)
• Private readiness only (slip or quiet 1:1): confirm Day 1–2 (Ch. I–XXI). Status is not announced and does not determine a visible role.
• Optional private depth (on slip or 1:1 only): "In 'Castles in the Air,' what does each sister want?" Do not cold-call late-book facts (Beth’s death) this week.
Hook
Before anyone writes, say: "The text is the question. Their own grief is not." Each student privately writes one thing they are pursuing that they would set aside if a family member needed them, and whether they would. No mandatory oral share. Optional: Weaver may read at most one anonymous slip. Jo will face exactly that choice by the end of this book.
Minute by minute
| Time | What happens | Your job |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:08 | Arrival. Private readiness/access (Day 1–2 only). Optional private Castles depth. No cold-call. | Forge Coach: slips/quiet check. Text Coach: private access. |
| 0:08–0:28 | Document Study (20 min) — Frankl six acts. Pre-read at home; discussion only. Mentor leads (not student-moderated in U2). | Mentor facilitates close-read. Keep to 20 min. |
| 0:28–0:38 | Hook — Absence: Grief line first. Private write only (optional anonymous slip). No mandatory oral personal share. | Weaver runs. Forge Coach protects dignity. |
| 0:38–0:48 | Break | |
| 0:48–0:56 | Independent Q2 claim gate: quote → claim → impact → strongest counter. Mentor initials each. No pairs yet. | Text Coach checks all. Forge Coach protects silence. |
| 0:56–1:18 | Pair Evidence Forge from each student's captured claim. ≥3 quotes/side before leaving pairs. | Text Coach circulates (Ch. XL / XLII). |
| 1:18–1:33 | Argument Sharpen + source check. Name strongest counter. | Weaver listens for empty restatements. |
| 1:33–1:43 | Role assignment incl. first student moderator for Week 6. Whisper-card ready. Role ≠ reading status. | Forge Coach assigns; narrate handoff. |
| 1:43–1:55 | Protected individual prep start (Evidence Map / role sheet). | Text Coach: process only. |
| 1:55–2:00 | Deadlines: Day 3–4 before Forge; Evidence Maps 5 days before Forge (e.g. Oct 15); state route twice. | Forge Coach states date/time/route. |
Homework to check
Day 3–4 reading (Ch. XXII–XLI, "New Territory" + "The Breaking Point") before next Arms Room check.
Jury: Evidence Map with 2 quotes per side + 1 sentence each, submitted 48 hours before Forge.
WEEKS 5–7 · 1/3
Week 6
WEEK 6 · FORGE
Week 6: U2 — Forge (120 min)
SESSION TYPE: DEBATE · MENTOR VISIBILITY: HANDOFF — FORGE COACH BESIDE MODERATOR, WHISPER-CARD
Pre-class setup
Confirm the student moderator is ready; timer checked; whisper-card in hand.
Prepare Q4 hook materials: two columns on board, "What Amy sacrifices" / "What Jo sacrifices."
Print ballots; confirm jury Evidence Maps received.
Have Q2 and Q4 debate texts ready.
Reading check (top of class)
• Private readiness only: confirm Day 3–4 (Ch. XXII–XLI) on slip or quiet 1:1. On the same private check, plot-anchor: "Where was Jo when Beth died?" (Correct: at her bedside; she never left.) If students are behind, open private catch-up plans only—no public huddle. Do not cancel the debate.
Hook
Each student lists what Amy sacrifices, then what Jo sacrifices. Compare on the board: who actually gave up more? Then: Jo "renounced her old ambition" at Beth's bedside while Beth was still alive (Ch. XL). But she also "never left her for an hour" (Ch. XL), and after Beth's death was "taught by love and sorrow," and wrote again (Ch. XLII). Was giving up the ambition itself the perseverance, or was coming back to the work?
Minute by minute
| Time | What happens | Your job |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:10 | Private readiness Day 3–4 + plot-anchor ("Where was Jo when Beth died?"). Private catch-up only if behind. | No public huddle. No cold-call. |
| 0:10–0:18 | Optional Q1 warm-up (not formal debate) or skip and extend Tabulation. | Weaver if used. |
| 0:18–0:28 | Q4 Tabulation (Amy/Jo book sacrifices on board). Emotional anchor; ~10 min max. | Weaver runs. Forge Coach times. |
| 0:28–0:38 | Break + student moderator quiet prep with whisper-card. | Forge Coach: procedural only. |
| 0:38–1:13 | Oxford Debate — formal Q2 (35 min). Equivalent private/written routes OK. | Clock + whisper-card. Fact-check fabricated sources only. |
| 1:13–1:28 | Attributable Forge Reflection + criterion mark (text answers strongest counter). | Student keeps original; mentor keeps record. |
| 1:28–1:38 | The Reveal — one anonymized line. No commentary. | Weaver reads. |
| 1:38–1:48 | Hold the Tension (1 min) + start before/after correction note. | Weaver asks. |
| 1:48–1:58 | Private tally / Forge Record; 2-min student-moderator debrief. | Weaver records. Forge Coach: process. |
| 1:58–2:00 | Close: Day 5 reading; U2 Story Layer = private journal at home (Workshop 1 next week, not Story Forge in class). | Forge Coach states homework. |
Students treat Jo's bedside renunciation as the whole answer. Re-read the Ch. XL/XLII contrast aloud: she renounces ambition while Beth is dying, then resumes writing after, perseverance doesn't mean never pausing, it's what she does with the pause.
Homework to check
Day 5 reading (Ch. XLII–XLVII, "What Remains") before next week.
Story Layer paragraph: "What did this unit cost you? What shifted?"
WEEKS 5–7 · 2/3