CYCLE · The Forge

CYCLE

Tab 05 / 11 · Unit Cycle Template

CYCLE

The repeating three-week shape. What never changes, what changes by unit, and the fade map.

11 Tabs

START WHY MENTORS WEEKS CYCLE UNITS WORKSHOPS FINALE PROTOCOLS FADE DICT

CYCLE · opener

Unit Cycle

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Weeks 1–4 are the fully-worked Unit 1 example, with mentors at full demonstration. Units 2–8 run the same three-week rhythm: Arms Room → Forge → Tavern. Do not re-learn the room each unit. Run this template, then layer in the unit-specific content from the Per-Unit Card that follows.

What never changes

01The single rule: every student has a job, every unit. No passengers.

02The 35-minute, speak-twice Forge (the Role Cards one-pager is canonical).

03A Forge Reflection after every debate (analytical; kept in the Forge Journal).

04A Story Layer at every Tavern (identity, 5 years out; never the debate question).

05A reading check at the top of every Arms Room.

06A document-study discussion at the Arms Room, every unit, built on a pre-read done at home from the Document Study Reader.

07The Reveal after every Forge: one anonymized reflection line, read aloud, no commentary.

What changes by unit — the fade map

The book, the trait and its lens, the priority questions, the signature failure, and how much the mentors do, because the fade advances. Use this to know how present to be:

Unit	Fade phase	Forge Coach	Text Coach	Weaver
U2	Handoff	Beside moderator, whisper-card	Juries + spot-checks	Runs Bridge
U3–U4	Warm Fade	Outside circle, crisis only	Juries; steps in if researcher absent	Visible in Bridge only
U5–U6	Independent	Outside circle, emergency only	Juries like a student	1:1 conferences in Bridge
U7–U8	Emergency Only	In corner or absent	Fact-checks only if a source is fabricated	Workshop + conferences only

NoteFade is responsive, not automatic, and the phase above is the calendar default, not the gate. The real gate is rotation completion: do not fade a role until every student has played it once (see FADE · 35 for the per-role rotation map). If a room wobbles, step back in for that role only (Section 3). Document-study discussion follows the same fade: mentor-led through U4, student-led from U5 onward. A room that is ready earlier may hand the discussion to a student moderator earlier; a room that wobbles keeps the mentor in the circle.

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THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Unit Cycle

The three-week shape (generic)

Arms Room → Forge → Tavern

WEEK A — ARMS ROOM (Investigate)

Reading check → Document Study discussion (15–20 min; students arrive having pre-read from the Document Study Reader) → Hook (one debate question's opener) → Evidence Forge (quote-mining; blade / shield / range) → Argument Sharpen (pair check) → Role assignment → Prep deadline stated. Mentor job scales down per the fade map.

WEEK B — THE FORGE (Debate)

Arrival + deadline confirmed → Hook (the other priority question) → Pre-debate → Break → 35-min Oxford debate, speak-twice, ballots to moderator at post-vote → Forge Reflection (15 min: moderator tallies + announces once, roles write reflections, kept) → the Reveal (Weaver reads a reflection line) → the “Hold the Tension” minute.

WEEK C — THE TAVERN (Bridge)

Arrival + Retro → Skill Layer (one skill, taught from what actually happened) → Break → Story Forge (the Story Layer prompt, 5 years out) → Reading Pipeline (next book) → Celebration. On workshop weeks, the Story Forge block is replaced: see The Forge Workshops.

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