FINALE · The Forge

FINALE

Tab 08 / 11 · Weeks 26–30

FINAL
FORGE

Assemble the book → revise → rehearse → the talk → the Final Gift.

11 Tabs

START WHY MENTORS WEEKS CYCLE UNITS WORKSHOPS FINALE PROTOCOLS FADE DICT

FINALE · opener

Final Forge

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

After U8 and Spring Break, three sessions take students from Forge Journal to Forge Book and talk. No new reading. No debate. The Forge Coach holds deadlines; the Weaver runs the room.

WK 26 · APR 13, FINAL FORGE 1: ASSEMBLE THE FORGE BOOK

Goal: every student leaves with an assembled Forge Book (cover, eight stories in order, each with its line), a draft opening page, and four talk cards.

Run: open with the Weaver’s question: first line next to last line. Students staple the book, then draft the opening page (“At the start of the year I thought ___. Now I think ___”). Staplers, cardstock, and index cards on the table. Do not write for them.

Failure → fix: missing stories or lines. Missing stories get written today (short is fine); a missing line is written from memory and labeled (written later). Lost journal: rebuild the debate proof from the Forge Record. Note it for the 1:1, not as punishment.

WK 27 · APR 20, FINAL FORGE 2: REVISE THE TALK

Goal: revision against the Anvil Gauge (Student Binder, Anvil tab), a gauge, not a grade.

Tier	The story	Then and now	Three proofs	The cost
Unformed	No story, or a book summary	One line or none; no thesis	Retells plots	Missing
Assembled	Read aloud, never connected	Two lines that say the same thing	All from books, or uncited	Vague: “it was hard”
Forged	Chosen because it sets up the thesis	Two lines that really differ; a one-sentence thesis	Book (cited), debate, and story, each tied to the thesis	A specific cost
Tempered	Comes back at the end, heard differently	Names what is still unsettled	Uses a time they were wrong or lost the vote	Says why it’s worth it, or admits it might not be

Run: pairs run the Peer Check on a full run-through. Each student revises one part live. Text Coach teaches one final skill: cutting to the strongest proof (one quote, not three).

Failure → fix: proofs that retell the plot. Ask, “If you could keep one sentence of this proof, which one?” Keep it, cite it, tie it to the thesis.

WK 28 · APR 27, FINAL FORGE 3: REHEARSE ON THE CLOCK

Goal: every student gives the six-minute talk out loud, on the clock, twice.

Run: timed run-throughs with a peer jury. Forge Coach times and shows 5:00 and 6:00; Weaver notes who needs a 1:1 before May 4. Practice the story reading and the closing line hardest.

Failure → fix: reading a full script. Four cards, a few words each; only the story and the two lines are read word for word.

FINALE · 51

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Final Forge

The Anvil & the Final Gift

The Anvil is where each student's record becomes their argument. Each student holds their Forge Book and gives a six-minute talk: read one story, read two lines and state a thesis, give three proofs (book, debate, own story), name the cost. Session: the full 2-hour LIFT block (10:00 AM–12:00 PM). 9 students × 9 min (talk, question, transition) runs 81 min: fits inside 120 with room for framing, a break, and a close.

Minute by minute (6-min talk + 2-min question + 1-min transition; the 1:36 block absorbs runover)

0:00–0:05	Arrival + framing: no grading, peers are jury not editors, one question after each.
0:05–0:50	Talks 1–5 (9 min each: 6 talk, 2 question, 1 transition).
0:50–1:00	Break
1:00–1:36	Talks 6–9 (same structure).
1:36–1:50	One more line (optional): any student may read one more line from their Forge Book. No one is called on.
1:50–2:00	Close: thank the room; brief framing for next week's Reveal/Final Gift.

Policy, not schedule

1Students present in turn, six minutes each (6:30 at most, then the Forge Coach signals). Peers act as jury, not editors, they ask one specific question after each.

2Mentors attend as audience. No grading. Just proof. The Anvil Gauge is a gauge the student already knows; it is not scored here.

3The Weaver keeps a private note on each talk for the Reveal / Final Gift the following week.

Mentor disciplineDo not coach mid-talk. Do not rescue a nervous student by finishing their sentence. The room they built holds them now. Step in only for genuine distress.

Behind each talk: the Forge Book (eight stories with their lines, plus the opening page) and the Forge Journal (the source of the debate proof). The book belongs to the student; mentors do not collect it.

Weeks 29–30 · May 4 & May 11, The Final Gift

The Weaver gives each student one true sentence about who they became across the year: drawn from the Forge Record, specific, never generic. Then the year's Reveal: name the arc of the room: the shifts, the minds changed, the moments it ran itself. No new work. No grades. Names and proof. End on a Celebration that includes every student.

FINALE · 52