The Forge Dictionary

The Forge · Student HandbookDictionary

Every special term, one line – flip here the moment a word is new

THE FORGE DICTIONARY

The three sessions (and the one before them)

Trial Forge	Your first session (Sept 15) – a debate you watch, then try. See the fire before you make it.
Arms Room	Week 1 of a unit. “Find your ammunition.” Read, mine quotes, build arguments, get your role.
The Forge	Week 2. “The fire.” The live 35-minute debate.
The Tavern	Week 3. “Recovery and skill.” Reflection, one taught skill, your Story Layer, a celebration.

The debate itself

Oxford-style debate	Jury votes before and after; the score that matters is how many minds changed.
Affirmative / Negative	The two sides – for / against the claim. You’re assigned one.
Aff1·Aff2·Neg1·Neg2	The four debater seats. “1” seats open and close; “2” seats open and rebut. Each speaks twice.
Pre-/Post-vote · shift	The jury’s silent position before and after; the gap is the shift – the only number announced.
Hook	A short, visceral activity that drops you inside the question before anyone argues.
Socratic Seminar	What the Forge becomes if 2+ debaters are absent – argued through the jury. Never cancels.

The five roles

Debater	Argues the position you were handed. Speaks twice.
Moderator	Runs the room. Calls votes, keeps time, decides who speaks. Does not argue.
Researcher	Supplies the ammunition – evidence for both sides, fact-checks live.
Jury	Judges. Votes before and after, asks one question per side.
Bench	The backup. Preps both sides every unit; steps in if a debater is absent.

DICTIONARY · 53

DictionaryTools · Writing · The Finish

The Arms Room tools

Evidence Forge	The Arms Room block where you mine quotes and build arguments.
Blade / Shield / Range	Your opening (blade), your answer to the other side (shield), what you can’t cover (range).
Evidence Map	The Jury’s prep: 2 quotes per side, why each matters. To the Text Coach by the deadline.
Evidence packet	The Researcher’s prep: 4 verified pieces (2 per side), sent to debaters by the deadline.

What you read, keep, and write

Reading guide	Your scouting report – splits each book into chapter blocks.
Document study	A real person's account, one per unit, read at home and argued in class. The document is the floor of the evidence, not the ceiling.
Document Study Reader	The book holding all 8 units' document-study readings, plus the U8 trio. Pre-read it at home before each unit's Arms Room.
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). Bring the trunk.
Forge Journal	The one notebook you keep all year. Your Reflections + Story Layers – this becomes your Anvil.
Forge Reflection	A short write after every debate, about the argument. Kept, not graded.
Story Layer / Story Forge	A short write each unit about you, 5 years out / the Tavern block where you draft it.

The finish – and your mentors

The Anvil	Your 8–10 min final presentation: one true claim about who you’ve become.
The Gauge	The four-tier measure – Unformed, Assembled, Forged, Tempered. A gauge, not a grade.
Forge Workshop · Final Forge	Three Taverns that build your thesis / the April sessions that finish your Anvil.
The Reveal	Per Forge: the Weaver reads one anonymized line from the written reflections aloud. Year-end (May 11): one true sentence about you.
Forge Coach / Text Coach / Weaver	The room / the evidence / the record & story.
“There are no passengers.”	The single rule. Every student has a job, every unit, every debate.

END · THE FORGE – STUDENT HANDBOOK · FALL 2026 – SPRING 2027

DICTIONARY · 54