Self-Directed Academy · Studio 1 · US History · Week 3 · Wednesday Early Out

Welcome Back

Three sub days down. Let's see where the Dig actually landed — then argue it out.

Validate what they did without you. They ran three full sub days solo — say that out loud before anything else.

While I was out

You ran three
Dig days on your own.

Sort Your Evidence. Answer Your EQ + Outline. Today: get it organized, look hard at it, and put it into words — on paper, then out loud.

New system, starting today: everything lives in the shared Drive folder, permanently — say it plainly, this replaces scattered Headrush docs and loose paper.

Step 1 · 10 minutes

Update your folder.

Move everything from the last three sub days — Dig Log, Source Log, Sort-Your-Evidence, your EQ + Outline — into your shared Drive folder. This is where your work lives now. Not in it? It doesn't exist yet.

Real self-audit, not busywork — most of them haven't reread this since Tuesday's sub day. Give them silence.

Step 2 · 5 minutes

Look it over.

Read your own Dig Log, your sources, and Tuesday's EQ answer. Where did you actually land? What's strong — what's still missing?

This is a free write — thinking on paper, not a polished draft. 20 minutes, heads down, no talking.

Step 3 · 20 minutes · Free Write

Answer the EQ —
through your angle.

"When an institution fails the people it's supposed to serve — what does it take to fix it, and who has to do the work?"

Two paragraphs. The Jungle, your sources, your angle.

Post this. Read it aloud once before they start writing. It's the bar, not a rubric — keep it plain.

This counts if it...

✦

Names your angle by name — not "the Progressive Era," but your actual angle

✦

Gives a real answer to the EQ — a claim, not a summary of The Jungle

✦

Uses at least one specific piece of evidence — a scene, a quote, a law (the 1906 Acts)

✦

Explains why that evidence proves your claim — the so-what

✦

Sounds like you. Free write means voice over polish.

Circle up desks/chairs now. Fast norms: build on others, disagree with the idea not the person, cite your source.

Step 4 · 15 minutes

Circle up.
Seminar time.

Bring your free write. We're arguing this out loud — build on each other, push back on the idea, back it with your source.

Go around fast on Q1 (30 sec each) before opening it up. You won't need all four — follow where the room actually goes.

Seminar questions

One sentence, going around: when the system failed, what did it actually take to fix it?

Whose answer just now is closest to yours — and whose is the strongest challenge to it?

People only caring once it hits them, the human cost of who didn't survive, money vs. protecting people — which of those is doing the most work in your own argument?

Where do we see a "Jungle"-style failure today — ignored until public pressure forced a fix?

Land it fast — early out, no slack in the schedule. This is the exit ticket.

Before the bell

Dig Log + flag.

One line: what you landed on today, and your flag for tomorrow. Write down one idea from the seminar you want to steal for your draft.