Studio Archive¶

SDA Commons Wiki · South High School

Pre-packaged studio packets for SDA six-week cycles. Each packet is a complete, ready-to-run studio with: essential question, active standards, reading list, inquiry angle menu, six-week arc, demonstration of learning options, deliverable ideas, scale tasks, and exhibition format.

Packets are starting points, not scripts. Students propose their own inquiry angles within the essential question; the packets give advisors and students a tested framework to build from.

How to Use a Studio Packet¶

Advisor: Review the packet before Week 1. Decide which inquiry angles to feature, whether to add or swap texts from the reading library, and what the Week 6 exhibition format will be.
Student (Week 1): Read the Essential Question and the Inquiry Angle Menu. Read one passage from each text in the reading list. Write a first reaction. Submit your Studio Proposal choosing your angle, demo mode, and deliverable concept.
Both: The packet's six-week arc is a scaffold, not a rule. Adjust the pacing based on what the class needs.

World History Studios (Grade 9, Year 1)¶

Packet	Essential Question	Primary Era	Key Texts
WH-01: Who Should Govern?	Who should govern, and what gives them the right?	Era 1	Hammurabi, Confucius, Pericles, Melian Dialogue
WH-04: One Idea, 130 Years of War	Can one document change the world — and if so, how?	Era 2–3	Luther's 95 Theses, Common Sense, Communist Manifesto
WH-06: The Connected World	What connects the world — and who decides who counts as part of it?	Era 2	Ibn Battuta, optional: Confucius, UN UDHR
WH-02: The Rights We Wrote Down	When people write down their rights, what changes — and what doesn't?	Era 3 (Era 1–4 chain)	Rights chain: Hammurabi through Malala
WH-03: Writing Against Empire	When a powerful system is doing harm, what does it take to challenge it?	Era 2–3	Las Casas, Kipling + H.T. Johnson, Douglass
WH-05: The Cost of War	Who pays the cost of war — and who gets to tell the story?	Era 4	Owen, FDR, Night, Persepolis

US History Studios (Grade 10, Year 2)¶

Packet	Essential Question	Primary Units	Key Texts
USH-01: When the System Fails	When an institution fails the people it's supposed to serve, what does it take to fix it?	Units 1–2, 6	The Jungle, Warriors Don't Cry, MLK Letter
USH-02: The Literature of Fear	What does a society's fiction reveal about its fears — and whose fears count?	Unit 5 + WH Era 4	Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Persepolis
USH-03: When the Floor Falls Out	When the economy collapses and millions lose everything, what does the government owe them?	Unit 3	The Great Gatsby, FDR Four Freedoms
USH-04: The Cost of Victory	When a nation believes it is fighting on the right side of history, which of its own values can it sacrifice?	Unit 4	Night, FDR Four Freedoms, Slaughterhouse-Five
USH-05: What the Government Didn't Say	When a government lies about a war and gets caught — what changes, what doesn't, who pays?	Unit 7	Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Politics and the English Language
USH-06: When the Rules Don't Apply	When people in power break the rules they're supposed to enforce, what holds them accountable?	Unit 8	The Handmaid's Tale, Politics and the English Language
USH-07: The Unipolar Moment	After winning the Cold War, the U.S. had more power than any nation in history. What did it do with it?	Unit 9	The Kite Runner, Persepolis, Malala's UN Speech

Recommended Sequencing¶

Year 1 (World History)¶

Cycle	Studio	Rationale
1	WH-01: Who Should Govern?	Establishes Era 1 foundation + R.9 and W.4 baseline
2	WH-06: The Connected World	Era 2 content; IR.4 source evaluation focus
3	WH-04: One Idea, 130 Years of War	Era 2–3 bridge; WH.6_12.5 causal chain
4	WH-02: The Rights We Wrote Down	Era 3 core; spans all eras; builds W.4 argument
5	WH-03: Writing Against Empire	Era 2–3 colonialism; IR.4 + R.9 advanced
6	WH-05: The Cost of War	Era 4; R.7+8 literary analysis added

Year 2 (US History)¶

Cycle	Studio	Rationale
1	USH-01: When the System Fails	Establishes USH foundation; Progressive Era → Civil Rights reform thread
2	USH-03: When the Floor Falls Out	Depression/New Deal; R.8 literary analysis + W.4 argument
3	USH-04: The Cost of Victory	WWII; moral complexity of a "just war"; R.8 memoir analysis
4	USH-02: The Literature of Fear	Cold War + dystopian lit; deepens R.8 and connects USH to literature
5	USH-05: What the Government Didn't Say	Vietnam/Pentagon Papers; government deception; R.9 + Orwell
6	USH-06: When the Rules Don't Apply	Watergate/Reagan; accountability; R.9 + dystopian lit
7	USH-07: The Unipolar Moment	Post-Cold War/9/11; superpower responsibility; R.8 global memoir

Adding Packets¶

When new studio packets are developed, add them to this index and to the relevant standards pages. A packet is "archive-ready" when it has: - Essential question tested with at least one student cohort - All reading list texts present in the Reading Library - All referenced skinnies confirmed in the Skinny Library - Demonstration of learning options aligned to the skinnies for those standards