After opening Monday with our usual discussion of the weekend, I turned to the question of all the loose ends we currently have in our class. With all of our different projects and all of our different afternoon commitments, it’s worth gathering as a large group to discuss what’s loose. What’s interesting is how fast this leads to a philosophical conversation about our model and the way we do things. For example, should a college level course that meets for a semester replace a course that’s offered all year in high school? Similarly, what time and space should we devote for discussing the way things work in the school and the opportunities students have?

It was funny — there was some poking the bear as kids sought to get a reaction out of me — but nearly all of the questions and concerns (and emotional outbursts) were legit.

I had two undergrads here and I had mixed emotions. I would argue that devoting this much time is necessary but it sure looks and feels kind of sloppy, kind of noisy, kind of all over the place. The big mistake I made was not having a student carefully taking notes so that we could refer to the conversation later.