Obsidian Band is home to our high school students and is led by Aili, Beth, and Michlene.

In the Exploration phase of the year, we dedicate our time to exploring the arc topic through a variety of academic programming, projects, and community building events.

Monster Explorations

Project 1:

Kite Physics(Obsidian A)

The ten students in Obsidian A began the year with a project on the physics involved in kite construction and flight. The main aims of the kite project were to: 1) Learn how the forces of flight (lift weight, drag, and tension) affect a kite; 2) Work together to build our own versions of delta kites; and 3) Become familiar with some of the green spaces in the Presidio. We also learned about how to plan multiple iterations of a design project, and got to know each other better by working together in small project groups.

Media Storytelling (Obsidian B)

Students in Obsidian B engaged in conversations about our personal digital and media choices. We dove into information literacy, analyzing our own social media algorithms.

We learned media production techniques to craft a media message that expressed a message influenced by an aspect of our identity. A variety of production tools were used based on student interest including video editing, voice overs, animation, water colors along with pen and ink. Through these media productions, we learned a little more about one another by the messages we conveyed.

Project 2:

Collaborative Monster Quilt

In our second Exploration project, we worked together as a whole group, co-facilitated by Aili and Beth. The premise of the Monster Quilt project was to create a collaborative quilt with a single tile created by a different Obsidian member. Each person's tile visually represented a personal answer to the question "What is a Monster in America?" This question was originally posed to us during a poetry workshop led by visionary poet and owner of bookstore Medicine for Nightmares, Josiah Luis Alderete. We thought it would be valuable to revisit the question through art. Embedded in the project were opportunities for practice in many skills, including visual composition, writing artist's statements, fine motor hand control, focus, and patience.

To prepare us for making richly detailed fabric art, we engaged in a series of skills workshops on hand sewing technique, embroidery, and block printing on fabric. We also read about the ethics of fast fashion, the fashion industry's contributions to environmental racism, and what corporations can (and we argue, should) do to take accountability and change their practices. We are still in the process of stitching together all the tiles, and look forward to sharing the quilt with the BWX community once it’s completed!

Project 3:

Flash Fiction

Our third group project in Monster Arc was all about flash fiction, or “short short” stories. This project entailed reading and discussing three works of short short fiction, by authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Lucy Corin, and Sofia Samantar. In reading these stories, we focused our attention to elements of figurative language and characterization. After reading their works, we wrote short analyses to highlight how elements of figurative language and characterization enhance the tone of the stories. The final two weeks of the project involved diving into our own original works of flash fiction. In our stories, we played around with metaphor, simile, perspective, personification, narration, dialogue, and many other literary techniques. We compiled our writing into an anthology which we distributed to the BWX community for all to enjoy.

Ethnic Studies & Antiracism

We began the year with a look at the nomenclature of Ethnic studies, antiracism and intersectionality. From there we used the emergent issue of Hurricane Ian in Puerto Rico (PR) to discover the current relationship between the United States and PR, and to examine its roots. Each week, we watched a short documentary segment from PBS Landfall: Disaster Capitalism in Puerto Rico. Learners also took a deep dive into three leveled scholarly essays to elevate their understanding of disaster capitalism in Puerto Rico, which they then presented to their peers. We culminated our time in PR with a debate on PR’s sovereignty or statehood, for which students spent two weeks researching and preparing. Since this was our first ever debate, we did not name a winner from our three teams, but clearly, all of the groups were thoroughly prepared, made wonderful arguments, and gave inspiring concluding remarks. Students who were not one of the 3-4 debaters, listened actively and attentively, seeing the outcome of their research and preparation within their teammates.

From Puerto Rico, we reviewed why it is important to continue with our antiracism work, listening to an excerpt from Ibram X. Kendi. We then utilized Ibram X. Kendi’s The Antiracist Deck, a toolbox of questions to promote discussion and worked in small groups, with large group sharing at the end. Students then gave feedback on their personal relationship to antiracism work in an anonymous survey, the results of which we will use to continue to target our work to student needs and blindspots.

For the last two weeks we have been learning about characteristics of white supremacy culture, and diving into how these show up in daily life, media, and organizations. Students were asked to illustrate one of the tenets using collage to deepen their understanding and connection with these ideas. These will be shared with the class.

Literature & Writing

In keeping with the Monster theme, our literature book this arc was A Monster Calls by Irish author Patrick Ness. The book centered around themes of familial love, the power of imagination, loss, and grief. As an extension to our reading and discussion, we learned about the components of analytical writing. In our analysis lessons, we reviewed the differences between summary and analysis, and we dissected several examples of each. We practiced analyzing sections of the novel in short paragraphs, and then took our skills to the next level to write essays in response to one of three prompts about the novel. By the end of the analysis deep dive, we leveled up our skills at making evidence-based claims about works of fiction. We also reviewed how to spot common writing mistakes and how to remedy them.

Math

We started the year with a quick review of the foundations and origins of math. This started by examining counting systems, and using examples like Roman numerals to provide a counterpoint to the Arabic numerals we use with place notation. This contrast really helps develop an appreciation for the power and flexibility of place notation. We also talked about the origin of zero, and examined and practiced using base systems, including the base-10, or decimal, system we all use, as well as unary (base-1, e.g. counting in tally marks), binary (base-2), and hexadecimal (base-16). Using multiple base systems can help highlight some really interesting features of math, like the fact that numbers have properties that are unrelated to their representations. For example, a prime number like 13 in decimal, or 1101 in binary, is prime regardless of the base it is expressed in. This illustrates the fact that math is really a language that describes features and patterns we find in reality. We also took a quick tour of the history of math as it developed from basic counting, to geometry for measuring land, and progressed into algebra as developed in the Persian Empire in roughly the 9th century. Finally we closed our review with an overview of the different types of numbers, such as natural numbers, integers, rational and irrational numbers, real numbers, imaginary numbers, and complex numbers.

After this review, we moved into our first big topic of the year: statistics with a single variable. We first studied the differences between statistical and nonstatistical questions, as well as between numerical and categorical data. We then practiced creating and interpreting some of the most fundamental measures in statistics, including: measures of central tendency, like mean and median; and measures of spread, such as range, interquartile range, mean absolute deviation, and standard deviation. We also studied the different distributions of data, and learned about how to use the shape of a distribution to determine which measures of spread and central tendency are appropriate to use. This led to a portion of study on outliers, including basic methods for detecting and dealing with outliers. Finally, we closed out this first part of our study of statistics by designing and collecting data for a small study examining the effects of various stimuli on reaction time. The group collected data from each other and analyzed it to try to determine if any of the trials had effects on reaction time. Primarily, this led to an excellent examination of the need for large sample sizes, and we realized that ideally, we need to run the study again with larger samples and better controls.

Field Trips

Camping trip at Rob Hill Campground

In early October, Obsidian Band set out on foot for a 1-night camping trip to Rob Hill Campground, located just a mile from school. Highlights from the camping trip included:

• Walking to Baker Beach and playing games in the sand

• Sitting by a campfire and toasting tortillas for our dinner

• Cooking bell peppers and onions and beans on a camp stove

• Playing capture the flag after dark

• Night hiking in the thick fog

• Falling asleep to the sound of foghorns and laughter from other tents

Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh’s Gallery Show

On a Tuesday in September, we took a walking field trip to see Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh’s art show at Park Life gallery space in the Inner Richmond. Oni-Eseleh is an Oakland-based artist “whose current work is focused primarily on the shifting urban landscape. An avid observer and prolific photographer, she employs a vast catalog of visual notes and memories to create her work. A lover of materials and process, Dawline-Jane uses a range of media including relief printmaking, pen and ink, photo transfer and encaustic.” On our trip to the gallery we got to view her art pieces, share our reactions and questions, and hear Dawline share about her creative process.

Faith Ringgold at the De Young

Toward the end of the Monster Quilt project, the band took a field trip to the De Young Museum to see Faith Ringgold's exhibit: American People. From De Young: "Featuring works from across Ringgold’s best-known series, this show tracks the development of her figurative style as it evolved to meet the urgency of political and social change." We were struck by Ringgold’s breadth of artistic expression and the stories and messages she conveyed through her works. Her quilts and fabric arts, in particular, inspired many of us to continue practicing the embroidery, block print, and hand sewing skills that we learned at school.

Art

Every Friday during Exploration, Obsidian enjoyed a luxurious two-and-a-half hour block dedicated to artmaking. For most of these sessions, Rob Aiman, our art and shop collaborator, led the group in a unique workshop tailored to the students’ interests and his own areas of expertise.

Wood Carving

Our first art workshop with Rob was a three-part intensive on wood carving techniques and tools. Rob brought in an array of chisels, mallets, and carving implements and demonstrated how to use them. He supervised each student in learning how to use the tools safely to carve sections of a large stump. Later, the group moved onto using smaller hand-held carving tools to shape wood pieces found around campus. Many Obsidian students have taken to carving wood in any free time they have at school. Rob’s carving club at Community Friday is in high demand!

Watercolor

Our second art workshop with Rob was a two-part watercolor lesson. Rob introduced the group to a set of professional-quality materials, and offered demonstrations on several techniques for manipulating them. He touched on color theory, paint layering, pen-and-ink with watercolor, and using salt to produce sparkly effects with paint.

Mobile Making with Scott Constable

On one special Friday, Obsidian welcomed guest artist and teacher, Scott Constable for a two-hour workshop on mobile making. Of the workshop, Scott wrote: “Aili invited me to stage a workshop for her high school students at Brightworks at their new location in San Francisco’s Presidio. I brought boxes of off-cuts and scrap materials from my shop and had the kids make mobiles using simple tools and an intuitive design process. I introduced them to some of Calder’s early mobiles I had seen recently at the Peggy Guggenheim museum and an installation by Chilean artist Cecilia Vecunia I had seen at the Venice Biennale. We talked about additive and subtractive fabrication techniques, kinetics, up-cycling, and balance as a metaphor that crosses disciplines. I was impressed with how handily the students took to the assignment and how eagerly they produced pretty compelling work with very little orientation.”

Obsidian Band's Monster Arc Exploration