The Lighthouse Diary #85: Preparing for the Energy Crisis 2026

 

The Lighthouse Diary Entry # 84: From KWL-I to Writing the Inquiry Paper (2 of 2)

 A Report on Cohort Progress in Extended Essay Preparation

Cohort Strengths

The cohort demonstrated strong engagement with contemporary cultural texts and real-world issues when identifying potential research topics. Many students showed confidence in selecting meaningful objects of study such as films, music, video games, social phenomena, and ecological contexts. This indicates a developing ability to connect personal interests with academic inquiry. Students also displayed emerging conceptual thinking by beginning to relate their topics to broader themes such as identity, social dynamics, representation, and environmental sustainability. The consultation sessions further revealed that students are increasingly aware of the need to refine research questions and anchor their investigations in clear analytical concepts.

Next Steps for Phase 2 of the Extended Essay Process

The next stage will focus on developing and refining the research design. Students will be guided to narrow their research questions, clarify their theoretical or conceptual frameworks, and identify appropriate methods of investigation. This includes selecting specific primary sources or case studies, gathering relevant academic literature, and planning how evidence will be analyzed in relation to the research question. Additional consultation sessions will support students in aligning their research plans with Criteria A (Focus and Method) and Criteria B (Knowledge and Understanding) of the Extended Essay assessment criteria. The goal of this phase is to ensure that each student moves forward with a clear, feasible, and analytically focused research investigation.

Emerging Areas for Support

While students have demonstrated encouraging progress in identifying research interests and formulating preliminary research questions, several areas will continue to require guidance as the Extended Essay process advances. Some students are still working on narrowing the scope of their topics to ensure that their investigations remain manageable within the limits of the essay. Others will need further support in articulating clear conceptual or theoretical frameworks that will guide their analysis. Additionally, students will benefit from continued practice in identifying appropriate research methods and sources, particularly in distinguishing between descriptive exploration and analytical investigation. Targeted consultation sessions and further input on research design will help students strengthen these areas as they move into the next phase of the Extended Essay process.

Bangtan Hermana Notes: Canon in Motion: BTS, Leitmotif, and the Arirang Concert

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Book Review: A Children’s Book for Araw ng Kagitingan

 

Bangtan Herman Notes: BTS is Our 7

BTS is ARMYs’ 7. Our 7.

Bangtan kicks off DDay of Arirang Tour in Goyang today at 6pm. Watching the three MVs together, as I wait. I’m starting to feel like they tell a story about Bangtan’s return.

First comes Swim. To me, it feels like a love letter to ARMY.

The imagery carries symbols of time and memory. A compass, a museum, the sense of distance and history. And yet the message underneath feels simple: no matter how far the journey takes them, the connection remains. Near or far. Past or present. The compass always finds its way back.

Then comes 2.0. The tone shifts. Suddenly Bangtan feels like they’re stepping back into the arena. But not with anger or noise. With something sharper: art, culture, humor, media literacy, even filial piety. It’s almost as if they’re saying they know the industry they’re returning to is more complex, more competitive than ever.

And they’re ready for it. Not just with music, but with wisdom and composure.

If Swim is the promise of connection, 2.0 feels like the preparation and the approach.

And then we arrive at Hooligan. Here the energy transforms again.

The rebellion is back. The trickster is out of the box. The voices, the symbolism, the choreography. Everything feels like Bangtan remembering who they have always been.

Auteurs. Storytellers. Myth-makers.

In Hooligan, the past and the present seem to exist in the same frame. The rebellious youth. The seasoned artists. Seven voices moving like a single current. OT7. But also something stronger now. OT7 2.0. When I look at the three MVs together, they don’t just feel like separate releases but, a series!

First, the reminder that the connection still exists. Then, the preparation for the world they’re returning to. And finally, the arrival.

Bangtan stepping back onto the stage not as they were before, but as a whole. OT7. And the story continues.

To ARMYs from all over, wherever you are, in whatever way or manner you are watching the concert and with whom you share this joy, BTS is “OUR” 7.

Apobangpo! Purple and true 💜 

Register Now! Children's Writing Workshop May 2026

The Lighthouse Diary Entry # 83: From KWL-I to Writing the Inquiry Paper (1 of 2)

A Report on Cohort Progress in Extended Essay Preparation

This report summarizes the progress of the cohort during the initial stage of the Extended Essay preparation. The instructional sequence was designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of research inquiry while supporting the development of early research skills.

The process began with the KWL-I activity (Know–Want to know–Learn–Inquiry), which served as a diagnostic and exploratory tool. Through this activity, students identified their prior knowledge about potential topics, articulated areas of curiosity, and began framing possible directions for investigation. The KWL-I exercise encouraged students to reflect on their interests while recognizing gaps in their knowledge, which is an essential step in forming meaningful research questions.

Following this exploratory stage, students developed their Inquiry Papers, which function as the first formal articulation of their proposed research direction. The Inquiry Paper corresponds with Phase 1 of the school’s Research Design Cycle: the Inquiry Phase, where students begin to define their object of study, clarify relevant concepts, and formulate preliminary research questions.

To support students in this process, several instructional interventions were implemented. Students were provided with a rubric for the Inquiry Paper, allowing them to understand expectations regarding topic selection, conceptual framing, research questions, and methodological planning. In addition, students participated in three input sessions focused on the following areas:

• the structure and purpose of the KWL-I framework,

• Criteria A and B of the new Extended Essay Guide, particularly relating to focus, method, and conceptual understanding,

• and the nature of the Inquiry Paper as a preparatory stage for the Extended Essay investigation.

Students were also given opportunities for individual consultation sessions, during which they discussed the clarity of their research questions, the feasibility of their topics, and possible analytical approaches.

Based on the submitted Inquiry Papers, students demonstrated several emerging research skills. These include the ability to identify a potential object of study, formulate preliminary research questions, and begin connecting their topics to relevant concepts or theoretical frameworks. Many students also showed growing awareness of the need for clear research methods, particularly in distinguishing between descriptive topics and analytical investigations.

Overall, the cohort has begun developing key competencies necessary for the Extended Essay, including question formulation, conceptual thinking, and research planning. While some students continue to refine the focus of their topics, the Inquiry Paper stage has successfully established a foundation for the next phase of the research process, where students will further develop their research design and analytical approach.

Book Review by Kuwento Kultura on Filipino Folktales for Children

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Start Right Reading Literacy Training Bundles

Bangtan Herman Notes: When Laughter and Joy are Forms of Resistance

Bangtan Herman Notes: When Clay Remembers

Bangtan Herman Notes: What does a global listening community look like?

Disaster Ready Kids Series: A Review

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Sneak Peek: Planting a Forest of Hope

Sneak Peek: New Book on Feelings

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Bangtan Hermana Notes: Pdogg in the House!

 

Lessons from Mt. Purro

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Bangtan Hermana Notes: Museums as Performance Venue

BTS performed at the Guggenheim for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon made me think again about something Bangtan has done consistently across eras: placing their art inside spaces where art is meant to endure.

In the Blood Sweat & Tears MV during the WINGS era, the setting feels like a museum. Classical artworks appear throughout the video as references to paintings about Icarus and the fall of angels, The Pieta, and other pieces that evoke temptation, beauty, and the cost of desire.

Those images mirror the themes of the era itself, inspired by Hermann Hesse’s Demian: innocence lost, the pull of temptation, the painful but necessary process of becoming.

Years later, Joon performs songs from Indigo inside Dia Beacon, a museum known for minimalist and conceptual art. The setting felt quiet and contemplative, almost like a conversation between music, philosophy, and visual art.

And now BTS performed at the Guggenheim, one of the most recognizable museums of modern art.

For me, these are not just visually striking locations.

Museums are spaces built for memory. They exist so that art can outlive its moment, its creators, even its time. Seeing BTS place their music in these spaces feels intentional. As if to say: pop music, too, can belong to the long conversation of art.

This is the depth of BTS that keeps me listening.💜

Apobangpo! Purple and true!

Bangtan Herman Notes: When the Center Holds and Is Held in Return

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Co-creating better classrooms: Innovative teacher–librarian partnerships

04-ARCHERS-03272826, Gagatiga by Candy May Schijf

Bangtan Hermana Notes: When Folklore Becomes an Album Concept

 

Bangtan Hermana Notes: Fandom Beyond Hype: OD Lessons From a Golden ARMY

Fandom Beyond the Hype by zarah gagatiga

Author Visit: At The Beacon School to Talk About Disaster Reader Kids

Ms. Zarah AUTHOR VISIT TBS by zarah gagatiga

It's International Happiness Day!

 

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Author Visit: How do I Write Stories for Children?

Ms. Zarah AUTHOR VISIT TBS by zarah gagatiga

Step by Step with Teacher Zee: The Five Moves I Use to Teach Reading Comprehension: Identifying the Main Idea

In my reading sessions, I follow a simple but intentional sequence that helps students move from decoding words to understanding ideas. This approach is influenced by research-based literacy frameworks such as Scarborough’s Reading Rope and explicit teaching. The goal is to make the thinking process of reading visible. Many students can read the words on a page, but they need support in learning how to interpret, organize, and express the ideas they encounter in a text.

1. Unlock the Purpose of the Text.
Before reading, we pause to unpack key words in the title or in the questions that guide the text. For example, when we encountered the title Why Humans Tell Stories, we discussed what the word why asks us to do. We identified that why signals a search for a reason or purpose. Together we rewrote the title as The Purpose of Storytelling. This small step prepares students to read with a conceptual focus rather than simply scanning for information.

2. Read and Notice Ideas.
Students read the text more than once—first quietly, then aloud. During reading, they are encouraged to notice what stands out, what surprises them, or what questions come to mind. This stage slows down the reading process and encourages active thinking. Instead of rushing through the passage, students begin to interact with the text and recognize that reading is a dialogue between the reader and the ideas on the page.

3. Paraphrase the Paragraph.
After reading, the student explains the paragraph in their own words. At this stage, it is perfectly acceptable if the response closely follows the original text. This is called paraphrasing. Paraphrasing helps students confirm that they understand the information in the paragraph. It is an important bridge between simply reading words and actually grasping meaning.

4. Identify the Main Idea.
Once the student understands the paragraph, we move to a higher level of thinking. We ask: What is the larger idea behind these details? This step helps students move from specific examples to a broader concept. For instance, details about hunting, nature, and ancestors can be summarized into the idea that stories helped people preserve knowledge across generations. Learning to identify the main idea teaches students how to generalize and organize information.

5. Revise and Strengthen the Sentence.

Finally, we revise the student’s response together. We improve the sentence so that it clearly expresses the idea of the paragraph and connects to the overall theme of the text. This collaborative revision helps students see how academic sentences are constructed. Over time, they become more confident in expressing complex ideas in clear and precise language.

Through this sequence—unlocking vocabulary, reading, paraphrasing, identifying the main idea, and revising—students practice listening, reasoning, summarizing, and writing in a single session. Reading comprehension becomes not just an activity of answering questions but a process of thinking deeply about ideas. My hope is that students begin to see reading as a way of understanding the world and expressing their own insights about it.

Celebrating Women's Month with Children's Books

Book Review: Nervous

 

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Bangtan Hermana Notes: Balikan Ngayon ang Gunita: Time, Memory, and the Arirang Teaser of BTS

Bangtan Hermana Notes: A Season of Building Culture and Remembrance

Watching the Arirang teaser again through a media literacy lens, I noticed how the Edison wax cylinder and gramophone function as a narrative frame. When the recording is played, BTS are visually transported into another moment in time.

The sound recording becomes a temporal bridge, shifting the story into narrative time rather than a literal historical reconstruction. What follows feels less like a fixed past and more like an encounter with cultural memory.

In that sense, the storytelling reminds me of a Möbius strip: we traverse the same historical path, but each passage changes our perspective. The archive remains, yet every generation hears and understands it differently. There is a message of remembrance in this case, on how important lessons of history must be taken to

account.

For ARMY, this narrative move also feels familiar. BTS have long used directional objects and Möbius strip imagery in their lore, where past, present, and future fold into one another. Seen this way, the wax cylinder does more than play a song, it opens a loop in time. Where music is the bridge, there is love that endures.

Apobangpo! Purple and true!

Watercolor: Lavander Pot

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Bangtan Hermana Notes: The Silver Spoon Charm on RM's Chain

The trailer for BTS’s free live concert on March 21 just dropped, and the stills are everywhere. One detail immediately caught my eye: Namjoon wearing a silver spoon charm on his chain. And my mind went straight to Baepsae.

“Bapsae” (Silver Spoon) from the The Most Beautiful Moment in Life era is one of BTS’s sharpest social commentaries. The choreography is another thing entirely. Not complaining about that.

In Korean folklore, the baepsae is the crow-tit, a small bird often compared to the stork. There is a proverb that says: if the crow-tit tries to walk like the stork, it will tear its legs.

The message behind that proverb is harsh but familiar: people from humble beginnings should not try to compete with those born into privilege: the so-called “silver spoon” class.

BTS flipped that proverb on its head.

In Baepsae, they called out generational inequality and the frustration of young people told to work harder while the race was already rigged. They sang about the crow-tit refusing to imitate the stork. Instead, it runs in its own way.

Now fast forward to today.

This is BTS post-enlistment. A free homecoming concert is upon us. Seven artists returning to the stage. And Namjoon appears with a silver spoon charm.

It is poetic justice.

Years ago, “silver spoon” symbolized the privilege they were told they did not have. But BTS never tried to become the storks. They built their own path, at their own pace, through their own art.

So seeing that symbol now feels like a quiet subversion. The crow-tit did not lose the race. It changed the race entirely.

This is the story of Bangtan Sonyeondan.

And now they come home as artists holding the silver spoon on their own terms.

Apobangpo! Purple and true!

#BTSHomecoming2026 #BTS_ARIRANG