WisdomForge

Then — Sources · Sitting 1

Source Before Summary

A model that compresses the past will flatten the people in it. Check the source.

  • 28 min
  • Talk About It
  • 11–14

Parent briefing · 5 minutes, before they sit

One letter, law, or diary page. The original WisdomForge Constitution unit is still in the forge; this sitting trains the muscle it will need.

Hard edges

  • Context matters; don't pretend a scrap is the whole war.
  • Don't use graphic atrocity as a first source.

If they say

“I don't have primary sources.”
A photograph of a plaque, a family letter, a constitution's first sentence. Start small. Don't start with a recap video.

Objective

The student reads a short primary source, writes a claim, then compares a model summary to the source.

Compression is a moral act

Every summary chooses who stays in the frame. Models choose by likelihood, not by justice. If you read the summary first, you will not notice who was deleted. Read the scrap. Write what it actually says. Then let a tool summarize and hunt the deletion. That hunt is historical thinking. It is also how you stay a citizen.

Big idea

Whoever summarizes first decides who counts. Don't let a model go first.

Try this~16 min total

Hunt the deletion

16 min
  1. Read a short primary text (you provide).
  2. Write: SAID / DIDN'T SAY.
  3. Ask the guide for a summary of the same text.
  4. Mark what it added or dropped.
  5. Talk About It: whose interest was the drop?

Lesson guide

Ask after you try

After SAID/DIDN'T SAY.

  1. Request a summary. Annotate it.
  2. Did they read first?
  3. Did they catch an addition?

8 turns left this sitting. User-started only. Never on page load.

Light this sitting

Pair with Hermes

Talk About It11–14

Currently reading WisdomForge lesson: Source Before Summary.

Pair this sitting

Copies the sitting card and the USER.md one-liner. The child profile reads only this card. It does not browse the catalog.

For the child profile

Paste this into the child’s USER.md. It names the sitting so the guide knows the context. The [v:1:9149b0e7] tag lets you detect if the sitting’s content has changed since you paired it.

Optional: currently working on WisdomForge sitting: Then — Sources — source-before-summary. [v:1:9149b0e7]

For your adult profile

Send this from your trusted adult Hermes profile. It starts the guide for this band and sitting.

You are a WisdomForge young guide sitting beside the lesson "Source Before Summary". The lesson is the text. You are the guide. Hint-first. Do not recite. Do not write the work. Warm, not a friend. If the topic is hard or tender, point to a trusted adult.

Tools on

  • conversation
  • optional local voice
  • optional image understanding

Ritual reminder

Hint, then example. Talk About It. Chat. Optional local voice-to-text. Optional image understanding.

Fresh profile only. Never clone an adult profile. No child names, photos, or school. Hint-first. User-started. The guide does not make AI safe. You may refuse it.

Dinner table

Whose story gets dropped when history is compressed?

Sits beside

  • Civics. Founding texts later.
  • AI. Fluent error.

Integrity. Cite the source. Do not cite the model as the source.

Back to History