What Next?
May 8, 2008 by Intrepidteacher
We now have seventeen members at the Ning, and we are starting to have some really good discussions about capital punishment. There is a hefty book list as well as some shared music, so if you haven’t already done so, please come by and join the Ning.
This is a good time, however, to start to think about what we want to do with Intrepid Classroom. It is one thing to simply get together and argue, discuss, and share our ideas, but then what? I see this experiment as way to bring students together from around the world, to not only exchange ideas, but also to try and offer solutions and create products to help create a more just, sustainable, and peaceful planet.
I have always taught that process is more important than product, but I would love to create small teams of students who can design and implement their own creations. Perhaps you can make a video for or against capital punishment, or a poem about the war in Iraq, or maybe a podcast about the affects of globalization on the developing world. We want to use art and technology to raise awareness and instigate change. You are the next generation of activist; this is your school. Tell us what you need to learn. Let us show you.
I understand that May is the worst time to even think about any of this, with end of year exams and anxieties, but please store these ideas in the back of you brain and let’s see what we can do over the summer and next year.
I have created a YouTube page for our class. I will send you the password via the Ning, so if you want to post your work, please contact me here for details. I am currently working on a video trailer for this class. I would love to get some video from you on what Intrepid Classroom, as a concept and as a reality, means to you. If you are not comfortable enough technically to create a video and post it on Youtube, contact people at the Ning for some help, and if that doesn’t work I can help you.
I have also added a tab at the top of the page for books and films. There are only a few hyper-linked items, but I hope to fill these spaces in the coming months with more in-depth explanations.
Please use Intrepid Classroom as a resource for music, films, and books that will help you in your quest for peace and justice. Thanks for stopping by. Do not be a lurker! Leave a comment. Let us know you were here. Tell your friends, let’s change the world.
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what about we have talks in Skype periodically about each subjects after some postings on ning and such? That would be great since few individuals i know here are already experienced. Recording this as a podcast would be great.
But AP’s and Finals are over within less than a month now. We should be active soon.
And lets create a logo, mascot, symbol or any sort of that for Intrepid Classroom?
Yes, I agree about the Skype Podcasts. Great idea! I also love the logo idea. I will post a submissions call post soon, but feel free to get started. Like I said, I am starting worker on a video teaser about what I want this class to be, it would be great to see what you the students want to see. How do you see this experiment?
Once school is over, our school will start!
Ning is blocked by my school district!!!! Grrrr. Extremely frustrating.
Anyway, skype’s a great idea. And oooh, a logo.
I agree with Skype podcasts. But what about time differences?
Also, are there guidelines for the logo? What sort of thing does it have to be — a header/banner, a circle thingy, or a set of both? I’d love to give it a go, but if there is criteria, then it’d be helpful to know it instead of going in blind.
– Julia
We will try and schedule a Skype call soon. I thought you were all too busy. We will work out the time difference although it will be tricky. Some alarms may need to be set.
So if you don’t have Skype, get it!
@Julia you’re killing me here. Relax with the guidelines and see what you can come up with. I would love for you guys to collaborate on a logo. What are the best tools for this? I have set up a wiki if you need it. See the link in the sidebar. Request for entry.
I will layout an outline next week, for some structure. We can also use google docs or whatever. Let me know what you need.
A banner and a circle thing would be cool. Let’s see what we can do. Perhaps we should start a forum post on the ning for ideas?
I am glad you guys are getting excited about this…..
Well, an image editing program — GIMP, Paintshop Pro, Photoshop — would be almost essential. MS Paint can be handy for a few little details, but it’s not the right program to attempt a project like this on.
GIMP is a free downloadable program which is the closest to Photoshop, but it takes a while to get the hang of using it. I’ve been using it for five months now and I’m still discovering new things in it. And there are brushes and fonts to download from deviantart and dafont.com. respectively.
For an idea, I had the idea — because I love polaroids — that maybe all the members could take pictures of their surroundings and then in GIMP, make a polaroid montage of them. The images don’t have to be polaroids, and would actually be better if they weren’t for this: just normal digital camera picture files. Any feedback?
– Julia
(How should I request access? Is here okay, or is there a button for it on the wiki somewhere? *goes to snoop around*)
I really want to get the hang of this and if i may say, i also think that creating a logo is a good idea. Every great website has a logo people can see and recognise and i think this one should too.
I realise we are all from different places and cultures and i think thats great. Intrepidteacher has always,from what i know, tried to somehow someway change people’s minds and change the world. And i think this is the start of something real, something good.
Yeah, I agree with ileana quintas and soojin about a logo of some sort for Intrepid Classroom. Having a logo will allow many people to recognize Intrepid Classroom easily. Who knows? Maybe our site will become very similar to Google and have search boxes that may lead to information that the students at Intrepid Classroom has written. Well, I believe that in order to that to happen, there must be lots of posts of great information. Intrepid Classroom can have similar aspects of Google where people in need of information goes can go and if Intrepid Classroom can become as famous as that, I feel that it needs a proper logo where it can represent Intrepid Classroom and its purpose.
Note: I’m very sorry that I haven’t been posting or commenting the last week because I was on three day field trip. Sorry.
Very cool ideas. We are trying to move away from IT facilitators at our school to meshing of IT and Art&Design. Do you have website I can look at? Great stuff.
Hi James,
I do not have one website. I am simply trying to piece together a web of resources for this disparate group of students to use. I want to inspire and motivate not for grades or rewards, but for the sake of learning and change. Stay tuned to see how this experiment works.
I’ve had a discussion about capital punishment a couple of times with a friend of mine. We definitely do not agree with each other. (I think he’s just stubborn.) I definitely agree that process needs to be more stressed than product–if you have no process, there is no product. This is in response to the comment you left me on my old blog and I’m definitely interested in Intrepidclassrooms. Please e-mail me so we can discuss it.
Kaelie
I love the logo idea. I am quite nifty with Photoshop. (I’ve been a Photoshop Geek for a few years now and recently recieved Photoshop CS3.) What would you like it to look like?
Skype: I don’t have it and can’t get it as I’m not in the US or Canada. I really wish I could be involved. Julia has Skype though and she’s called me with it before, so wouldn’t it be possible for her to call me so I could participate too? Also, I’m 1 hr (due to daylight savings) behind Julia. I don’t want to give my number out to just anyone obviously.
Bad me. I’m double posting, but I just got a brainwave. What if there was a way (through ads or something) that IC (can I call it that?) could earn some money? Then we could also get web tools that might not be free and maybe set up our own website so we wouldn’t have to run, or click, all over the place.