EduPunk Comes To Intrepid Classroom
June 4, 2008 by Intrepidteacher
It has been a while since I have posted, and it has not gone unnoticed that activity at the Ning is at a stand still. I am sure you have all been working hard at your “real” schools passing exams to prove how much you have memorized. My hats off to all of you for jumping through the hops your various teachers are forcing you to jump through, but the light at the end of the tunnel is here for most of you, and as you start closing your books and planning your summer free time, please remember to make a small space for yourself here at Intrepid Classroom. Many of you have made side promises to me that you would become more involved when school was over. Well I am collecting debts!
Fear not! I have no tests planned, no lectures, no school. I just want to help you stay intellectually stimulated as you waste away the summer days. I have a few things up my sleeve, but I am here today to pose a challenge, and the very name of young people is on the line, so let’s see how you take this challenge, but first a brief explanation of a few new terms.
Unbeknownst to you there is a fairly large group of teachers world wide who are constantly in a state of agitation discussing you and your learning. We are constantly sharing ideas, bickering over labels, and patting ourselves on our backs for how connected we are to you. We are known as the edublogosphere. Some of you have entered this world of academic limbo and know what I mean about the echo chamber of teachers trying to “out connect” each other. Others have never heard of it. I cannot decide which is more valuable.
Last week a new term called EduPunk was tossed into the edublogosphere and was reminiscent of chum being thrown into a sea full of sharks. Blog post were written with fury and battle lines were drawn. Our own Lindsea and Hannah were involved on Student 2.0.
I will not spend too much time going into what the label means. I expect you to that on your own. This is a good place to start. Please read the blogs, read the comments, come you with your stand on the idea. Feel free to discuss it here, but please do not get mired in discussion. This challenge is about action. As I was reading some posts and feeling my blood boil, I began to think of what something like EduPunk would look like beyond intellectual discourse. In plain English: show me EduPunk. Don’t get wrapped up in semantics and deciding whether you like the concept or not, simply produce something will show the edublogosphere and the world that you get it.
I like to think of Intrepid Classroom as an exercise in EduPunk, now I want you to show me and the world that I am right. Here is my challenge to any readers of this blog and members of Intrepid Classroom. Do a bit of research about DIY and the punk ethics and see what you can produce to show you understand the concept of punk as it relates to your learning and education. Use any tools you have at your disposable both digital and old school, then present your work on the Ning, the wiki, youtube, or your own blog. Don’s ask for clarification, don’t ask for what is acceptable; don’t ask anything just do it. Create!
We have been mired in the past by too much discussion and collaboration, so this is an independent project and it is due by the 26th of June. I would love to to a podcast on this. Who has Skype? What are some good dates? Let me know. Give me something to take back to the edublogosphere that shows you are “mad as hell and you aren’t going to take it anymore!” Or better yet, tell them yourself. Comment on the blogs you like, disagree with the ones you don’t. Don’t let the adults do all the talking. Take back your education!
I leave you with some Fugazi for inspiration. Advice: it is more effective played very loudly.Burning Too
Anytime but now
Anywhere but here
Anyone but me
I’ve got to think about my own life
We are consumed by society
We are obsessed with variety
We are all filled by anxiety
That this world will not survive
We gotta put it out (gotta put it out, gotta put it out)
The sky is burning
We gotta put it out (gotta put it out, gotta put it out)
The water’s burning
We gotta put it out (gotta put it out, gotta put it out)
The earth is burning
Outrage
But then they say
Anytime but now
Anywhere but here
Anyone but me
I’ve got to think about my own life
This world is not our facility
We have a responsibility
To use all of our abilities
To keep this place alive
We gotta put it out (gotta put it out, gotta put it out)
The sky is burning
We gotta put it out (gotta put it out, gotta put it out)
The water’s burning
We gotta put it out (gotta put it out, gotta put it out)
The earth is burning
Right here
Right now
Do it. Now. Do it. Now.
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What exactly is the assignment here? And I’m not out of school until July 11. Then I’m on vacation the whole summer so I can not promise how many of these summer assignments I can handle. I also do not have Skype.
Hey my school doesn’t end till 12 july and my exams are on the 8th and 9th. Beside afterwards I’m leaving fro Pakistan and not coming back till 2 months. And to make it worse the internet connection there is horrible. And I don’t have Skype either.
I have Skype.
As for a set date, maybe July would be a good month to start with? Or if that is too late, then maybe even… next week or the week after? In my opinion, the sooner the better.
I’m going to be out of country for a week after school ends (and will be away over the due date, so I’m aiming to finish before I leave… or at least, one aspect of it) but should be back for the rest of the summer. Hopefully — so, even though I’m going to be running through a few courses that I’m teaching myself, I should be able to be pretty active.
And this idea of Edupunk does not only strike strange images into my head (aha! another part of something that I can do… and I have a strange feeling that I’m confusing something for steampunk…) but also quite a vast amount of ideas: is doing more than one thing permitted? Because I have at least a collage, a “comic”, a connection to a certain characters from a certain favorite movie of mine, and a article/essay as well as commenting and reading.
– Julia
(I don’t know if all of you saw my Twitter “update”, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any Honors, Pre-AP or AP English course liturature — books such as Farenheit 451, Of Mice and Men, The Odyssey, etc — that could be helpful. I’ve got a pretty hefty summer list already, but still… if you’re going through a combination of the syllabi of numerous grade 9 honors english courses by yourself, you can never have enough information.)
@Bee The idea is simple-Do a bit of research about DIY and the punk ethics and see what you can produce to show you understand the concept of punk as it relates to your learning and education. Use any tools you have at your disposable both digital and old school, then present your work on the Ning, the wiki, youtube, or your own blog. Don’s ask for clarification, don’t ask for what is acceptable; don’t ask anything just do it. Create!
We have been mired in the past by too much discussion and collaboration, so this is an independent project and it is due by the 26th of June.
I only put a due date so this project doesn’t die in discussion like some of the others are doing. Do it whenever you want. Don’t do it. Your choice.
@Leila Try to stay connected as best you can.
@Julia do as many things as you want. I would love to set up a Skype call with as many people as possible to talk a bit about where we are so far with Intrepid Classroom as well as other things like Edupunk. Watch out Lindsea is full of vim and vigor. I will try and organize something soon.
Also see if you can follow some others on Twitter so you can really get involved with those conversations. Ask me or Lindsea or Hannah or Soojin for suggestions.
Everyone else, please do not over think this. Create anything that shows your understanding of a student-centered, resourceful, teacher- or community-created rather than corporate-sourced, and underwritten by a progressive political stance project
Looking forward to what you come up with!
[...] more often and more in depth with students. We briefly brainstormed a few ideas we each had for the EduPunk challenge, when we arrived at the following slogan for her Street Art campaign: “Education everywhere. Take [...]
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