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!

I set June 26th as a deadline in hopes of forcing people get on task. Guilty of procrastination like everyone else, it is now 11:36pm the night of the 25th, and I am finishing up my project. I have a feeling mine will be the only presentation, but I hope to be surprised.The deadline was arbitrary, so I hope that others will begin to post their work on one of our many platforms.

The term Edupunk has gone through the ringer, but this is all I found it to mean:

inventive teaching and inventive learning. As for DYI, it is a term used by various communities that focus on people creating or repairing things for themselves without the aid of paid professionals.

In short: communities creating and using inventive teaching and inventive learning for themselves without the aid of paid professionals. Education Everywhere.

I wanted to create several video stickers. With the proliferation of video and the ease of embedding video on social networking sites, I wanted to create short video Public Service Announcements (PSA) My hope being that people will “stick” these videos on as many cyber-walls as possible. I want people to share them with as many people as they know on Facebook, embed them on their blogs, stamp them on their Nings. I think of the PSAs as video graffiti.

I have only created one as of now, but I hope to churn these out more often. We will begin the lessons on the subject matter in the  video soon. In the meantime, take a look and raise some questions.

Now I leave you with two assignments, distribute this video to as many people as you can and create a project of your own.

schedule a Skype podcast in the coming weeks
initiate a WizIQ session with as many people as possible
introduce a few new ideas

If you are wondering what to do while you wait, here are a few ideas:

work on We Are One story or setting
meet a few new people as well as the new adults on the Ning
work on the Edupunk assignment due on the 26th of this month

I hope you are enjoying your free time and are ready to get active with Intrepid Classroom.

A few days ago, I was chatting with Lindsea on Skype about a variety of topics: music, education, and the need for adults to communicate 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 back your education.” We discussed the idea of Guerrilla Learning, and the idea that we realized was repeatedly emerging was this need for students and teachers/adults to meld their networks.

In the last few months, I have been lucky enough to be involved in a small but growing community of teachers and students who seem to be connected on a variety of projects. Intrepid Classroom, in part, grew from this already fecund community. Students like Hannah, Soojin, and Lindsea are working closely with teachers like Clay, Dianne, Mr.Mayo, Paul Allison, and myself to blur the lines of the traditional educational model. We are working to help each other understand that “Education is everywhere” and we want to “Take back our education.”

Below are snippets from the transcript of our chat:

Lindsea: What’s greater that I know I am able to learn on my own

Me: We, teachers are always trying to paint ourselves out of the picture, but if we are worthless than what the hell are we doing teaching? I have lived a pretty cool life. I’ve lived in Africa, worked in the Bronx, I have an MA blah blah blah, and I have a lot to teach teenagers, stuff that I wish some of the old fogies would have taken the time to teach me.

Lindsea: I don’t want teachers to stop teaching

Me: So student centered doesn’t mean without a teacher

Lindsea: I want the wisdom and the stories. I just want to be included. I just want to have power, I want to be listened to, I don’t believe in student only learning. What’s BS is the fact that students are “listened to” but aren’t heard. The classroom needs to stop being a stage for teachers. We need to break the fourth wall interact with the audience

Me: Yeah but institutions like education take a long time to change, so here we are light years ahead of what Mr. Joe Average is doing. The question is how do we instill a love of learning to the masses. School is not designed to help kids find what they love, it is designed to fill their head with “knowledge” get them ready for college, a good job and so on. School should teach kids how to learn.

Lindsea: What I’m trying to promote is this: FIND PASSION, LEARN THROUGH PASSION, SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING W/ TEACHERS’ GUIDANCE

Me: Yeah but those teenage years are tricky, because when you give young people total freedom, they don’t know what to do, most of them.
You have been so trained to please and be rewarded with grades, that you don’t know how to follow your own passion, most of you.

Me: Take Intrepid Classroom. There have been some great discussions, and maybe that is where learning is taking place, but it feels like everyone is waiting for me to call the next shot.

Lindsea: The teachers help them make goals and essential questions and then have checkpoints, etc

So what do you think about this discussion?

Part II

How do we safely combine these networks? How is it that I was able to openly and freely chat with Lindsea via Skype? Is this okay? Are you ready for it? There are many questions, but it is vital that we look at them, because if education is everywhere than you need to learn how to access it and be safe.

Teachers often send students mixed messages: The internet is a scary dark shadowy place filled with equally dark and shadowy figures looking to track you down and do you harm. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Next breath, use the internet to meet and communicate with as many people as you can to help you become a more self-directed learner.

What is a motivated risk-taking learner to do? There are thousands of online articles about cyber safety and online bullying, so I will not give you advice. Rather, I want to hear from the experts, you! What do you do? How do you know what is a safe and appropriate relationship online? I raise these questions because we have recently had a few new teachers join the Ning. At first I was thrilled, because the influx of new adult voices into Intrepid Classroom, is just what Lindsea and I were talking about. These teachers should be great resources and potential members of your fledgling networks. But then, the paranoia began to rattle around my brain: As our community grows how will we know who to trust and interact with? How do we know that some stranger does not enter our midst and do us harm?

I want Intrepid Classroom to be as open as possible, but that does not mean that we shouldn’t be aware of the potential of danger. I have collected all of the questions raised in this post and listed them below. Please take the time to comment on what you read. When you are done, please find the new teachers: Mr.Kimmi, Mrs. Durff, and don’t forget about Shelly Krausse and Nirvana Rose Watkins. Make some contact with these people. See how these adults may be able to help you learn. As for the new teachers to Intrepid Classroom, please take the time to meet some of our students as well. Let this new model of network begin. We are adults and students with one goal: “Education everywhere. Take back your education.”

Here are the questions to think about:

1. How do we instill a love of learning to the masses?
2. What are your thoughts about the discussion with Lindsea?
3. How do we safely combine adult and student networks?
4. How is it that I was able to openly and freely chat with Lindsea via Skype? Is this okay? Are you ready for it?
5. What is a motivated risk-taking learner to do?
6. What do you do about Internet safety?
7. How do you know what is a safe and appropriate relationship online?
8. As our community grows, how will we know who to trust and interact with?
9. How do we know that some stranger does not enter our midst and do us harm?

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.