If you were here last year, welcome back, if you are new- welcome. I think I may have found a new direction. I recently watched the video below, read the book, and wrote this review on my teaching blog.

While the entire concept may be a bit too conveniently packaged and a bit flawed, it can be a good text for several reasons:

• It is available online in PDF format
• It lays out a clear course of action
• It identifies issues, which we can work on after reading
• It sparks great discussions

I want to read this book with whoever is willing and see where it takes us. Whether you are a former Intrepid Classroom participant, a new student directed here by your teacher, or a teacher who stumbled here form Twitter, here is my plan:

Intrepid Classroom has always been about bringing young people and teachers together using web tools to facilitate discussion, interaction, collaboration, and connectivity. Beyond the confines of school, curriculums, and expected roles and interactions, I hope that Intrepid Classroom can be a place where we can simply be people dedicated to change not stigmatized by the labels of teacher/student.

One of the biggest criticisms of this site has always been the lack of structure or cohesion. Here is what I hope to do to solve that problem: I want to build a semester long curriculum around Generation We. I hope that we can gather a group of ten to fifteen teachers and students to have weekly readings, discussions, and eventually a final project that raises awareness of global issues and promote activism.

We can use any tool that will help us stay connected and collaborate. These will be modified and announced as necessary, but as always, we will use this blog and the Ning as starting points. I would like to have group meetings using Elluminate or similar tools. I want you to have a say in where we take this book and the idea it presents. I don’t have anything more concrete at this time, because I do not want to create an entire plan and have no one sign up.

Here is what you need to do if you are interested, and are able to commit the time regardless of “real” school commitments:

• Leave a comment on this blog post stating your interest. I will email you with details as soon as we have a group together.
• Join the Ning if you haven’t already done so.
• Watch the video.
• Share any ideas you have about the direction of this course.

I hope to start January 1st, so please commit by then. This course is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about collaborative activism, regardless of your age or affiliation with any school. Let’s get together, learn, converse, connect, and create real change.

I agree with Eric Greenberg when he says:

The problems of today will not go away if we just sweep them under the rug and ignore them. They will only get worse. We cannot rely on those bound by special interests or protecting their turf to enact great changes and create a new order of justice and fairness. We need the unjaded youth, with their energy, optimism, and sense of purpose, to lead the world out of the mess it is in and toward the full potential of mankind.

Please read this post linearly. Watch the video below before proceeding to text.

1. One of my mantras in the classroom when dealing with global issues has always been that the problems we are trying to solve: poverty, human rights abuses, global warming, social equity etcetera are not symptoms of a system in crisis, but it can be better understood that the problems we face are the repercussions of a system working as it should. Or even better said, the global issues we face are the results of several systems working together, as they should. The systems are working as they should that is why we have problems. The issues, with which you are most concerned, will most likely have their source in one of the following systems. Can you think of other systems that affect people throughout the world?

Economic systems- free market capitalism, globalization, and trade
Political systems- Electoral policies, foreign policy, and war
Media- dissemination of information, free speech, rise of Internet activism
Educational systems- Public school systems, curricula, and what is taught and how and by whom.

The questions to ask are: Who benefits from these systems? Who established them and for what reasons? Are they working as they should? Why or why not? Are they interconnected?

Return to video.

Now, please watch Money and Debt below. You can watch it in full screen here. Remember to take notes and write down any questions you may have about what is being presented.

Now that you have watched the video, what do you think? Have you ever thought that money could be so complicated? What does the message tell you about the financial crisis in the world today? Are any of the candidates talking about money reform? Why not? Have you ever heard of Local Exchange Trading Systems? Could you start one amongst your friends?

I have also created a page on the wiki, where we can collectively start to build a resource that illustrates our understanding of money. If after watching the movie you further investigate this topic please add your finding here. If you need an invite to the wiki just request one and I will approve it shortly.