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.

The first comment was referring to the Ning:

I don’t get this site =(
Well, kinda…I don’t know what i should do and what I really can do in here..,a little help will be nice =D plzzz

Here is another comment:

I can see that Intrepid Classroom is growing and more members are joining. I have one question and I thought that I should ask it now since I saw you were online. What should I do to get part of Intrepid Classroom? I know that technically I’m in it but how do I really get accepted in Intrepid Classroom´s society? I just don’t know where to start. I hope you can help me Mr. R. Cya later in Intrepid Classroom and good night!

A quick review of what a Ning is used for would be a great place to start, but in short the Ning is a place to meet people. I would suggest that if you are not sure what to do simply reach out and talk to  someone. If you click on any member’s picture it will take you to their page. Read what they have said already. Most members have a separate blog, while some people are using the blog feature on the Ning itself. Listen to their music, read their words, and introduce yourself. You can send people messages or leave them comments on their page.

We are trying to learn how to build a network of people you can learn from and teach at the same time, so first you must get to know each other. It would also be a great idea to work on your own page as well. Share some music or videos and write why you have chosen that music. Share some of your thoughts on life, school, and the world around you. Invite people to connect.

Once you have done made a few connections you can join one of the many discussions already happening. Simply click on the title of the discussion under the forum section and see what people are saying. The What Makes A Book Worth Reading already has 63 responses. If you don’t find something that interests you, then start your own discussion about anything you like.

It was also brought up that perhaps there are too many pages:

I almost already feel like we have too many different pages. Sometimes I think that a post was on Ning but it was on Edublog and then I spent 30 min searching the wrong site.

But trust me, I feel each page serves a purpose. We will be using many other tools soon, so let’s make sure we all feel comfortable with the ones we are using now.  After you have mastered the Ning, you can begin working on some of the projects we are working on at the wiki The first is the design of a logo. Do you have any ideas? Can you draw some sketches? Then go to the wiki page and leave your thoughts here. (If you have not already done so, ask for a request to join. There is a link that will send me the request.) Once you have joined then simply click on the Edit This Page link at the top of the page and insert any text, video, or images you need. Hit save and  you have edited our wiki. This logo can be hand drawn or use photographs and text. We will all have to work on it together.

You can also get involved with the latest writing project tentatively called We Are One. Simply follow this link and add your part to the story. If neither one of these wiki projects is for you, then think of another project you would like to work on and present it here. See if you can get one or two people to work on it with you. Some ideas can be: creating a video about a topic you are interested, or maybe record a pod cast, or simply write a poem or blog post with another person. Perhaps we could all take pictures or video of where we live and share them with the group.

I will present more formal “assignments” soon. In the meantime, I want to see what you guys come up with yourselves.

That should keep you busy. Please feel free to contact me again if you have any questions. I know I can get wordy, so here is a list if things to do if you don’t know where to start.

1. Meet at least three new People in the Ning.
2. Work on your Ning page
3. Join a discussion.
4. Work on Logo
5. Work on We Are One
6. Create new Project

Final note for the people involved in the book discussion, my question to you is now what? You have done an amazing job creating a dynamic and rich conversation about books, but how can we synthesize the information? Can you perhaps take what has been said and write a concise, coherent blog post about adolescence reading habits? See what you can you do. Students are always complaining that they don’t like being told what to do…well here is your chance to whatever you want. But do something!

Great job everyone. Keep up the good work!

Below, I am also going to start a list of suggested topics so far.  Please leave a comment about how you want to further investigate each topic or add a new topic. I will in italics write what direction I will take each topic. Remember I have a social justice and peace activism agenda, but we can go in any direction teh class would like to go.

1. Journalism ( 1. The role of corporate mass media and the control it has on information. 2. The role of the read and write web and traditional journalism)
2. Poetry ( Political poetry and the power of the word to bring about awareness and change)
3. Sustainability
4. Music (Musicians as activists. Who is working for a better world through their music?)

As I write this, I am thinking about this classroom will work. My brain is spinning with ideas.  I may start a Wikipage and list the topics there, so that  participants can simply leave their findings and thoughts on the page directly, but in the meantime please leave all ideas in the comment box below.

I will write a post on one of the topics in the coming days and start to share some authors, musicians, and other artists with you soon. Remember you can always write a post on your own blog and simply leave a link here for others to read.

Closing instructions for this post:

• Read the blogs from the blogroll and leave some comments for each writer. Get to know each other!
• Look at the four topics already presented and think about what you alreay know about each topic and list what more you want to learn.
• Share your thoughts either in the comment box or as a blog post with a link here.
• Add new topics and or links.

I do not want this space to turn into a place where I, the teacher, simply lecture to you. Although I have many things to share and many stories to tell, I hope that this can be a place where the students who come here, will raise the questions they want answered, and I will simply help them find out how to find the answers.

After all, the search for answers is the very foundation of education. Having said that, it is very important that when you participate you have something concrete to say. A few things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure you have a clear question or topic you would like to explore.
2. Raise a series of questions you want help answering.
3. Give some feedback on why this topic interests you.

Remember that we are hoping to build a community of learners here who can help each other. This not an Ask Jeves style search engine with me acting as Jeves. We want this to be a place where we, the participants, communicate and learn from each other. Because after all, any one can type in a query into Google or read a Wikipedia post and get a sense of what they are looking for. We are here to discuss and share ideas not accumulate facts!

Also, while I have your ears or is it eyes, let me warn you about a few things:

• I like to write and can be verbose. I like to use words and am not shy about pushing the boundaries of your vocabulary (for Middle School students.) So look things up!
• I have a prejudice for topics related to social justice, peace and environmental activism, and music/art so I will often steer your topic into these fields whenever given a chance. This is a good thing trust me.
• I expect students who want to participate free of rewards and grades, so this is a great experiment: Can we build a community of learners who are here simply to exchange ideas with others?

Okay enough warnings! Let’s get started:

A few topics that are floating around the comment box are journalism, poetry, and sustainability. I want to ask the people who inquired about these topics to sit and think about what it is you really want to explore about these topics. I have a lot to say about all three, but I will wait till I hear from you before i continue.

Which brings me to the final procedure. I will try and post daily in one way or another here at Intrepid Classroom. I do not expect participants to do the same, but it would be great if you could sign up for a RSS feed or sign into Google Reader and make sure you are aware when there is a new post. Like any classroom, it would be best if we had a group of studnets who participated regularly, and didn’t just drop in whenever they felt like it.

If you are not sure how to sign up for a reader account, please ask. Another aspectoif this class is to learn-how-to-learn. We will be using many Web 2.0 tools, so if you are confused about any of them then ask and we will walk you through it.

I think that is it for now. Oh wait! Homework time. Please tell your friends who may be interested an let’s get a few more students enrolled. Also we had 85 hits yesterday and only eight comments, so if you stop by leave a comment and get involved. This could be the best class you have ever taken!