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.

Borrowed from Dr. Scott McLeod. Any thoughts? How, where, and when do you do these things?

I have recently discovered a blogger named Injenuity, and I find her posts to be easy to read, insightful, yet very  dense and full of valuable insight into the world of online communities. She recently wrote a post about her dissipating love of Nings. Seeing that Ning has become one of our most used tools, I was curious to hear what you think about what she has to say. Please feel free to comment on her blog, link back here, or to your own blog to let us know what you think. Use whichever tool you think best; the important thing is that you share what you say in other communities with this one here.

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?

I wanted to write a deep, profound, meaningful intro for the next video, but I think Severin Suzuki’s words say it all. I have also embedded this clip on the Ning, so feel free to comment in either place. I encourage you to share the video widely with as many people as you can, and have whoever you send it to come and join our conversation about it here at Intrepid Classroom. I am curious what you think. Sixteen years have gone by, and not only have things not gotten any better, they have gotten worse.

The entire speech can be found here. Some questions to entertain:

What is our next immediate action?
What are the reasons why nothing has changed?
What can we do about that?
Is she just an idealistic child? Is it that simple?

Please write, discuss, share ideas… I challenge you, please, make your actions reflect your words.

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.

Salutations, memorials, bromides: let us commence.

I want to talk about love — not romance, not love l-u-v.
I want to talk about a particular kind of love, this love: classroom teaching.

I have my posse of gaily clad classroom teachers behind me.

They like to be called college professors.
And we can’t all work for the government.

We gather together because of classroom teaching.
We have shown you our love in our work in the classroom.

Classroom teaching is a physical, breath-based, eye-to-eye event.
It is not built on equipment or the past.
It is not concerned about the future.
It is in existence to go out of existence.
It happens and then it vanishes.
Classroom teaching is our gift.
It’s us; it’s this.

We bring nothing into the classroom — perhaps a text or a specimen. We carry ourselves, and whatever we have to offer you is stored within our bodies. You bring nothing into the classroom — some gum, maybe a piece of paper and a pencil: nothing but yourselves, your breath, your bodies.

Classroom teaching produces nothing. At the end of a class, we all get up and walk out. It’s as if we were never there. There’s nothing to point to, no monument, no document of our existence together.

Classroom teaching expects nothing. There is no pecuniary relationship between teachers and students. Money changes hands, and people work very hard to keep it in circulation, but we have all agreed that it should not happen in the classroom. And there is no financial incentive structure built into classroom teaching because we get paid the same whether you learn anything or not.

Classroom teaching withholds nothing. I say to my young students every year, “I know how to add two numbers, but I’m not going to tell you.” And they laugh and shout, “No!” That’s so absurd, so unthinkable. What do I have that I would not give to you?

Bringing nothing, producing nothing, expecting nothing, withholding nothing –
what does that remind you of?
Is this a bizarre occurrence that will go into The Journal of Irreproducible Results?
Or is it something that happens every day, all the time, all over the world,
and is based not on gain and fame, but on love.

There are those who say that classroom teaching is doomed and that by the time one of you addresses the class of 2033, there will be a museum of classroom teaching.

Ever since the invention of wedge-shaped writing on a clay tablet, classroom teaching has been obsolete. It’s been comical. Why don’t we just write the assignments and algorithms on a clay tablet, hang it up on the wall, and let the students come who will to teach themselves from our documents?

Why, since the creation of writing with a pen on a piece of paper, do we still bother to have schools?

Why, since the invention of movable metal type, don’t we all just go to the library?

Why do we have to have class? Why do we need teachers?

Why, since the advent of the microchip, don’t we all stay home in our pajamas and hit send?

Technology is nipping at the heels of classroom teaching, but I perceive no threat.
How could something false replace something true?
How could a substitute, a proxy, step in for something real and alive?
How could the virtual nudge out the actual?

The other great threat to classroom teaching is the rush to data — data-driven education.
We must measure everything — percentages, charts, tables.

I’m not entirely opposed to this.
If data-driven education were a pie graph, I would have a piece.

But I was not educated and did not become a teacher to produce data.

I love the classroom.
I loved it as a student, and I love it as a teacher.
I can name every teacher I ever had:
Mrs. Mulshanok, Miss Williams, Mrs. Clark, Miss Bogan, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Muys, Mrs. Parker, Mr. Eldridge, Miss Bush — and that’s just through sixth grade.
I could go on, I promise.

I loved coming to class: the chairs, the windows, unzipping my book bag.
And I loved my teachers.
There was content, I suppose, but that’s not what I remember.
I remember my teachers.
I remember being in the room,
and no data and no bar graph will be assembled to replace that, or even to capture it.

This week my students worked on dividing a pizza between two people, and they realized that if you make the line down the center of the pizza the two sides will be equal. After much trial and error, they came to this conclusion on their own, and I welcome you to try it. I think it’s really going to take off, and let this be where it begins.

When they take a standardized test, they will be able to fill in the bubble next to the pizza that is cut exactly in half. Do they know that will be the correct answer? Yes. But I don’t care that much. What I care about is how they got there, how they figured it out for themselves.

This skinny little high school senior got herself into Smith College by writing an essay about Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s theme, “The journey, not the arrival, matters.” It worked for me.

Standardized tests measure the arrival, but they have nothing to say about the journey, about having wonderful ideas. Do you know it/do you not know it is second, and how do you know it, and who are you, is first.

The only way this knowledge grows inside a student is with a teacher, a classroom teacher. Of course, my students will insist they did it themselves, and I don’t try to disabuse them of that.

But the work you graduates have done was in the classroom with your teachers.
That’s the miracle of today.
Why don’t we talk about it?
Because it doesn’t show up.
There’s not a bar graph for classroom teaching. There’s no data for classroom teaching, and yet it persists this year and the next year and the year after that.

Telling tens of thousands of people what to do is not teaching, it’s shouting, and there’s a lot of that going around.

Showing somebody how to do something exactly the way you’ve always done it is not teaching, it’s training. And there’s plenty of that, too.

But the reality that is neither shouting nor training is classroom teaching.
Nobody can touch it because nobody can point to it.
You have it forever.
When it grows inside you, it’s doing its work.

We can disappear.
We’ll never see you again, probably.
The chairs will be folded.
It will be as if we were never here.
There will be nothing we can count after today.
But not everything that counts can be counted.
Not everything that matters can be put into a pie chart.

The Board of Trustees has set a very great challenge for itself:
to educate us all for lives of distinction.
You are never going to be able to make a bar graph out of that.
That is immeasurable, and that’s what makes it so real.
I admonish you — because that’s my job — to think about the things that float away:
your love for your friends,
the smell of the lilacs,
the feeling your families have on this day.
You will have nothing to take with you.
The diploma you receive will be someone else’s.

Everything meaningful about this moment, and these four years,
will be meaningful inside you, not outside you.

I’ve been a classroom teacher for sixteen years–as long as you have been in the classroom. We started the same year. And I hope to go on for fourteen more years.
That will make thirty, and I’ll be done.

At the end of that time, someone will bring me a box, and I will put in it a ceramic apple somebody gave me thinking it would be symbolic somehow. I will have nothing, and that will be proof of the meaning of my work.

If you can point to something, you might lose it, or you might break it, or someone might take it from you. As long as you store it inside yourself, it’s not going anywhere — or it’s going everywhere with you.

This day is a day of love.
It’s a day of your family’s love for you,
your love for each other and your teachers,
and your teachers’ love for you.

In time, the bar graphs may tumble,
the clay tablets may crumble.
They’re only made of clay.
But our love
is here to stay.

Thank you.

Please pass it on to wherever it needs to go.

I am in the process of exploring WizIQ. It seems to be a great platform for allowing us to have some real time live classroom sessions. I know timezones will prove challenging, but this way we can meet and have class hopefully once a month if not more often to discuss ideas, projects, and other points of information.

Watch this video and think of ways we can use this great new tool. I will sign up soon and send all members whatever you need to participate. In the meantime, there a few new discussion on the Ning that could use some input and the story has been on hold for a few days. Let’s not lose momentum.

Here is some information on WizIQ:

Please embed and share with as many people as you can. Get it out there!