[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

of sorts

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

communication: verbiage as we’re currently seeing and using it, because…

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

adjacent possibilitiesSteven Johnson’s TED

The potential (and serendipity) created when you notice and connect the unlikely. Incremental potential solutions to help people caught in conflict or looking for change to keep moving.

corey

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

art Perfection in making is an art. Perfection in acting is a virtue. - Ivan IllichTrying to get away from acting, being people that we aren’t for whatever reasons, and instead, doing what matters most to us.Art is that interesting piece inside each one of us. It’s that thing you can’t not do. In providing spaces to be, we allow people to find, grow, and create their art. If people are doing, making, and being their art, they become indispensable, rather than simply virtuous, or bored or delinquent or depressed.We get so worried about, and expended in, a means to improve or to prove. If we focus on authentic art, as opposed to prescribed learning, the proving will not longer be an issue. We’ll wonder what all the fuss was. The kids already wonder. The art, the sharing of that art, because you can’t not, is its own reward.

lucas… doing happy

attachment & authenticity From Gabor Mate talk..

Imagine we work on both. That’s the quiet revolution, be you – authenticity, be us – attachment – see following slides.

Gabor Mate- Bio-psychosocial View on Neuro Degenerative Diseases Part 1

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

On the other hand, and strikingly more of a risk, yet more overlooked, denied, or accepted, too many people aren’t getting what we think are the basics now. They may be playing the school game so well that it appears they are, but legitimately getting the basics has been proven time and again to be false when they enter the job force or arrive a the

the basicsThe most common question we get is “What about the basics?” Find a great answer to that on the site of the - Brooklyn Free School.The answer is a question... “What are the basics?” Perhaps that’s what we need to redefine per an individual, per their community. The basics as defined by school is a very limited and restrictive set of skills. However, the word basic is often referred to as essential. Essential translates to absolutely necessary or extremely important. If we deem something as basic it should by it’s nature show up as we live, ... No?For those worried about basics that might not show up, these can be strewn, offered, and exposed. But our urge to mandate perceived basics, most often cripples and compromises the learner.

university campus, and are unable to perform expected basics. Research is telling us that over 90% of kids either cheat or cram the day before a test, so that a week later, they don’t remember. Even by their own measures and prescribed basics, test scores continually reveal a great disconnect. ie: It’s hard to go through a day of real life without engaging in mathematical thinking. School math, however, per the common core standards, isn’t necessarily practical, useful, or basic. Have you rationalized a denominator or conjugated an imaginary number lately? And if you have, how common do you think that is?

whySetting people free, to be themselves.

how Creating (physical & mental) spaces of permission.

what Soul peace unleashes brilliant minds/art.

star

t with

why

be you.The first two years have

been a true disruptive innovation, where we were working in the shadows, in

incubation, testing and prototyping and

failing and learning. We experimented with

spaces where people could tap into their own genius, their own art. Spaces free

of proof, credentialing, measurement. We were

seeking ways to facilitate self-directed learning. Our

findings are not new. Practicing them, however

will require a change in mindset.

It will require a culture of trust, with (mental and

physical) spaces of permission.

be you.

authenticity authentically you

whySetting communities free, to share themselves.

how Creating (physical & mental) spaces of trusting/giving.

what World peace allows for gatherings that matter, per choice.

star

t with

why

be us.The second (one) two years’

focus will be more on community, how do we

become us. This necessitates more visibility, a coming out

phase. We are finding out what types of gathering

spaces our community wants, needs, believes in, most. This

phase will be heavy on the art of conversation. How do we listen to each other without

an agenda on an ongoing basis. Web access has shown

us the value of connection and ways to better connect with the invisible, and the silent,

globally. We plan to use that insight and tech to better

listen to each other, locally. We believe, for any type of

thriving sustainability to happen within a community, we must create, be, together.

be us.

attachmentat our essence, the more

authentically ourselves we are, we crave co-creation -

community

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

If we fix the cities, we fix the world. - Tony Hsieh

In the US, when you say real life people tend to define it as: outside of school. - Michael Wesch

The end of this plan, youth crafted two years ago, has community as school, with the entire city as the floorplan. The high school buildings become resource centers and meet up spaces. There is a city-wide art hall and engineering hall, forensics hall. The town acts more like a university campus.. where people are walking and biking to and from buildings through the course of a day. University/school as coffee house even.

Dave Cormier, community as curriculumcommunity/city as curriculum/school

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

community of practiceGetting together with your people and doing, making or learning something you all just can’t not do. The coming together is because of that thing and that thing is what you make or do.Community is built from each ones love for that thing.ie: I love to train dogs, or make kites. I find people in my city or virtually that shares that same love. We connect and immerse ourselves in that topic. We become a community practicing that art. Wikipedia’s more formal definition.

connected adjacencyMany have said there will be no revolution within the

system, within the institution. While that makes mental sense, we also believe that the system, the

institution, is where many of our best resources are, people in particular. Today, especially in education,

even though many are breaking away to charter schools, online schools, homeschooling and

unschooling, the masses reside in the system. Through a connected adjacency mentality we exist both in and out of the system. We spend more of our time playing offense, than defense. Nothing is for everyone, so we

seek to facilitate non-prescribed learning. We’re currently creating spaces of freedom for a very small percentage to get at authentic experimentation and

innovation. Spaces to test new ideas out within a community. Spaces where failure won’t affect or offset the whole, but unexpected, unknown, and

delightful success will certainly and pleasantly benefit the whole. Saul Kaplan, connected adjacency; google

20%

Deborah Frieze on two loop theory of change.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

Take a listen, as Bunker Roy explains how credentialing could come from how well your community is doing.

imagine a community such as mine, Loveland, CO. You, a university, or a CEO of a company, come to me today, asking if Peter is a good fit, if he’s worth consideration at your establishment.

I say, most likely not. I explain to you, that currently, Loveland has 400+ charitable organizations, so one would think we wouldn’t be dealing with homelessness, our county wouldn’t be 6th in the nation in suicide rate, etc. I say, I wonder what the heck has Peter been doing, letting that happen in his community.imagine you come to me a year from now. Loveland no longer has 400+ charitable organizations, but rather, one kitchen table. They have connected. They engage in ongoing conversations, conversations that matter. They’ve freed people who were homeless up to take care of their own situation. Because they question how we spend our days, health has improved, people start to believe they matter, the suicide rate has gone down….And now, now I say to you, … yes, Peter. Peter is perfect. Whether or not he helped to change our community for good, he has been living in it. He’s associated and with people that are free and are practicing their art. Peter is gold. Peter is indispensable.

bob

credentialing via community

cultureWhat if transparency is the new currency? What if knowing people, being known, building a community, holds more value than what most of us end up spending most of the hours in a day doing or getting.We’re thinking school has perpetuated a corporate America long beyond it’s need to be, if it ever was a need. We’re thinking technology wants to free us up and back to a focus on people – conversation, community, sharing, and listening. We’re experimenting with a focus on a social currency, rather than a monetary currency. We’re thinking if you want to know how good someone is, take a look at how well the people around them are doing. Most of what we’re suggesting, doing, and being, will only thrive in a culture of trust. (read more in ch 5)

… the very word culture celebrates the human capacity to learn and adapt, something the rest of society should support. A sense of coherence is almost as needful as food and drink. Trying to improve people by interfering with their own preferences often makes things worse.The question for everyone living in a world of constant contact between cultural groups, is how to become routinely sensitive to patterns, even with minimal cues, suspending judgment and looking for how they fit together. - Mary Catherin Bateson, Peripheral Visions

for more see slidedeck: more resourceful

detox Detox is simply what we are calling

this manifestation, this play-acting

or prototyping, if you will, of the internal process

a healthy self-directed learner would model if we could see

in their head. We’re wondering if this jump start back to

self-reflecting, self-assessing, might help many of us get back to our

propensity toward curiosity. We’re wondering if it might help those of us who have become

addicted to routine,

to directions, to prescriptions,

to regain, unleash, strengthen, and awaken our natural mindfulness toward

imagination and play, toward self-directed learning.

We’re wondering if it just might be the shot of adrenaline

our souls crave. (more about detox in ch. 1)

This video first explains research, then about 4:40 models it.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

detox [process of learning to learn]A brief description of each of the five words of detox: be, notice, dream, connect , do.

be. Rid your mind of chatter that has previously determined who you are.For some, for most even, this element of detox could take quite a while. We have become so used to pleasing others, to listening to other voices. We need to listen to ourselves, to our gut, daily. We change daily.

While it’s difficult for some to be alone, many need space to listen from within. Spaces of permission and of solitude help cultivate a culture of trust. It’s not about prescribing you, or proving you, it’s about becoming you, unveiling you. Now. Perpetually now.It’s less about finding a specific passion, and more about being awake, being fully alive. It’s not as much about finding good to do, as it is about finding that which you can’t not do.

begin being.

for more on bebooks: buccaneer scholar, significance of life, tools of conviviality, mindfulness, we are all weird, linchpin, orbiting the giant hairball

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

notice. Step out of the routine and notice the unlikely. Ellen Langer writes in Mindfulness and Colin Ward writes in The Child in the City, how focus on outcomes can lead to mindlessness. Many of us need directions. We’re afraid to wander. We don’t embrace failure as an opportunity. We get impatient with the unplanned, the unlikely, the undefined. Yet, these are the very things that afford us spaces to make decisions based on the newness of the moment. Vulnerability in context (alive in the moment) begs noticings. You can’t explain perpetual beta because it is always changing. Mindfulness isn’t an alternative if you choose to live awake. Noticing alone could change the world.for more on notice

dream. Imagine yourself doing, solving, becoming, creating, and making.Roger Martin encourages us in The Design of Business to question everything respectfully. Too often we quit or fold because of something as simple as the raising of an eyebrow. We need to boldly and gracefully confront reliability-thinking (proof/data speaks) of the corporate world and of our traditions. We need to wonder and ponder. We need to question assumed risk. Might we face a greater risk in playing it safe? Meg Wheatley in Walk Out Walk On, quotes Paulo Freire - If you don’t have any kind of a dream, I’m sure it’s impossible to create something.for more on dreambooks: linchpin, art of possibility, war of art, democratic ed, we are all weird, walk out walk on, stop killing dreams

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

connect. Today, even in public ed, you really can choose what, when, where, how and with whom you want to connect. Connections can start with the personalized framework of why. That choice has the potential of ultimate empowerment. That choice facilitates and enlivens a person’s curiosity, getting at a deep, intellectual, just in time learning. Connections, our new currency.for more on connect, higher ed & citiesbooks: talent code, power of pull, reality is broken, diy u, diy college credentials people: downes, siemens, cormier, ..

do. The criteria youth have determined for doing: does it matter? and is it awesome? Both beg to whom, which is exactly the mindset we believe is vital to this paradigm shift (change in basic assumptions.) We can now facilitate personalized definitions of success in public ed. Youth’s drive, contrary to the belief of some, contrary to perceived activity or inactivity, is not toward laziness. Youth crave hard work. A great question for a healthy self-perpetuated feedback loop, am I doing this to finish or am I doing this just to do, to be, to make? Remaining mindful of that mindset could set you free to experience the richest of lives. Find and do that which you can’t not do.for more on dobooks: at work with thomas edison, reality is broken, rework, the war of art, linchpin, tools of conviviality

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]There are no replica thumb prints. That is discrimination to infinity. When we facilitate that, prejudice will decrease.

What the world needs most, is people being themselves. People driven by that which they can’t not do.

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discrimination (as democracy as equity)

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

disruption (as per Clay Christensen) [a quiet revolution]By design, we are currently in the shadows at the left end of the upward exponential curve. As we begin being, those most in love with the idea, experiment, fail,and tweak, continually making and being.

We’re experimenting with *transparent shadows:o 1000+ raw footage videos on youtube (

51295monk)o facebook group (tsd innovation lab)o info and update site (the be lab)o stand alone site, (be you.)

* Transparent shadows: We are still obscure to those not intentionally seeking us out, because we aren’t selling, pushing, or prescribing anything.

We believe obscurity is key to self-directed learning, as imposed definition, routine, and focus on outcome, can encourage mindlessness.

We welcome the shadows, as we believe you may be more inclined to be working, doing, and failing there. You may be more inclined to be you there. Publicity often nudges us toward theory and meetings and defending and talking perfect case scenarios, and following the masses, more so than doing and being. We believe in what we’re doing. And while we’re not selling or pushing, we believe we’re creating something your soul might just be craving.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

Today, people are learning online, on boats, in buses, in classrooms, in schools of all sorts, in other countries, at home, in the city, … this is great. What we are suggesting is that we no longer pigeon-hole learners to any of these spaces. You want to learn on a boat. Great. But let’s not say now, that you are a boat learner only. Maybe tomorrow another space will serve you better. Change is good if we choose it. Learning is change, it’s innovation. And it’s never finished or set.

More liberating (and breathtaking) mindsets/spaces emerge when we focus on curiosity rather than proof. Curiosity in where, when, how, what and/or with whom a person is connecting. Curiosity in what is going on in their head. The more differentiated those answers are, from person to person, but even more important within one person, the more evidence of life and learning.These shared spaces begin to let Joe be Joe.

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equityEquity doesn’t mean equal. Equity involves personalization. It begs choice. It allows for redefinition of success per individual, per community. The achievement gap is a misnomer when we prescribe what the gap is about. None of the data we’ve been gathering, and spending most of our time, energy, money, and people on, has a statistically sound basis. Everything is variable. Everything is debatable.

ie: PISA, the test most often referred to when comparing countries, has it’s main focus on math. Math, many say, is more universal because there are relatively few barriers due to language. Yet, the math on these tests are more likened to school math, than mathematical thinking. This can translate to a competition between countries on a topic that is very restrictive and not beneficial to most people. We’re suggesting a more equitable means to monitor growth, if you must. We’re suggesting we model more of a self-directed feedback loop, comparing personal bests.

People have all the skills, creativity, and ingenuity they need. - Meg Wheatley

Equity will come when we free people of a predetermined outcome. Equity will come when we offer resources per choice and facilitate self-directed learning. Equity fades the more we focus on a means to improve standardization.ie: We realize many more resources if we allow people to look at and use what they have. Many people have and prefer cell phone use, so why insist everyone have an ipad. Save the money for the few that don’t have anything, but again, let them choose their means of access. We’re thinking a good start for choice of connection or access involves laptops, phones, bikes, bus passes…

exponentiateWithin our great concern that people might miss the basics, our minds are trained to translate that most often to math. And the math, often translates to school math, that most people won’t need in their life time.Unfortunately, with that mindset, and with that urgency and demand, to get the school math, most people end up missing the more useable and vital components of mathematical thinking.

Exponentiation is one such component. Being able to visualize or conceptualize size or growth.Most people have a hard enough time imagining what one million of something might look like. Then throw in movement, the ongoingness of exponentiation. Especially if the little number in the air keeps growing as well.

So, unknowingly, we often miss out on potential, because we don’t realize the vastness of growth, just around the corner.

Scaling the individual, is an exponentiating phenomenon. We have no idea how incredible that would be. How equitable, and how sustaining.

People have all the skills, creativity, and ingenuity they need. - Meg Wheatley

fractalFocusing on the part that looks the same whether you zoom in or zoom out has been at the essence of our finding a narrative that can go anywhere. What shows up over and over. What is the same, no matter where you are, or from what angle. It’s also helped us focus on what matters most, rather than falling to distractions.

What if we just zoomed out more often.. Fractal thinking simplifies and helps us focus on what matters most.

grokTo understand something thoroughly and intuitively.

Like the form around tacit knowledge..

interdependency This came as we were researching laws for homeless teens. While some states allow 14 year-olds to declare independence, often resulting in homelessness, some are trying to restate that to a declaration of interdependence, where each teen is matched up with an adult. If we want to create spaces of permission, where learning is accomplished through living, we feel this interdependency will provide stability in the potential, and in fact encouraged, chaos.

When we set people free to choose their mentors, their connections, their interests, amazingly, we discover that we don’t need more resources. If you take a look at the community around you, there are incredible mentors and teachers and unlikely topics, in unlikely places.

There are countless means to learning what you choose, by connecting. No end really.And the beauty of all of this, it isn’t an either or, but rather, an incredible and.

ie: Imagine, an 80 year old, who most likely takes too much medication, his family/ friends rarely visit, so he spends much of his time watching TV. Imagine a 12 year old, who most likely takes too much medication, spends a lot of time playing videos games, yet who dreams of being and doing something similar to what the 80 year old has done and been. Imagine these two connecting per passion, per choice, rather than per kindness. Soon, neither can wait to get up in the morning. And at night, well the 80 year old now has wifi, and is stretching his expertise to no end, from the curiosity and energy flowing over from the 12 year old, and vice versa.

This surpasses the issue of school, of achievement gaps, even of learning. This takes on the matter of what it means to be human and alive. A declaration of interdependence, being known by someone, could be more vital to a person than food, water, or shelter. Imagine if we were to focus on feeding the soul, rather than on our current (often unquestioned) dependencies, ie: feeding the test scores, the number crunch.

We are because we belong. We are all connected. - I Am (documentary by Tom Shadyak)

indispensableOriginal thinkers, provoateurs, people who care. People we can’t dispose of or outsource. People who are vital. What we want/need are indispensable people.

- Seth Godin, Linchpin

knowmadic learnerA creative, imaginative, and innovative

person who can work with almost anybody, anytime, and anywhere. Industrial society is giving way to

knowledge and innovation work. Whereas industrialization required people to settle

in one place to perform a very specific role or function, the jobs associated with

knowledge and information workers have become much less specific in regard to

task and place. Moreover, technologies allow these new paradigm workers to

work either at a specific place, virtually, or any blended combination. Knowmads can

instantly reconfigure and contextualize their work environments, a greater

mobility is creating new opportunities. - John Moravec cristian

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

lurk

In particular, online, a lurker is someone who reads or listens in, but rarely shares back out. While the term has a negative connotation, lurking is often advised in order to get a feel for the community or the topic. It can often be a welcome and safe place for new people.

There are some advantages to lurking. One is that you can catch multiple communities and topics, without getting so entrenched in potential and ongoing debates, ie: over semantics or egos.

An especially great advantage, is that the space of lurking allows for the development of trust. Rather than being forced to participate, a person is able to determine for themselves when and if they are ready or want to jump in. Observation is an incredible teacher in and of itself.

We are hoping to incorporate the ability to lurk as we emerge as a physical community. We are planning to livestream, archive, and offer backchannel capabilities for our weekly community-wide conversations. We believe that people who are skeptical of a community gathering, might be able to observe from a distance, or lurk, until they feel comfortable enough, or trust the process/community enough to join in.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

maker spaceA space for making, hacking, playing (definitions below via Bud Hunt).A space where messy is ok, and failing is expected.A space where you can tinker like a five year old, or make a robotic arm …

If you are lucky enough to be connected to someone per passion, or be known by some youth, one key element toward facilitating self-directed learning, is to deliberately not teach. We live in a world that is so used to directions, so used to being told how and what to do, it’s hard for many of us to function on our own. In most learning situations andopportunities, we seek out the perceived expert, sit in their path, and wait to be filled. This mindset disables and disengages the indispensable person from within. This pattern, tradition,training, encourages mindlessness.If the goal is self-directed learning, if the desire is youth who know what to do when they don’t know what to do, if the aim is for youth to fall in love with learning, then the mentor, needs to be positioned, physically and mentally, alongside. Alongside, doing their own thing, modeling what it is to learn, what it is to be.

click for live doc of the be you web

The word assessment is derived from the Latin verb, assidere, which means, quite literally, to sit beside.

mentor alongside

Imagine spaces within your city where people come to share ideas, to share dreams, to share spaces, to share tools/toys, to share.

We notice what we have.

sharing as currency

mesh

~Lisa Gansky

We notice we have all we need.

In Net Smart, Howard Rheingold refers to this as networked individualism, via Barry Wellman. Rather than relying on a single community for social capital, individuals often must actively seek out a variety of appropriate people and resources for diff situations - the person has become the portal.

These connections provide needed support, safety, accountability. The belief that you are known by someone is a most liberating feeling, an incredibly vial piece to freeing your mind up to being, to becoming you.

We are prototyping an app that could listen, find, and leave a trail such as this – a non-linear portfolio even. Which excites us tremendously, because then it’s even less about credentialing/proving and more about doing/being.

First we saw Joe, choosing available spaces/gatherings (ch 1), here a student/learner chooses people (above), and a person, aka John T. Spencer, (right), simply choosing, … living.

networked individualism

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

people agendaOur desire is to be green about people.To value, embrace, and delight in what it means to be human and alive. [a favorite quote from Carol Black’s beautiful film, Schooling the World]We’re experimenting with how to listen with no agenda. We believe that every actor has a reason, and that deep within, everyone has a desire to do good. We believe this space of trust awakens people, and that awakened people are indispensable. We believe the paradigm shift a people agenda begs, is that it be based on a culture of trust where community is the curriculum, non-prescriptive.When we refer to youth, we intend that to mean you, to whatever degree you decide.

read more about this philosophy here: people agenda or this slidedeck: respect for every voiceDave Cormier, community as curriculumbooks: linchpin, buccaneer scholar, significance of life, cognitive surplus, mindfulness

Clay Shirky tells a story of ten daycare centers in Israel in his book, Cognitive Surplus. The story really gets at

this culture we believe is vital to change.

Here’s the short version: These ten centers had no late fee for picking up children and very few parents came

late and not by very much. Then they imposed approximately a three dollar fine on 7 of the 10

centers. The number of late parents increased, and stayed elevated even after the fine was dropped. Shirky

explains, the parents see the day care workers as participants in a market transaction rather than as people who’s needs should be respected. Parents

viewed workers time as a commodity. They assume the fine represents full price of the inconvenience they

were causing.He goes on to explain the difficulty, once a new

mindset for the relationship has occurred, to go back to the culture of trust and humanity. Dealing with one

another as a market can fundamentally alter relationships.

Have we turned relationships into marketing transactions, that now require such a large overhead

that we have lost the art of living? Are we trusting and valuing people? Or are we trusting and valuing

paperwork that basically represents mistrust? And that takes billions a year to run in public ed alone.

perpetual betaNever ending, never done beginning. Always fresh, mindful, and new.

It's dirty and wholesome. It's the way that knowledge actually is, rather than the way we try to package it so that it can be measured. - Dave Cormier

One thing people have said that have visited the be you house, is that every time they come it’s different. Routine can cripple us. Doing things in order to finish them, can compromise us.

We’re practicing, embracing, and modeling perpetual beta. Through our eagerness to learn from ourselves and others, we share our mistakes. We seek to hold ourselves accountable to a continual freshness and mindfulness.

This does however, unsettle people at first. People think they need definition. Can you explain something that is always changing? Luckily, people’s souls crave aliveness.

It is perhaps because we have not learned to recognize and respect existing order in unfamiliar forms that we are frightened of social change, unwilling to support and work with the forms that peoples find for themselves. - Mary Catherine Bateson

click here to view 1 min video

We believe this mindset is a sign of good health. The believe, of a 5 yr old, that every day is new.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

prescribed learningThe idea that you will learn this particular topic, this particular year or month or day.

The issue is with publicly prescribed learning... not with getting better at doing publicly prescribed learning. - Ivan Illich

To date, much of our attention, even in the field of online learning, has been focused on a system of learning centered on the class or cohort: groups of students studying the same curriculum pace through the same set of learning activities. (Fenning, 2004) We continue to organize classes in grades, sorted, especially in the earlier years, by age. Time continues to be the dominant metaphor for units of learning, and learning continues to be constrained by time. As it was ten years ago, the model is that of a group of people starting at the same time, studying the same materials at the same pace, and ending at the same time. - Stephen Downes

Mary Catherine Bateson on chocolate milk

rhizomehas no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo. The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance, uniquely alliance. The tree imposes the verb 'to be,' but the fabric of the rhizome is conjunction, 'and . . . and . . . and' (pp.24-25)

Break the rhizome anywhere and the only effect is that new connections will be grown. The rhizome models the unlimited potential for knowledge construction, because it has no fixed points…and no particular organization (p. 389).

a tangle of tubers with no apparent beginning or end, constantly changes shape, and appears to be connected at every point with every other point (p. 389).

All life organizes into networks, not neat boxes or hierarchies. – Meg Wheatley

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

Take a listen to Leslie, aka @onepercentyellow, if you’d like to get more of a taste and color and visual of rhizomatic learning, how it is happening, has been happening, in spaces, lovely spaces.

Dave Cormier himself ... explaining

rhizomatic learning.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

self-directed learning within public ed - or

open sourceThe environment that they happen to

be in, whether it be a productivity tool, hobbyist web page, or online

game, constitutes (at that time) the personal learning environment.

Resources from across the internet are accessed from that environment:

resources that conform to the student’s needs and interests, that

have been in some way pre-selected or favorably filtered, and that may

have been created by production studios, teachers, other students, or

the student him or herself. Content – interaction, media, data – flows back

and forth between the learning environment and the external

resources, held together by the single identity being employed by the

learner in this context.. -Stephen Downes

Educational delivery systems will recognize

the identity of the student making the

request and will coordinate with other

online applications (which may include

commercial brokers, open resource

repositories, or additional student

records) to facilitate the student’s learning

activity. -Stephen Downes

from 2008

self-directed learning

Knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.

- Erica McWilliams

This comes about through experience and just in time learning. Self-directed learners are life-long learners. Their drive comes through listening to the curiosities from within. Their drive to dream, connect, and do is second nature.

[a q u i e t r e v o l u t i o n]

solitudeThe most spectacularly creative people in many fields are often introverted. - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,

Gregory Feist.

Without great solitude, no serious work is possible. - Picasso

We're often so dazzled by charisma that we overlook the quiet part of the creative process. When we take a stance diff from a group's we activate the amygdala, a small organ in the brain associated with fear of rejection. Gregory Berns calls this "the pain of independence.”

private spaces of solitude – Susan Cain

time &

lucas

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spaces of permission where people can be themselves, where they can find and craft their art, where they don’t have to prove themselves,where they are driven by wanted stress & structure,where they can gather with others, per choice,

to do things that matter.

imagine an ideal home situation. Quite possibly an unschooled home, where the parents trust that learning is natural and non-linear. The natural part implies that life is rich enough to suffice a curriculum. The non-linear part implies that no pre-scribed basics are needed. This frees them up to focus on knowing their child. This knowledge allows them to facilitate the unique curiosity (curriculum) from inside. This child has access to any resources needed, is known by someone, believes he has nothing to prove, and is free to be curious, to be himself.

We’re thinking this is a more sane, equitable, and humane definition or

rendering of no child left behind.

What distinguished programmers at the

top performing companies wasn't

greater experience or better pay. It was

how much privacy, personal workspace

and freedom from interruption they

enjoyed. If you have talented and

motivated people, they should be

encouraged to work alone when creativity or

efficiency is the highest priority.

- Adrian Furnham

lucas

time &

cristian at tedx

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swimming in the compromiseSchools today are filled with people, lovely people. People that have no ill

intentions. People doing their best to make things, to make life, better. However, most people are bound by policy. The policies the institution of school has birthed

and bred, now hold many captive. The following speaks of teacher and student. We’re thinking it addresses a captivity most all of us are in or have been in, teacher,

parent, admin, etc. This is us, each one of us, swimming in the compromise:Defining children as full-time pupils permits the teacher to exercise a kind of power over

their persons which is much less limited by constitutional restrictions than the over wielded by the guardians of other social enclaves. Their chronological age disqualifies children from

safeguards which are routine for adults in a modern asylum - madhouse monastery or jail.Classroom attendance removes children (teachers/admin) from the everyday world of

Western culture and plunges them into an environment far more primitive, magical, and deadly serious. School could not create such and enclave within which the rules of ordinary

reality are suspended, unless it physically incarcerated the young during many successive years on sacred territory. The attendance rule makes it possible for the schoolroom to serve

as a magic womb, from which the child is delivered periodically at the school day’s and school year’s completion until he is finally expelled into adult life.

We are rather concerned to call attention to the fact that the ceremonial or ritual of schooling itself constitutes such a hidden curriculum. Even the best of teachers cannot entirely protect his pupils from it. Inevitably, this hidden curriculum of schooling adds

prejudice and guilt to the discrimination which a society practices against some for its members and compounds the privilege of others with a new title to condescend to the majority. Just as inevitably, this hidden curriculum serves as a ritual of initiation into a growth-oriented consumer society for rich and poor alike. - Ivan Illich,

Deschooling Society

for more on calling into question how we spend the hours of our day: redefining success as slidedeck as ebook

click to hear Adam recite.. swimming in compromiselucaschanning

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tech vs webWe’re seeing quite a difference here.

We see the web as connections. Connection to information and to people. These

connections have really changed considerably in the last 3-5 years. We

believe this change is why we are able to boldly redefine school. We believe this

newly amplified access to people and info is the reason we’re able to actuate ideas and theories toward self-directed learning that

have been addressed and desired for hundreds of years. These connections are

allowing us to differentiate to infinity in public ed.

We see tech as tools. We’re suggesting less of a focus on the tech as tool, and more

focus on the web as connections. If people geek out on tech, that is fine, that is great,

we need those people. We’re suggesting that a focus on the tech can cause us to get

sidetracked into thinking it’s the ticket to change, ie: if we all have the same tools, or

learn and use them in the same way.

Great insight here in Douglas Rushkoff’s Program or Be Programmed:

tacit knowledgeKnowing more than one can tell. Not acquired from other; it requires learning through mind, body and senses and is facilitated by experimentation and inquiry. - Mary Ann Reilly John Hagel, Edge Perspectives

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ted talks

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.The above is from the about page on the TED site, click here to find out more.

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on whySetting people free, to be themselves.

A comment was made, if you are setting people free, you aren’t empowering them. You are doing the setting, you are doing the action. Because we believe empowered people is key, sharing a little analogy here of our thinking. Hoping if it’s bunk, people will let us know. Please help us challenge all the thinking we are sharing. This is important stuff, we need you.

A turtle is protected by its shell. If someone took all the turtle’s shells away from them, that would be deadly. Perhaps some turtles would be strong enough to get their shell back. But for those not strong enough, returning their shells to them would be returning them to their natural state. It would be a setting free of sorts. Free from the bondage the stolen shells created. Back in its natural environment, the turtle is then, ready to be.We’re seeing public ed as a stripping away of a kids’ shell in a sense. Their culture, their natural state of curiosity, has perhaps been stolen. We’re thinking this setting free, is simply restoring to each person, their shell. We’re not telling them who to be or how to be or what to be, we’re just creating that free space, once again. That space of permission, that many haven’t seen since they were five. Perhaps. Again, we see this space of permission, this shell, as a new way to look at what it might mean when we say the words, no child left behind.

turtle as fractal

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unschooling/deschoolingVery generally speaking, homeschooling is about taking the curriculum home, as a means to do it more efficiently and perhaps more humanely. In other words, doing publicly prescribed learning in the comfort of your home. Unschooling or deschooling calls into question publicly prescribed learning itself. It is generally founded on the belief that learning is natural and that following the curiosity within each person attains a higher quality of life because it values/fosters the genius/gift within each person. Life at home and in the community, simply living, is learning. Deschooling perpetuates self-directed learning.

The personal learning environment is more of a conferencing tool than it is a content tool. The focus of a personal learning environment is more on creation and communication than it is consumption and completion. - Stephen Downes

Learning is the fundamental pattern

of human adaptation, but mostly it occurs before or after or in

the interstices of schooling.

Preoccupied with schooling, most

research on human learning is focused on learning that depends

on teaching or is completed in a

specified context rather than on the learning that takes

place spontaneously because it fits directly into life.

- Mary Catherin Bateson

Let’s define ourselves

around enquiries: in other words, by what we are curious

about, rather than what we are authorities

on.http://dougald.posterous.com/the-university-project-five-elements

I don’t know…

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useful ignorance, then, becomes a space of pedagogical possibility rather than a base that needs to be covered. ‘Not knowing’ needs to be put to work without shame or bluster . - Erica McWilliams

Mentors available to the youth, and ready to learn from the youth are most beneficial. The mentor’s mindset should be that of keen interest and inquiry into what is going on in the youth’s head, not the mentor’s.

Sugata Mitra calls this the method of the grandmother: friendly but not necessarily knowledgeable in that topic.

Wrongologist, Kathryn Schulz

As mentors, listen without an agenda, demonstrating and communicating genuine patience and caring. Encourage the expression of ideas, even (and especially) if they are different than our own. Rather than alarm, try to honestly understand the underlying sentiment, in order to more fully understand. For an effective mentor, “I don't know” is always an okay answer. “I don't know” is an opportunity to access and use resources together. When we don't know, we brainstorm together with youth.Keep from developing an inflated view of our roles; there are mentors all around us. The key element is to deliberately not teach, as constant instruction encourages mindlessness. Encourage independence. Youth need time for self-discovery. Time to be. Trust that learning will happen. No, know that learning is happening.Be available to youth, modeling what it is to learn, what it is to be, doing our own thing,exploring our passion, discovering ourselves. As mentors, we should underscore the importance of learning and working for oneself and one's own self-improvement. The youth should understand that they alone assess their progress, without outside influence. We also need to recognize the effect of inappropriate praise. Praise shackles youth to a course of pleasing others, rather than themselves.

Amy Lewark unschooling mom

more on the spaces we’re experimenting with…

the innovation labYear one, (2010-2011), the lab was a physical space where kids could go to learn per passion. We are hoping that in year 2, people will see that rather than a physical space, they themselves are the innovation lab, to whatever degree they choose. With this mindset dispersing into the entire district, we envision a your school design it, your pd design it, community as school, at the end of four years. (more on this in chapter 2) To be innovative is to be useful. The most endearing innovations focus on an unmet deep human need. We are about creating spaces of permission, so that people can practice and share their art.

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the be you houseYear two, (2011-2012), the house is a physical space mimicking the fluidity, transparency, malleability, and allure of the web, eclectic, like the web, for the purpose of facilitating self-assessment. (Is the web getting us back to a more humane state perhaps, reminding us what it’s like to be alive?) A space of permission to be yourself. A space to jump start curiosity, imagination and play, to enliven self-directed learning.A space encouraging mindfulness. A space modeling no child left behind (NCLB) redefined: a safe space of resources, including an alongside mentor.

Besides currently showcasing a physical space to modelwhat a city could be like, when virtual and reality play together for the good of people, we envision the be you house as an ongoing community detox center. As we free up more people in the city, we’re imagining many not knowing where to start. The be you house will be a space for just that.

people in the house: Peter, be you house postVideo tours of the house: begin being, house happenings, Linda posts on the house googleplex; google 20% space/modeling for everyone in the districtbooks: Kelly, What Tech Wants; Hawken, Blessed Unrest; Gansky, The Mesh; Godin, We Are All Weird

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the pi labYear three, (2012), a conduit to communities of practice. A gathering space, on the ground, in the middle of town, to crowdsource our city’s thinking and ideas and interests. A means to listen to and harvest and facilitate what spaces and resources are needed for these gatherings per choice, in order to make and keep our city healthy.Then to use that continually changing information to start to enliven spaces that already exist and to free up and continue to free up people to be able to gather per choice and do the things that matter most to them.

A physical space to prototype and model what a school district (a city) could be like, when the only difference is that all gatherings are per choice.

World Café to hear all voices, to harvest invisible expertsWalk Out Walk On, Wheatley & Frieze

Communities of practiceMore choices for teachers

the be us collaboratory Year three, (2012), A gathering space, in the sky, in the middle of town, the middle of the nation, to crowdsource our city’s thinking and ideas and interests, along with and visible to, the world. Much like the pi lab, but with a window/door to the world.Practicing and experimenting with what tech wants, .. for us to connect.

As described in Wheatley’s Walk Out Walk On, a space for the Art of Hosting, so that we can become us:• w/o core beliefs... without the why.. people just co-inhabit, they coexist..

• we only support what we create• to make a system healthier...we simply need to connect it more to itself• if we have a convo first ( hear each others stories) we discover one another

as colleagues• ... start anywhere... follow it everywhere• we can't design anything that works if we don't have the whole system

involved in it's creation…that way we harvest invisible intelligence• people will give up role of master creator and move into the dance of life..

there is no alternative.. life insists we put ourselves in motion

collaboratory

Art of Hosting, World Café, to hear all voices.Walk Out Walk On, Wheatley & FriezeVideo on art of hosting

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your school design itYear four, (2013-2014ish), city as school. Each learner/person eclectic within themselves, moving around the city, much like a university campus. City sharing resources and spaces.Using what we have. Sharing what we have. Harvesting invisible expertise. Ongoing crowdsourcing of options and ideas and curiosities. The community spaces always morphing to facilitate.

Perhaps city as connected adjacency (small experimental lab) to state or country as we experiment without compulsory standardized tests, or seat time, or prescribed curriculum.Perhaps funding comes as Homeschoolers and Unschoolers see this as new spaces for them to gather. Perhaps we experiment with funding via census.

A city as school, as university, as alive.

Gathering per choice connect edPeople aware of optionsCity as floorplan – slidedeckbook: for the love of cities, Kageyama – with people in schools unleashed to play

faqWhat about social aspects of kids,..because they aren’t following the social norms. Facing people who call them dropouts, etc.. Read Seth Godin’s We Are All Weird for incredible insight on societal norms and Read Kate Fridkis, among many, for insight into homeschooling/unschooling experiences.. Refer them to Tebow.Also know, that whenever your doing things on the edge, people will question you. I’ve seen enough research, and life experiences, and heard enough stories, to believe I’d rather live on the edge. So it’s almost a knowing that if I’m not being questioned.. maybe I’m not fully alive.

What about getting into places..Take a look at these options, help tweak it and help educate other parents/people if you’d like. If still too worried, may want to wait a year. Unis aren’t going to stay open, imo, if they don’t start offering more options. Looks like we may get to experiment with local uni kids redefining uni.

. Eric Mazur’s research of AP courses/tests.

Yong Zhao’s research of PISA test (used to compare countries).

faqWhat about math - can you “just in time” math..Funny.. that’s exactly why you don’t need it, it doesn’t show up. School math isn’t used by most people. If we were learning mathematical thinking, we’d see a much bigger issue at hand. That we are spending money/time/people on things with no return. If school math does show up in real context, only need to learn it once. Here’s one of many, just most recent. Learning/life is not linear, you can join in anywhere, no foundation necessary. Think rhizome.

What about structure? Structure is in everything. The difference is that we are facilitating structure created by the learner.. not pushed or forced on the learner.

What about SAT/ACT, gpa, diploma or ? We are working on a non-linear portfolio. College admissions and CEO’s are intrigued because we have gotten so good at proving ourselves, that the tests, the diploma, et al, are no longer distinguishable. ie: so many top scores. The non-linear portfolio we’re prototyping is modeled after the brain.

If you’re so inclined, take a look at what we have gathered over the years: faq.

laur

en

Or ask one of us here: http://thebelab.blogspot.com/