can’t wait till 3pm, 5pm, the weekend

2008-2009200+ of us

for the ofTVHS

..how to come up with a

we notice a

many of us (locally -math/leadership classes) started asking ourselves/others what was up with the stress, with school.

what we noticed..

nothing is for everyonevoices were often polar opposites. as many that loved a topic/teacher, same amount didn’t. some loved textbooks/lectures, some didn’t. some liked tech, some didn’t.in fact – community service was only common like.

the to doswe noticed - the to do list of school, seems to keep getting longer and longer. we also noticed it was difficult for people to describe how to change things up w/o assuming a classroom & a prescribed curriculum – as a given. most were voicing how to tweak what we have, not re-imagine what we could have.

work/school - where we get little donewe started seeing busy-ness as the culprit to stress and/or to the appearance of laziness. often people weren’t choosing to do nothing, they were just resting/stressed from all the busy-ness.

We saw incredible teachers meeting up with incredible youth in spaces with incredible resources. We thought: this is like a luxury. So, why then, are people so stressed.We started to wonder about.. who’s together in a space and

how to make that matter.We started to dabble in and be

bold about …choice.

We wondered why so many are stressed. It didn’t make sense. There are many good people, doing good things. We wondered if there might be a way to change up the way we spend our days.

Jason Fried’s Rework had a huge resonance – work (school) is where we get the least done.

Crazy, as one of the biggest concerns of setting people free.. they won’t get anything done..

Perhaps we grab some time from what we have (math class), and try to figure this out.

We request permission to experiment with a self-directed math class.

with the intent of this So in 2009, we dive into this and the vision of this

2009-201030+ of us

for school math

TVHS math classroom

perhaps this is neither

nor

..request permission to write own

we dream of a solution

30 ish students decide to experiment with self-direction in a pre-ap algebra 2 class

think..

flipped classroomSugata Mitra/Dan Meyer, help less, divulge the common core list, and let them have control, tinkering space

cMOOCexperience/connection/network as the it. Shirky’s cognitive surplus/trust

peer to peer Carl Weimen/Eric Mazur – peer to peer-ness, P2PU-ness, Wesch’s editable syllabus – how to run a class

granny cloudonly more like uncle/grandpa cloud, our own Khan from India & other experts from triiibe; 1 to 1 – people & device (laptop)

flat classroomnot only connecting globally via ning/skype (Croatia, Kampala, …) getting outside the conversation of school/math. leads us to draft a flat narrative where the city becomes the school.

Say I offer you spinach or a rock for dinner.

You pick spinach.Should I be happy you are eating spinach.Should I expect you to fall in love with it.Should I feel good that I gave you a choice.

Applauded by the masses for standing in front of a classroom for too many years, teaching how to rationalize a denominator.Perhaps a more rational thing to

do …set people free.

Most of us weren’t in love with school math enough to self-direct. We wondered why people keep claiming algebra 2 topics as basic. We wondered if we might find hunger if we chose our own topic.

James Bach’s Buccaneer Scholar & Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken resonated – People don’t have a propensity toward laziness, they have a propensity toward hard work that matters to them.

Perhaps we see what happens if we don’t just self-direct school math, but we self-direct something that matters to us.We request permission to write our own curriculum.

with the intent of this So in 2010, we dive into this and the vision of this

2010-201150+ of us

TVHS tech building

we experiment

with a limited x

met in tech bldg at a highschool. most came from that school, some from other schools, some were homeschoolers/unschoolers.

all ages. all doing our own thing. think..

google 20%besides the unschoolers/homeschoolers, kids were doing this within the system, as a part of their day

independent projectpermaculture, homelessness, sign language, game design, ..

localwe came to realize virtual as only a part of the picture. we craved local/physical. we started dreaming of moving downtown.

structurewe started to realize – this wasn’t about no structure, but about self-structure. it was hard to find/allow authentic self-structure. we started to wonder if the key to sticking to motivation was the affordance of following one’s whimsy.

ypar/deb roy/bunker royall of this, all of us, as researchers. how/what to document

We had one kid write an incredible curriculum for chess. Then he decided not to do it. He didn’t think it was legit, since he came up with it.We had many start out energetic, then lose interest, even in what they had chosen.

So we were battling a mentality, even though people seemed to have given us permission. Was our pick legit in the first place, and how ridiculous were we to want to change our mind. We started to notice the effect of

the…raised eyebrow.

We wondered why writing our own curriculum wasn’t more breathtaking/sustaining.We wondered if hunger has more to do with curiosities than commitment to some single outcome.

Krishnamurti’s writings were a huge resonancePartial freedom is no freedom. As were Ellen Langer’s - Focus on outcomes can make us mindless. Google 20% no longer seemed enough. Perhaps google 100%.

Perhaps we see what happens if we follow our whimsy.

We request permission to declare learnings (if we desire credit) at the end of the year.

with the intent of this So in 2011, we dive into this and the vision of this

2011-201250+ of us

every. day.

we experiment with

incredible opportunity to experiment in a house downtown. living out a redefinition of nclb:

everyone has access to wealthy unschool homethink..

knowmads/polamar5spaces we had only dreamed about two years earlier. it was a kick. unbelievable even. the be you house blew us away.

unschoolingwe were now mingling with many outside of school. starting to learn/focus more on life. older people – perhaps w/o realizing it – were verbalizing an unschooling redefinition of school. how to document w/o documenting/proving becoming the focus.

sudbury/metpeople kept trying to label what we were doing. sudbury/summerhill seemed to fit. as did much about the met. but we were really just trying to model, in a house, what goes on in our minds.

tinkeringwe felt like we were taking Gever’s brightworks back to the woods/city. tinkering while talking to ourselves – as detox.

We had many conversations about

productivity – what it means.We had many conversations about

being able to change your mind, everyday.

We were seeing people do amazing things, once they were quiet/free enough to find the thing they can’t not do.

But …we were hitting a roadblock with people being able to

…find their people.

Not enough people are free to play this out.

We wondered why more aren’t doing/realizing/being this life of perpetual beta.

We started to wonder if it’s because most people don’t believe it’s legal to think for themselves.

We started to realize, experiment with and trust that…There is never nothing going on.Perhaps we’ve been quiet enough to hear enough. And now we can’t not share.

Figuring out how to share a narrative, for the betterness of 100% of humanity. Sharing five elements that might be vital to this happening anywhere, in a be you book.

with the intent of this So in 2012, we dive into this and the vision of this

a narrative for 100% of humanity

2012-2013lab as mindset –

no way to track #’s

Anthology, RoadNarrows, The Armory, The Library, ..

we dabble with

timely nudge to carry on with the vision, moves us out into the city, perhaps here is where lab becomes mindset

think..

curiosity of a 5 yr oldwe started seeing/believing that curiosity alone might lead to a better world. we prototype a curiosity app. focus/data is individual curiosities. perhaps tech uses that data to shorten time between finding your art/curiosity and finding your people.

the riches in a townwe started wondering/scoping out more of the riches in a town.

the riches sitting idle in a townlike the classrooms/libraries/labs/minds in a school, we started noticing many riches sitting idle. most of all – people – again, because many are too busy to do/find the thing they can’t not do. and if they did, their people were too busy to gather.

the power of a narrative for everyonehaving to keep mindful of a narrative for everyone, rather than taking care of the issues/people right in front of us. often hard. believing that compromises will add more years, we’re seeking to look beyond what an ant can see.

We start living out the vision from 2009. City as school. Meet up spaces in city spaces: coffeehouse, library, businesses.

We do have all we need, except minds that believe they can do whatever they want. We focus on ways to share what we have learned/seen/know. A narrative for 100% of humanity is doable. We can’t not give it a try.

Redefining public education, as a

means to equity. Everyone getting a go.

We wondered why individuals & pockets could do/be such incredible things, while many were still not free to play.

We started to wonder if it had to do with synchronicity.

Buckminster Fuller believed that earning a living was not even a basic. He believed that 1 person could be clever enough to support 100,000 people.

Yeah. Huge resonation.

Perhaps 100% of humanity becomes the story. Perhaps a site remix - a wikipedia-style kickstarter, garners no-strings-attached funding, so we can play this vision out, with said synchronicity.

with the intent of this So in 2013, we dive into this and the vision of this

..none of us are free

2013-2014none of us if one of us

everywhere and nowhere

listening to the

be\cause not all the

in/out of the house. to out\in of the house.and. again. as remix.

think..

none of us if one of usif equity (everyone getting a go) is the thing i can’t not focus on, how to create a mechanism/model/mindset where none of us are chained. [be\cause – a cause that’s messing w/our be]

oikoshouse as space(s) of permission where no one has anything to prove. our house. [body/building/earth] one. love.

networked individualismperhaps the mechanism that unleashes each one of us. together and alone. 24/7 in the smallest and most ginormous increments of being human and alive.

site as prototypeperhaps a glimpse of what might be remnants when we let go of credentials/money/materialism. what might be useful, rather than defining/confining.

i am still. in a personal/material/local/global house. i walk/move/connect/listen to/with everyone and no one. oikos.

i/we appear a mess, yet in the still\ness one can see/feel/hear a stream. of conscience.

mine/ours is equity. everyone finding/doing/being their fittingness..

oh. the dance.

Jane Costello believes it is most unethical to screen people for a condition if you don’t have the services in place to treat them.

Be\cause not all the people can dance…none of us are free.

Barry Wellman believed that we could level the game with what he calls networked individualism. Perhaps we can facilitate both authenticity & attachment.

What if the condition is stress, and the service/mechanism/oikos is networked individualism, and the gameplan/map is written on each of our hearts. Already. So we (7 billion+)..

..be still & listen.

with the intent of this So in 2013, we/i dive into this and the vision of this

2014-2015 ?100% of humanity

as the day.

we hope to prototype

the learning/visionthinking:.

scale the individualrather than waiting for innovations to scale, for ants to reach their pile, perhaps we use tech to tap into 7 billion individuals. we think a curiosity app will ground the inevitable chaos of this.

in the cityan ecosystem of eclectic people/resources.

as the dayevery gets 24/7. no. they really get it. no agendas. no raised eyebrows.

perhaps something no one has yet tried.

imagine if it works.

One huge finding over the years - this story/narrative/experiment - is not ridiculous. It’s even doable.

And perhaps, it’s the most incredible business deal (makes Bucky’s vision happen), not to mention the most humane revolution, anyone could imagine.

We do now know too much, to not give it a go. Nothing new or particularly clever. It came from being quiet enough to hear it.

People longing to …be set free.

We wonder why no one has experimented

1) in the city (an ecosystem of eclectic people/resources)

2) as the day (not tacked onto the day, or after hours/school)

With the synchronicity

1) free people

2) spaces/resources

3) tech to level access & hasten time between finding your art & finding your people

Perhaps a city changed will be enough for us to unleash our current pluralistic ignorance.

Perhaps it will wake us up enough to see/believe – oh.. I/we can do/be that

with the intent of this So perhaps in 2014?, we dive into this and the vision of this