What Is Your Passion?

Take a look at what this kid was able to do with his passion:

What if your learning looked like this? How can we bring these types of passion projects into our school? How can you take control of our curriculum? What do you need to know, what skills must you have to make things like this happen? Would love to hear your thoughts on these questions and the video.

Too Old For Fairytales

Hi everyone!

Miss me? I miss you guys. I am busy trying to read all your work, leave comments and feedback and get all caught up before next week. While I was hard at work a fellow teacher and friend from UNIS school in Hanoi shared some amazing student work with me.

I though you would dig the inspiration from fellow grade 8's around the world:


Too Old For Fairytales from UNIS Hanoi on Vimeo.

Pretty amazing huh? 

The Future Belongs to the Curious

Two posts in one night? Can you handle it? Another video for ya. This one pretty much speaks for itself:


The Future Belongs to the Curious from Skillshare on Vimeo.

Come on leave me a comment. You know you want to. Take look here and share some ideas. Let's get a conversation going about curiosity and learning.

We Can Now Connect

i was thinking of you. and me. us. and the things that we do. in class and out. i do that a lot, think about you. me. us and the things we do in and out of class. i was thinking in chunks. and spurts. and messy punctuation. in lower cases and confusing places. i was thinking about you when i saw this:


But now our world is too small and too close for us not to make a difference

We can now connect
          
            Crowds around a cause
            The ignorant to knowledge
            The isolated to college
            Orphans to their fathers
            Donors to non-profits
            And injustices to those who can stop it......

.....The true nature of this new age unit
Is in how we use it
Woven into each and everyone of us there is an inner net
And I pray we may stitch our world back together
As we knit, patch, and connect


i was thinking of you. and me. us. and the things that we do. what are you thinking about?

You can read the words here and learn more about David.

melted smiles

Sometimes you do something that makes me beam and smile and beam and smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes it feels like that maybe I am not talking to a wall, that maybe you are absorbing the various lessons I try to teach. Not the ones about skills and thesis and writing and paragraphs, but the ones about life and learning and art and joy and sharing and you.

This is one such example. Thank you so much to Chloe for taking the time to create and share such a tender and honest film about her hobbies, her failures, and her weird and charming quirkiness. Please take the time to join the conversation on her blog about "failure" and joy.

i am proud

My brain is on fire. The only way I can think to put it out is to write. Sad you say, perhaps, but someday I hope that you will feel the heat of this disease. There is nothing quite as exciting as having a blaze of thoughts burn through your mind, your body, your soul--leaving a smear of ash and smoke on the page. The world is too much with us, so we write to try and help lighten the load.

I am proud. I am proud of you. I am proud of myself. I am proud of our peers and fellow teachers. I am proud of the community we are building and the work we are doing and the thoughts we are thinking and the conversations we are having and the art we are creating and the writing we are doing and, and, and .....I am proud. I am proud of those of you choosing to open up and share and express yourselves and I am proud of those of you choosing to sit still a while longer.

Sometimes, we want it all and we want it now, but life takes time. Communities take time. Trust takes time, but when the sparks begins to spread the slow fire burns. Perhaps it was Solal's piece that ignite this blaze, but ever since it feels like our blogs are burning up. After a quick share about Vulnerability and Introverts, we heard from Michelle, Sana, Pranav, Lina, Pavitra, Chloe and Rohan.

As a community, we have been lucky to hear from Ms. G and her class: Mizuki. Eric. Sid. Aroni. Ethan. We even got some criticism and push back about our work to which Michele and Liam  have responded beautifully. (See the comments) Honestly there is too much to share in one post. This is good. This is great. I am proud. Your teachers are modeling this work by sharing their poetry here and here. ( I know, I know, mine is coming soon)

Not everyone is baring their soul to the universe, however, and this is more than okay. No one ever said that your blog must be a public diary. It can be anything you want to share. People are writing about Diwali/Deepavali, strange memories, Slender Man, and even Rigor and Mother Theresa! There is advice on blogging and so much more. Everyday, brings a new list of posts that I get to read. please dive in and interact. Reading your blogs is my favorite thing to do, because I get to know you so well. The problem is that I  simply cannot comment on each post, as there are too many, but I am reading them all. Now is the time for you to  begin commenting with each other.

Do you see what is happening? Our community has begun to sprout. We are growing. Our roots are finding their way. Our pots are becoming too small. It is getting bigger than anyone one of us. It includes all of us. You could spend several hours following these links. Then a few hours more thinking, then a few hours more writing and responding. Reading, thinking, writing? Music to my ears. This is what blogging is all about and you are understanding that.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I am proud of you. I am proud. Can you hear me? Can you feel the heat, the buzz, the excitement? All from some words on a page. Burned there by you, your ideas, and your voice. What do you think? What do you want people to know about what we are doing? Leave your thoughts in the comments below...

Great Advice about Creativity from Next Door

Don't know what to write, say, share? Ms. G has a great post about creativity to get you going.

It's true. There are days where we can write, create, invent, remix, paint, shoot and develop/manipulate material with no problem at all. We've all had those, right? Where the ideas come pouring in and you can't stop moving your hands and your spirit to arrive at a magnificent piece of art.  A blog post melts on white space like butter on a hot pan.  Paintings emerge effortlessly on the canvas; your vision and reality a complete match. Song lyrics float in the air. Photos speak a thousand narratives just from the light hitting the subject's eyes.  It seems like, when our muses cooperate, the work is easy. When the ideas are within our reach and are overflowing, the process feels like a relaxed day sunbathing by the beach, cold mango smoothie in one hand, an annotated book in the other. 

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo shared by Bill McIntyre  

Be sure to check out the whole post here.  What do you think? How do you get inspired, motived to create?

How To Be Alone

Here is one of my favorite things on the Internet

HOW TO BE ALONE by Tanya Davis

If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it, then just wait. You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it.

We could start with the acceptable places, the bathroom, the coffee shop, the library. Where you can stall and read the paper, where you can get your caffeine fix and sit and stay there. Where you can browse the stacks and smell the books. You're not supposed to talk much anyway so it's safe there.

There's also the gym. If you're shy you could hang out with yourself in mirrors, you could put headphones in (guitar stroke).

And there's public transportation, because we all gotta go places.

And there's prayer and meditation. No one will think less if you're hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.

Start simple. Things you may have previously (electric guitar plucking) based on your avoid being alone principals.

The lunch counter. Where you will be surrounded by chow-downers. Employees who only have an hour and their spouses work across town and so they -- like you -- will be alone.

Resist the urge to hang out with your cell phone.

When you are comfortable with eat lunch and run, take yourself out for dinner. A restaurant with linen and silverware. You're no less intriguing a person when you're eating solo dessert to cleaning the whipped cream from the dish with your finger. In fact some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.

Go to the movies. Where it is dark and soothing. Alone in your seat amidst a fleeting community.
And then, take yourself out dancing to a club where no one knows you. Stand on the outside of the floor till the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you. Dance like no one's watching...because, they're probably not. And, if they are, assume it is with best of human intentions. The way bodies move genuinely to beats is, after all, gorgeous and affecting. Dance until you're sweating, and beads of perspiration remind you of life's best things, down your back like a brook of blessings.

Go to the woods alone, and the trees and squirrels will watch for you.
Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, there're always statues to talk to and benches made for sitting give strangers a shared existence if only for a minute and these moments can be so uplifting and the conversations you get in by sitting alone on benches might've never happened had you not been there by yourself

Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

You could stand, swathed by groups and mobs or hold hands with your partner, look both further and farther for the endless quest for company. But no one's in your head and by the time you translate your thoughts, some essence of them may be lost or perhaps it is just kept.

Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from preschool over to high school's groaning were tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cuz if you're happy in your head than solitude is blessed and alone is okay.

It's okay if no one believes like you. All experience is unique, no one has the same synapses, can't think like you, for this be releived, keeps things interesting lifes magic things in reach.

And it doesn't mean you're not connected, that communitie's not present, just take the perspective you get from being one person in one head and feel the effects of it. take silence and respect it. if you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it. if your family doesn't get you, or religious sect is not meant for you, don't obsess about it.

you could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it
If your heart is bleeding make the best of it
There is heat in freezing, be a testament.

So where does that take you?  What does that make you feel? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Welcome To Our Disease

Hey friend,

I hear you are weighed down by doubt, riddled with anxiety, and feeling a tad uneasy. You hit a home-run at your second at bat at now you're not sure if you can step up to the plate again. Relax. Take a breath. We have all been there. Welcome to our disease. Let me show you how to live with it.

The world is too much with us and that is okay.  You took a risk and with all risk comes fear and tension and doubt. But fear is the captain of courage, without which the sails lay limp, the ship moored. So often we are told that risk-taking is the stuff of heroes and supermen. Images of cliff divers cloud the reality of quiet moments of vulnerability. The ability to turn your insides out and present them to an uncaring world is the ultimate act of bravery.

People plagued by uncertainty would rather remain silent than cultivate their voice. So afraid to speak, to write, to share, to explore or expose the mass of people remain silent. But not you, young writer, you have felt the itch, you have heard the voice and you will never be the same. A nagging need give shape to the shapeless will haunt you from this day forth. Listen for as long as you need, but you have already felt the exhilaration of creation. You have felt the power of connection, understanding and acceptance. You spoke and we applauded. It felt good. It felt right, but now what? How can you do that again?

You won't. You don't need to. Don't set that expectation. You will only be disappointed. Let the audience remain vague and beyond your reach. Do not write for us, not yet. Write for yourself. Write for the muse and the voice. Write for that which you have no choice. Write for your passion and for your love. Write for yourself and write to explore.

Sometimes we will respond, but most often we will not. Do not let the silence discourage you. Do not let the applause confuse you. Just write. It will never be right It will never be perfect. At best it will be clear and articulate. It may melt a heart or spark a revolution, but sometimes it will do nothing more than unburden your heart.

You have taken the first step on a long journey. There is no end. No destination. Just write what you see, what you feel. We are all here somewhere on the path doing the same. Write honestly. Write from the heart and you will see that this disease may actually be a blessing. It may be the only thing that keeps you alive.

We are a family- the writers and story tellers, the artists and the saints. You keep writing and you will find us in the shadows.

Caine's Arcade

Not sure how you ended up at this post, you might be in my mentor group or one of my classes or maybe your teacher shared the link, or maybe you are a teacher and your head of grade sent you here. Regardless of how you arrived, let me say welcome.

The story is in three parts and is pretty self-explanatory.Where it goes and how the final chapter plays out depends entirely on your creativity and initiative. Your willingness to do something fun and be a kid again.

Here is part one:

Part two:

You can read more about the project here, but the last part involves you and your creativity, your passion, your drive and need to build and create. It involves your enthusiasm and imagination. I have created an event here. I will not pester you or check up on your or even remind you. I have planted the seed. What will you build? What will you create? How big will this thing get?

You decide if you want to share it with friends and peers on your blogs, on Facebook, Twitter whereever you are online, or if we will simply create and share on our own. I hope at least a few of you begin to build today.

If you are not in my mentor group or any of my classes, please leave a comment stating your interest in  the comment section below. RSVP here and start building. We will all (depending on how many we have) gather on the 5th of October and share our creations.

Will there be one or two kids? Zero? 100? You decide. Good luck. Looking forward to seeing your imagination in cardboard.

no try

Welcome young writers, young thinkers, young bloggers. Welcome to your voice, your space, your blog. Welcome to the blogosphere. At the end of 2011 there were 70 million blogs on Wordpress alone. 39 Million more on Tumblr. Many of you have already been tinkering around the internet, sharing photos, status updates, re-blogging animated .gifs, sharing your favorite songs and movie clips.

So why am I grandstanding this introduction to a classblog? Because this year, I am feeling a buzz and excitement, I haven’t felt in years of student blogging. I feel like you get it. You get the need to write and share and explore and inquire and design and draw and sing and question and connect and be heard. I feel you get the need to carve out your space and demand to be noticed. You get the need to create and re-create who you are and demand to be understood. You get the need to prove you matter, that you have ideas that are not being prepared for life, but matter now. You get that poor writing is ignored and poorly designed spaces are abandoned. You get that I am here to guide you and help you and not to evaluate or judge you. You understand the power of a blog. Your blog and you are ready to occupy your space online. You are ready to use your voice to demand change, to add to the global conversation, to create art that exposes injustice, awakens empathy, and challenges thinking.

I am excited to see what you create. Who you choose to become. What you decide to share. In the clip below, Yoda challenges Luke not to give up when a task appears to be impossible.

“Do or do not do. There is no try.”

What will you use your blog to do? How will you take ownership of your tiny space on the internet? How will you use your words, your images, your ideas to dig a bit of depth for your online identity?