For this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Monika Hardy @monk51295 invited a few of her colleagues:

• Thomas Steele-Maley @steelemaley
• Roberto Greco @rogre
• Mary Ann Rielly @MaryAnnRielly
• Amanda Judd @venueX
• Amy Lewark @fat4thought

to join Chris Sloan @csloan and me @paulallison to introduce why we need lab spaces to disrupt and redefine school (Lab Connections). The goal is to facilitate self-directed learning. Here’s how Monika and others introduce their work in an in-progress book they are writing:

Students in Loveland, CO crafted a four year plan of disruption to redefine school. We are just beginning year two. Year four has community/life as school, with the city as the floor plan. Who, what, when, where, how, and with whom you learn, per choice. The premise… nothing is for everyone. We’re redefining success per individual/community. We’re respectfully questioning everything, especially what public education deems as normal. Imagine if the 7 hours a day we currently call school would/could awaken indispensable people. It’s a quiet revolution.

There has been plenty of theory/research invested in what we are doing, and that will be ongoing. But mostly, we have had the privilege and delight to indulge in experimentation/failure/prototyping/etc. The following is our best attempt to capture the key elements learned from key failures. If you are so inclined, shuffle along with us. It’s a kick. You might just fall in love with it.

For more history of the lab, see this video set/documentation (reverse chronological order):redefineschool.tumblr.com

For current updates/info on the lab, see labconnections: http://labconnections.blogspot.com/p/about.html

This was a first, exploratory conversation, and one that we hope will inspire you to join as well. We'll be continuing our conversations with Monika Hardy and her colleagues in the coming weeks on Teachers Teaching Teachers. Join us every Wednesday at edtechtalk.com/live where you’ll hear and see a Livestream broadcast of our conversation, and be invited to chat and ask questions as well.

If it’s November, it must be time for the National Writing Project’s (NWP's) Annual Meeting. This week, many Writing Project teachers from across the United States (and some around the world) will be gathering in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for our annual conference.

In connection with the National Writing Project's Annual Meeting, we invited a few teachers who will be presenting in Philadelphia to join us on this episode. Paul Oh, an associate with the NWP joined us as well. In addition, this same cast of characters will be joining us for a follow-up show after the Annual Meeting on December 2.

This podcast, co-sponsored by the New York City Writing Project and the NWP Technology Liaisons Network, features:

• Robert Rivera-Amezola, Philadelphia Writing Project http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/nwp_amsession/1584
• Joe Conroy, NWP at Rutgers University Writing Project  http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/nwp_amsession/1607
• Chuck Jurich, High Desert Writing Project (New Mexico)  http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/nwp_amsession/1608
• Paul Oh, the coordinator of the technology liaison program for the National Writing Project http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/nwp_au/1102

As presenters of Annual Meeting sessions that focus on 21st century literacies, these writing project teachers and colleagues shared stories about the exploration of new composing practices, especially podcasting and video-making. Robert and Chuck teach 4th graders and Joe teaches 6th graders. It was and exciting, informative show.