Innovation Lab

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, we talk with three young people--Peter, Sierra, and Cristian--who have been working alongside Monika Hardy in the Innovation Lab in Loveland, Colorado. http://labconnections.blogspot.com/p/about.html

They have been experimenting with what happens when you set an individual free, in spaces of permission, with nothing to prove. They are are hoping/planning to experiment this next year with what happens when you set a city free, in spaces of trust, creating gatherings that matter.

See more versions of this video a the tumblr a quiet revolution unfolds

We invited Peter, Sierra, and Cristian to join us on Teachers Teaching Teachers to tell us about their talks at a recent TEDx FrontRange event.

Here are their short bios from http://tedxfrontrange.com:

Peter Harold

My name is Peter Harold, I’m a 17 year old and I live lovely Loveland, Colorado. I love to sing, sign, laugh and eat. I enjoy the outdoors and love people. My dream is help create a world where everybody’s happy. One of my aspirations is to become fluent enough in many languages to interpret God’s word for those who can’t understand it. I would also love to create music to heal others. Through these things I feel the world could achieve soul peace.

Sierra Goldstein

My name is Sierra Goldstein, I’m a 14 year old girl, and I live in Loveland Colorado. I love to read, run, kickbox, ride horses, practice/ teach yoga, travel, blog, and eat healthy food. I believe that to achieve your goals, you need a network of mentors and friends to support you on your journey. One of my accomplishments is becoming the youngest yoga instructor in the US. Teaching yoga allows me to share the divinity I have within myself, to others who seek it. My goal for when I am older is to go to Stanford University for my bachelor degree, and then move on to the National College of Natural Medicine to become a doctor in preventative medicine. From the education I receive I want to help people by teaching and giving them the tools and foods to fill their body, mind, and spirit with what they need to survive and flourish.

Cristian Buendia

Cristian a young member of society trying to change the world and his city... Has a passion for soccer and video... loves people and food....

Enjoy!

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, seven of us--Chris Sloan, Gail Desler, Fred Mindlin, Monika Hardy, Valerie Burton, Scott Shelhardt and Paul Allison--share our ideas, concerns, hopes, dreams, plans and strategies for moving our teaching away from prescribed learning toward a social change that puts students and their passions at the center of work together.

We find ourselves pondering larger pedagogical questions, discussing issues involved in working together, and brainstorming on nitty-gritty issues about how we might take advantage of the resources we have. Many of these questions will inform our conversations in future shows:

• How do we use the connections young people already have--through tools like cell phones and social networks--to extend their learning?
• How do we get to the brilliance within each young person by moving beyond external incentives like grades and badges?
• What's the difference between teaching with/through games and "gamifying" the curriculum?
• How can we build online cultures using sites like Youth Voices where young children, middle school students, older adolescents, and even young adults can work together in an online one-room school house?
• How can we find the hardware and software we need to enable our students to work together?

And finally, we'd love to know what guests you would like us to invite and what topics you would like us to discuss on future shows of Teachers Teaching Teachers as Monika Hardy, Paul Allison and Chris Sloan have evolved into regular hosts on the show. 

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, these seven teachers:

• Chris Sloan (Utah)
• Margaret Simon (Louisiana)
• Monika Hardy (with an Inovation Lab student, Cristian) (Colorado)
• Scott Shelhart (Indiana)
• Cynthia Shidner (Alaska)
• Paul Allison (New York)
• Fred Haas (Massachusetts)

Enjoy!