9/14 | 9/7 | 8/31 | 8/25 | 8/20 | 8/4 | 7/28 | 7/23 |
9/14 free school meeting
Wednesday September 14th 2011, 6:30pm at Libertalia
Agenda
• Publicity and promotion/flyers and flyering
• Other free events in the Providence Community
• Signing up for classes
• Space/use agreement
Check-ins
>>> Publicity and Flyering
- A 1/3 sheet flyer has been designed by Sarah. The flyer includes information on the three classes (Pop Prog, Why Revolution, and Botanical Medicine) slated to begin as well as times and dates of first classes
- This flyer has been put in several coffee shops around the Providence area
- Chris has offered to make a calendar
- Calender would be Sept.-Oct. and feature three current classes
- Daniel will be missing two weeks and we will have the calendar reflect this
- Chris will speak to organizer of zine program on Saturdays to confirm no scheduling conflict between zine program and Daniel’s Pop Prog class.
- Other instructors will be contacted to confirm no scheduling conflicts before Chris finalizes calendar
- Ben (Portuguese) and Doug (SAT) will be contacted to see if they should be included on calender
- Natalie, Olivia, and Sarah have plans to work on larger poster
- John has idea for Free School poster that would be geared towards facilitators and learners
- Poster would have slots for 1/3 posters and other flyers
- Chris will flyer East Side morning of 9/15/2011.
- Email and Facebook publicity
- Fort Thunder- Andrew will email
- Libertalia has already sent email with Free School class information
- John will contact Facebook groups to promote Free School Classes
- LotsofNoise forum- Chris has account; will put Free School information on forum
- Daily Dose and Daily Dose side-blog publicity was discussed- no one was assigned this task
- A list of places to outreach can be located as “Ideas for Initial Outreach” in Providence Free School Planning Google group.
- Oi and others have expressed interest in using Free School to promote other free events in Providence
- Sarah would like an online calendar to develop
- Issues were raised about this Free School Calender printing many of the same events as other currently existing calendars such as Providence Movement and Libertalia
- The idea of creating a link on the Free Scool website was also brought up
- John suggested that for the moment we continue to email free events to the group and pursue the other methods of promoting free events at a later date. Group agreed.
- Chris brought a space use agreement modeled off of the Baltimore Free School’s space use agreement
- It was suggested that each facilitator sign a space use agreement and explain rules of space use agreement to classes
- Questions was discussed of emergency contact being listed in Space Use agreement
- Jordan suggested each space assign their own emergency contact to be listed on space use agreement
- It was agreed that many issues regarding space use would be minimized because all classes will be held at Libertalia
- It was agreed to discuss space use at a later date
- Sarah comfortable with drop-in format where students do not need to sign up for classes
- Contact will be made with facilitators to ask if they would prefer a sign-up or drop in format for their class and changes to the website will reflect this
- Daniel reported that his class would be cumulative and he would expect learners to attend classes in succession
- Go through past meeting notes and contact folks who have been assigned to work on projects
- If no proposals in two weeks, make push for proposals
9/7 Meeting
Agenda:
Check in
Talk about new Proposals
(break up middle of meeting w/ yoga)
Publicity/things to do to get classes started
Teacher training
Donations for teachers
Check ins - names, pronouns, why we're here
Proposals
1) Botanical Medicine
- length of time - is there a set semester? - helpful for teachers in their planning processes to have a time scale to work within >- student population could fade away if there's no clear end date
- informal semester system (fall, winter, spring) - this works well for chanelle's class, since dif seasons have dif associated cures and plants
- 12 weeks, ending in early december - 8-10 on Mondays
- walks to gather plants will be scheduled on an ad hoc basis
- later on in the class, start charging on a sliding scale/work-tradecosts
- give advance warning about having to buy stuff, costs not likely to be immense (jars, pens, pencils, books and manuals); possible to split these costs with others
- chanelle would prefer that the space be closed to avoid distractions during her class, especially would like people NOT to use computer
2) Revolutionary Reading Group
- readings determined very much by participants desires
- oi will have some ideas and readings of their own for the beginning class(es?)
- lots of geography, past, present and future
- look at microfiche, source documents, writings of radical groups, secondary sources
- first few classes would be determing what people want to read about
- have some readings that everyone reads, have participants go out and do their own research
- probably use projector
- Sundays 7-9
for classes using libertalia, be aware that ppl might be going into the space during the class - the teacher can decide beforehand if they want the space to be closed during the class and let libertalia know in advance
Publicity
- put mini calendar as insert into "sept in providence" movement announcement
- these could be third sheet calendars
- Sarah will make a 3rd sheet with the classes we have now; she will have it ready by rocktucket
- John, Olivia, Natalie, and Sarah are willing to work on full-size calendar "> - calendar meeting will be set up
- have a presence at rocktucket in addition to having 3rd sheet calendars; also have a small general promotional thing in the future, do pins and stickers
- andrew will put up basic text descriptions of classes on website
- chris will work on embedding a calendar on the website
how should people sign up for classes - for now, do it just by showing up at the first class and leaving name/contact info
teacher training - can wait til later, 1st few teachers are comfortable starting on their own
Teachers being able to take donations for their time and effort (not just strictly for materials)
- have in the description whether or not teachers would be willing to take money
- have a jar near the door
- have a free school organizer at the first meeting of each class who can talk about free school in general and "teachers are willing to take donations" in particular - but this could be intimidating to some; or it could be that class dynamic changes a lot after the free school organizer is there - maybe don't introduce donations at the first class
- ask teacher (on form) if they're comfortable with 1) taking donations and 2) asking for donations in the class; put this on course description so teachers don't ask for donations for themselves in class - teachers CAN ask for donations for materials in class
- teachers maybe shouldn't ask for money in person
- have a form to offer to teachers with standard info that has written donation policy;
- free school's donations to libertlalia will come entirely NOT from in-class donations
- distinguishing between types of donations to teachers? - say donations are "welcome" rather than accepted?
- have teachers offer, if possible multiple options for the curriculum with different levels of material costs
- donations don't have to be money
general fundraising - can wait
next meeting wed 9/14 @ 6:30
8/31 free school meeting
wednesday 8/31 at 6:30pm — 10 people present, chris facilitating + taking notes
>>> group agenda formation:
1- course proposals + critique
2- vision sharing + overview
3- meeting comfort, inclusivity, conduct
4- questions of efficiency + productivity
5- mission (if there is time)
>>> check-ins
your name, what pronoun you use, something you learned today
[not noted]
>>> "popular programming"
course proposal, from daniel
[ lots of back and forth on this -- see http://popprog.tumblr.com for full details ]
>>> sharing of visions + past meeting progress
providence free school - network/framework for community to build and share skills, knowledge, and information. non-institutional, non-hierarchical, for autonomy & education & empowerment
are we an "alternative" school? no -- but are we an "alternative" to other institutionalized schools? yes -- main point here is that we are not a full-time education
if we could check in on visions + passions during each meeting, to make sure that each person's voice is being heard and included, that might be a good strategy for promoting involvement during mtgs
our meetings should follow our vision of the ideal classroom setting -- more heterogeneity! more variety! more interaction!
>>> meeting inclusivity
some people had commented that certain aspects of meeting conduct and interactions were (intentionally or not) exclusive / exclusionary, or made people feel that their opinions were less valid or welcome. let's talk about it.
it would be great to have workshops every month or two on how to conduct meetings in a way that promotes participation and empowerment of everyone. this could be for free school organizers, f.s. instructors, and anyone else. what are common conventions for being aware of our own presence in groups? step up/down, being conscious of boundaries, etc.
similarly, learning scenarios and discussions can be a bigger part of these meetings, both to break up monotony and to expand our ability to work together well. for instance -- talking about popular education during the instructor training meeting was excellent. let's do more of this.
the hurried choice to introduce "stack" during previous meeting(s) was strange and unclear to many people present. it can stilt and stunt a conversation, for feeling too formal (for a small and unheated topic), and most importantly, we need to make sure that everyone knows what something like "calling stack" means before we begin using it in a meeting.
learn from how other groups conduct their meetings!
it's also important to be sure that everyone understands what it means to facilitate, and what are some good strategies for doing so effectively and inclusively (while still making progress). let's have the next meeting's facilitator talk to the facilitator of the current meeting, about coming agenda and also roles + strategies, e.g., looking out for and calling out people taking too dominant a role or people being silenced.
we should also be sure to set the agenda more than 1 minute before the meeting begins -- if possible, email out to "organize" listserv a day or two before the next meeting.
>>> efficiency / productivity conversation
some people had raised the critique that the free school, so far, seemed disorganized and sluggish. people present at the meeting agree -- being too bureaucratic is its own way of being exclusive, and we should focus on getting classes started. some details and finer points (+ best practices) can be worked out later on.
important to keep a loose timeframe during meetings too, to keep people comfortable, and to empower facilitators to limit or table a conversation that has been going on for a long time. it's also important that this tabling / bracketing isn't used as an excuse for silencing or ending conversations, but that we really allow them to continue again, in the future.
>>> mission statement
let's just do a final online edit, and then post what we've got. it will remain editable (and we should edit it!)
>>> tasks
everyone - review class proposals, comment + feedback to each other! then to the person who submitted the idea.
john - lesson planning / curriculum tips
olivia - designing promotional material for submitting class proposals
john, natalie, sarah d - designing posters / calendars
andrew - "spaces" and "mission" pages on the website
chris - communicate web procedures, improve website + forms, implement online calendar
daniel - new webform HTML stuff
>>> end
- next meeting, wednesday sept. 7 at 6:30, natalie facilitates
- check-outs
8/25 Meeting
AGENDA for meeting
- recap results of space exploration
- how to handle proposals that have/will come in
- revising course proposal form
- make a time line of when to start free school, make deadlines
spaces:
- went into businesses on broadway and elsewhere; 3-4 promising leads
- in general, ppl want to see credibility and get a more specific idea of what classes will be offered; also want to make sure that the FS will not flake out
- ada books, dash, DARE, efa more welcoming
- luke mentioned the possibility of using a space in atlantic mills, left tower, 4th floor; open more or less whenever
- the mediator - potential space
- everyone should get involved in space exploration!
proposals
- when a proposal comes in, someone put it into email and send to the organize list, who will discuss via email; after everyone has had a chance to say what they want to about the proposal, send these suggestions (but only as SUGGESTIONS, not as conditions) to the proposer
- have google doc to say when something has been approved and when proposer has been contacted with organizers' comments
- have a physically written waiting list for spaces
- have longer-term classes happen on more set a semester/half year basis? y/n?
- let teachers make their own decisions/take their own risks with timing
- have an online page about specific spaces and what makes a space good anyway?
proposal form editing:
- remove '6 to 8 weeks'
- have classes starting on rolling basis (say this on the application somewhere) but usually starting at the beginning of the month; have ppl meet the deadline for every month's calendar if they want the class to be on it
- make sure ppl know that 1 session classes are ok
Tasks, people who volunteered for them, and deadlines for them
1) contacting ppl who came to teachers' meeting and asking them to specifically propose stuff - sarah d and chris 8/29
2) solidifying email announce and organize lists - chris 8/25
3) promotional materials:
a) general broadcasting email to promote course proposal - andrew 8/29
b) paper promotional materials (to get people to know about and use online course proposal form; might be cool to also in small print include info about the organizational meetings?) - olivia will make time permitting?; oi will translate into spanish time permitting?; chris and oi will be making copies of whatever promotional materials we have on the evening of 8/29, others welcome to get involved
4) calendar:
a) figure out online format for calendar - chris
b) paper version of calendar - olivia, sarah and natalie will start this after 8/31, when more proposals will hopefully be in
5) description on website of what specific spaces we have - andrew
6) getting info from other free (or cheap as possible) educational opportunities, to put on website - oi will kick this off, others will get involved
7) finish guiding documents, put them online - andrew will check in with john and annie rose and see how they feel about the stuff they've been working on.
Other notes going forward:
- next meeting wed 8/31, 7:30 @ libertalia; allow ppl to propose classes at the beginning of organizational meetings, then they can leave if they wish
open meeting on 8/30
- try to look at whatever course proposals there are before meeting, so we can discuss them during meeting
- for first classes, have some kind of promotional materials (if not a fully fleshed out calendar) ready to go a week and a half before classes start
8/20 Meeting
- refining the mission statement and values, and hopefully putting them up on the site (John and I have done some work on this, check out the google doc)
- putting the course proposal form and the help sheets online (I've made a Google form in our google docs list, and John and I can figure out how to embed this on the site the way Santa Cruz free skool does)
- money and fundraisers and donations
- make plans, pick date
- oi? trivia night? explore locals bars
- more publicity?
- make sheets
- brochures fliers
- review procedure for proposals
- exploring spaces in addition to Libertalia or 186 Carpenter? or should we just wait til this need arises in course proposals?
- 186 carpenter once a week, maybe more later
- luke would like to coordinate with others who are interested in doing that
- luke has been talking to ppl who do pop-up galleries in unused spaces/spaces slated for renovation
- having classes more important than space
ideas for spaces: lockwood, columbus theater, bell street, community libraries, hive archive, as 220, dirt palace, recycle a bike, CCRI?, RISD quickies, david lopes comm center, nickerson comm center, ona, efa (kerry will talk to them)
having a variety of spaces would be helpful in making the school open, accessible
look for spaces that engage the community, aim to responsive
- spaces - using people's homes at first will be ok;
luke will look into talking to space owners/ managers; luke would like people to help him; this will happen tues, wednesday, announce this to free school list
- go door to door
oi's friend sarah works for arch firm that does cheap renovation; could help with space; oi will follow up with sarah
ask katie miller about 2005 providence free school
bring course proposal forms and general info sheet to leave with space managers
REVIEW PROCEDURE FOR CLASSES:
- have trial period; let the existence of a class depend on who shows up
- make non-hierarchy an important value; ie if class is taught in this way, great
- empower ppl to explore teaching, esp ppl who might not have a ton of experience in teaching
- have as little review as possible; have an open list of ppl interested in organizing
- allow anyone to speak up about their issues
have course "review" sessions at the beginning of every term
info session with a rundown of all classes
monthly socials
*informal committee with suggestions, critiques, but don't really say no
- once or twice in person a month to read proposals
- once or twice a month social
have times for reflection on the project; encourage this in feedback forms, emails, free school gatherings
how to deal with emergencies, severe issues with or without organizational structure
accountability structure - letting everyone know their expectations; how to make it so ppl don't end up getting ostracized or end up leaving
at the moment, don't solidify the structure but be honest about this?
the free school's value of horizontalism leaves everyone open to accusations of trying to be authoritarian
encourage people to team teach with others
be careful about spaces and the kinds of situations we create that might not be safe
have ppl involved in organizing go to classes at first just to see what's going on (also check for safety)
8/4 Meeting
While waiting for everyone to arrive, we re-watched the ithaca freeskool video for those who hadn't seen it
check ins/intros
Things people have been doing and will continue to do:
andrew - postering, course proposal form
- others will, as time permits, do different designs of poster s(to show how varied we are!)
john - course planning sheet
annie rose - working on lesson planning help sheets
natalie?, olivia - working on mission statement
- nugget, with expanded version; toronto free skool's mission statement seems like a decent source of ideas
saying things in a jargon-y way? what do we think of this? don't be afraid to say exactly what we mean, even if it's in language that's not super widespread
info session for people interested in teaching
- purpose is to give teachers an idea of what is expected, what kind of support there is for them (logistically, planning wise, etc), what their options are
- flier this, leave quarter-sizes around at places (ie foo fest/book fair);
- have info session on monday 8/15 at 7:00 (to 9pm)
- olivia will see if icarus is ok with this
- plan this info session at a smaller meeting next thurs @ 6:30; at libertalia, have 198 carpenter as backup meeting location
where will classes be?
- when people are proposing classes, suggest libertalia, library, other free public spaces
- libertalia more likely to be open later in the evenings
- try to avoid having classes in homes; try to have one central space that can host as many classes as possible
- sarah d will look into using 186 carpenter office
- give teachers a lot of leeway at first to figure out space on their own
- how strict should schedule be? easier to schedule with libertalia, the office, etc if classes happen in regular blocks
- classes do not have to have a certain time schedule; ie a person can propose a class that meets weekly or once a semester
- when talking to potential teachers/facilitators about classes, word it as "we are new to this; we want to help you, but we have limited space;" make it so people don't expect the class to happen right away and are not surprised/upset if they have to wait a few weeks for space to open up
things to do:
- annie rose will draft publicity email to publicize the info session (by tuesday?)
- sarah d and natalie will work on flier for teacher info session (will be sent to olivia/julian/sarah to print by wednesday; copies will be left at libertalia for ppl to pick up and distribute)
- olivia will, if they have time, make quarter size to give out @ foo fest?
- andrew will keep working on course proposal form
- olivia will email jessica of baltimore free school and propose meeting at libertalia @ 11 sat morning (8/13)
- olivia will work on finalizing mission statement, time permitting
- olivia and chris are working on website design
7/28 Meeting
thursday 7/28 at 5:30pm, at john & andrew's apartment near libertalia - 14 people present, chris facilitating
rough agenda:
intros + check-in
recap last week's meeting, and what's been done since then
for new people: talk about vision in a bit more detail, answer questions!
website
mission! group-editing
logistics
checkout / plan next meeting
>>> recap
chris did a bit of work on the website, now at http://providence.freeskool.org
sarah worked on feedback forms (see google docs)
john is writing a course prep guide and list of resources
annie rose is writing a guide for lesson planning
andrew is brainstorming outreach and publicity locations and designing a small general publicity sheet to distribute
olivia wrote up some mission statement thoughts & ideas
[newcomers, please see the notes from the previous meeting!]
>>> mission statement discussion
"self-education" ? focus on community, not individual
"non-coercive" = you're not required to be there, and you're not subject to strict rules within the classroom, as opposed to most public ed.
"learner" and "teacher" -- let's think harder!
jargon? let's avoid jargon!
we could list the goals or values we seek to embody ..
a space on the website for explaining language used in talking about non-hierarchical education (for instance, what is "non hierarchical"?)
close the "about us" statement with practical visions, desired dynamics, skills to be shared, etc
let's encourage participation too!
>>> nouns
"facilitator" and "participant" are nice, but sorta long, vague, otherworldly
sometimes it's nice to reclaim negative labels! but "student" is also an occupation/identity, and that's a lot of baggage
"learner" seems childish to some people
if some folks are "learners" and one person is not, does that mean they're not here to learn?
"participant" -- too empty? what are we participating in?
maybe these words in our mission don't really matter! the conduct of our classes will soon set appropriate nouns, in action and not in theory/internet nowhereland.
OK : let's use "teacher" and "learner" in the mission + website, but otherwise when appropriate refer to the person organizing the class as a "facilitator"
>>> logistics
it would be easiest if we can give a key to each free school teacher who needs to use libertalia for classroom space, rather than having a collective member come down and unlock for them. chris can ask at the next libertalia meeting about this.
OR: could get one of those wall-mounted combination-lock key containers, which makes it easier to share access without making a million key copies. (the guidelines for facilitators should include some explanation of how to get in, and how to respect the space, etc.)
a printer! libertalia doesn't have a good printer but may get one donated. free school facilitators will probably use this a lot, and so the free school should cover costs of paper + toner as needed.
we could share rent on the IWW office in libertalia? this may make sense if we end up needing a space for more secure storage, or a filing system or computer / printer not available for public use.
contribution to libertalia, depending on use, is probably between 50 and $200 a month.
raising funds : we talked about a benefit show (katrina offered to host!!), trivia, selling school supplies customized with cool graphics, using kickstarter for startup costs?? science fair idea seems like a great publicity tool + fundraiser.
>>> ending
next meeting : thursday august 4th, 6-7:30pm … location TBD
checkouts + divided up jobs to work on for then!
7/23 providence free school meeting
wednesday 8/31 at 6:30pm — 10 people present, chris facilitating + taking notes
>>> group agenda formation:
1- course proposals + critique
2- vision sharing + overview
3- meeting comfort, inclusivity, conduct
4- questions of efficiency + productivity
5- mission (if there is time)
>>> check-ins
your name, what pronoun you use, something you learned today
[not noted]
>>> "popular programming"
course proposal, from daniel
[ lots of back and forth on this -- see http://popprog.tumblr.com for full details ]
>>> sharing of visions + past meeting progress
providence free school - network/framework for community to build and share skills, knowledge, and information. non-institutional, non-hierarchical, for autonomy & education & empowerment
are we an "alternative" school? no -- but are we an "alternative" to other institutionalized schools? yes -- main point here is that we are not a full-time education
if we could check in on visions + passions during each meeting, to make sure that each person's voice is being heard and included, that might be a good strategy for promoting involvement during mtgs
our meetings should follow our vision of the ideal classroom setting -- more heterogeneity! more variety! more interaction!
>>> meeting inclusivity
some people had commented that certain aspects of meeting conduct and interactions were (intentionally or not) exclusive / exclusionary, or made people feel that their opinions were less valid or welcome. let's talk about it.
it would be great to have workshops every month or two on how to conduct meetings in a way that promotes participation and empowerment of everyone. this could be for free school organizers, f.s. instructors, and anyone else. what are common conventions for being aware of our own presence in groups? step up/down, being conscious of boundaries, etc.
similarly, learning scenarios and discussions can be a bigger part of these meetings, both to break up monotony and to expand our ability to work together well. for instance -- talking about popular education during the instructor training meeting was excellent. let's do more of this.
the hurried choice to introduce "stack" during previous meeting(s) was strange and unclear to many people present. it can stilt and stunt a conversation, for feeling too formal (for a small and unheated topic), and most importantly, we need to make sure that everyone knows what something like "calling stack" means before we begin using it in a meeting.
learn from how other groups conduct their meetings!
it's also important to be sure that everyone understands what it means to facilitate, and what are some good strategies for doing so effectively and inclusively (while still making progress). let's have the next meeting's facilitator talk to the facilitator of the current meeting, about coming agenda and also roles + strategies, e.g., looking out for and calling out people taking too dominant a role or people being silenced.
we should also be sure to set the agenda more than 1 minute before the meeting begins -- if possible, email out to "organize" listserv a day or two before the next meeting.
>>> efficiency / productivity conversation
some people had raised the critique that the free school, so far, seemed disorganized and sluggish. people present at the meeting agree -- being too bureaucratic is its own way of being exclusive, and we should focus on getting classes started. some details and finer points (+ best practices) can be worked out later on.
important to keep a loose timeframe during meetings too, to keep people comfortable, and to empower facilitators to limit or table a conversation that has been going on for a long time. it's also important that this tabling / bracketing isn't used as an excuse for silencing or ending conversations, but that we really allow them to continue again, in the future.
>>> mission statement
let's just do a final online edit, and then post what we've got. it will remain editable (and we should edit it!)
>>> tasks
everyone - review class proposals, comment + feedback to each other! then to the person who submitted the idea.
john - lesson planning / curriculum tips
olivia - designing promotional material for submitting class proposals
john, natalie, sarah d - designing posters / calendars
andrew - "spaces" and "mission" pages on the website
chris - communicate web procedures, improve website + forms, implement online calendar
daniel - new webform HTML stuff
>>> end
- next meeting, wednesday sept. 7 at 6:30, natalie facilitates
- check-outs
8/25 Meeting
AGENDA for meeting
- recap results of space exploration
- how to handle proposals that have/will come in
- revising course proposal form
- make a time line of when to start free school, make deadlines
spaces:
- went into businesses on broadway and elsewhere; 3-4 promising leads
- in general, ppl want to see credibility and get a more specific idea of what classes will be offered; also want to make sure that the FS will not flake out
- ada books, dash, DARE, efa more welcoming
- luke mentioned the possibility of using a space in atlantic mills, left tower, 4th floor; open more or less whenever
- the mediator - potential space
- everyone should get involved in space exploration!
proposals
- when a proposal comes in, someone put it into email and send to the organize list, who will discuss via email; after everyone has had a chance to say what they want to about the proposal, send these suggestions (but only as SUGGESTIONS, not as conditions) to the proposer
- have google doc to say when something has been approved and when proposer has been contacted with organizers' comments
- have a physically written waiting list for spaces
- have longer-term classes happen on more set a semester/half year basis? y/n?
- let teachers make their own decisions/take their own risks with timing
- have an online page about specific spaces and what makes a space good anyway?
proposal form editing:
- remove '6 to 8 weeks'
- have classes starting on rolling basis (say this on the application somewhere) but usually starting at the beginning of the month; have ppl meet the deadline for every month's calendar if they want the class to be on it
- make sure ppl know that 1 session classes are ok
Tasks, people who volunteered for them, and deadlines for them
1) contacting ppl who came to teachers' meeting and asking them to specifically propose stuff - sarah d and chris 8/29
2) solidifying email announce and organize lists - chris 8/25
3) promotional materials:
a) general broadcasting email to promote course proposal - andrew 8/29
b) paper promotional materials (to get people to know about and use online course proposal form; might be cool to also in small print include info about the organizational meetings?) - olivia will make time permitting?; oi will translate into spanish time permitting?; chris and oi will be making copies of whatever promotional materials we have on the evening of 8/29, others welcome to get involved
4) calendar:
a) figure out online format for calendar - chris
b) paper version of calendar - olivia, sarah and natalie will start this after 8/31, when more proposals will hopefully be in
5) description on website of what specific spaces we have - andrew
6) getting info from other free (or cheap as possible) educational opportunities, to put on website - oi will kick this off, others will get involved
7) finish guiding documents, put them online - andrew will check in with john and annie rose and see how they feel about the stuff they've been working on.
Other notes going forward:
- next meeting wed 8/31, 7:30 @ libertalia; allow ppl to propose classes at the beginning of organizational meetings, then they can leave if they wish
open meeting on 8/30
- try to look at whatever course proposals there are before meeting, so we can discuss them during meeting
- for first classes, have some kind of promotional materials (if not a fully fleshed out calendar) ready to go a week and a half before classes start
8/20 Meeting
- refining the mission statement and values, and hopefully putting them up on the site (John and I have done some work on this, check out the google doc)
- putting the course proposal form and the help sheets online (I've made a Google form in our google docs list, and John and I can figure out how to embed this on the site the way Santa Cruz free skool does)
- money and fundraisers and donations
- make plans, pick date
- oi? trivia night? explore locals bars
- more publicity?
- make sheets
- brochures fliers
- review procedure for proposals
- exploring spaces in addition to Libertalia or 186 Carpenter? or should we just wait til this need arises in course proposals?
- 186 carpenter once a week, maybe more later
- luke would like to coordinate with others who are interested in doing that
- luke has been talking to ppl who do pop-up galleries in unused spaces/spaces slated for renovation
- having classes more important than space
ideas for spaces: lockwood, columbus theater, bell street, community libraries, hive archive, as 220, dirt palace, recycle a bike, CCRI?, RISD quickies, david lopes comm center, nickerson comm center, ona, efa (kerry will talk to them)
having a variety of spaces would be helpful in making the school open, accessible
look for spaces that engage the community, aim to responsive
- spaces - using people's homes at first will be ok;
luke will look into talking to space owners/ managers; luke would like people to help him; this will happen tues, wednesday, announce this to free school list
- go door to door
oi's friend sarah works for arch firm that does cheap renovation; could help with space; oi will follow up with sarah
ask katie miller about 2005 providence free school
bring course proposal forms and general info sheet to leave with space managers
REVIEW PROCEDURE FOR CLASSES:
- have trial period; let the existence of a class depend on who shows up
- make non-hierarchy an important value; ie if class is taught in this way, great
- empower ppl to explore teaching, esp ppl who might not have a ton of experience in teaching
- have as little review as possible; have an open list of ppl interested in organizing
- allow anyone to speak up about their issues
have course "review" sessions at the beginning of every term
info session with a rundown of all classes
monthly socials
*informal committee with suggestions, critiques, but don't really say no
- once or twice in person a month to read proposals
- once or twice a month social
have times for reflection on the project; encourage this in feedback forms, emails, free school gatherings
how to deal with emergencies, severe issues with or without organizational structure
accountability structure - letting everyone know their expectations; how to make it so ppl don't end up getting ostracized or end up leaving
at the moment, don't solidify the structure but be honest about this?
the free school's value of horizontalism leaves everyone open to accusations of trying to be authoritarian
encourage people to team teach with others
be careful about spaces and the kinds of situations we create that might not be safe
have ppl involved in organizing go to classes at first just to see what's going on (also check for safety)
8/4 Meeting
While waiting for everyone to arrive, we re-watched the ithaca freeskool video for those who hadn't seen it
check ins/intros
Things people have been doing and will continue to do:
andrew - postering, course proposal form
- others will, as time permits, do different designs of poster s(to show how varied we are!)
john - course planning sheet
annie rose - working on lesson planning help sheets
natalie?, olivia - working on mission statement
- nugget, with expanded version; toronto free skool's mission statement seems like a decent source of ideas
saying things in a jargon-y way? what do we think of this? don't be afraid to say exactly what we mean, even if it's in language that's not super widespread
info session for people interested in teaching
- purpose is to give teachers an idea of what is expected, what kind of support there is for them (logistically, planning wise, etc), what their options are
- flier this, leave quarter-sizes around at places (ie foo fest/book fair);
- have info session on monday 8/15 at 7:00 (to 9pm)
- olivia will see if icarus is ok with this
- plan this info session at a smaller meeting next thurs @ 6:30; at libertalia, have 198 carpenter as backup meeting location
where will classes be?
- when people are proposing classes, suggest libertalia, library, other free public spaces
- libertalia more likely to be open later in the evenings
- try to avoid having classes in homes; try to have one central space that can host as many classes as possible
- sarah d will look into using 186 carpenter office
- give teachers a lot of leeway at first to figure out space on their own
- how strict should schedule be? easier to schedule with libertalia, the office, etc if classes happen in regular blocks
- classes do not have to have a certain time schedule; ie a person can propose a class that meets weekly or once a semester
- when talking to potential teachers/facilitators about classes, word it as "we are new to this; we want to help you, but we have limited space;" make it so people don't expect the class to happen right away and are not surprised/upset if they have to wait a few weeks for space to open up
things to do:
- annie rose will draft publicity email to publicize the info session (by tuesday?)
- sarah d and natalie will work on flier for teacher info session (will be sent to olivia/julian/sarah to print by wednesday; copies will be left at libertalia for ppl to pick up and distribute)
- olivia will, if they have time, make quarter size to give out @ foo fest?
- andrew will keep working on course proposal form
- olivia will email jessica of baltimore free school and propose meeting at libertalia @ 11 sat morning (8/13)
- olivia will work on finalizing mission statement, time permitting
- olivia and chris are working on website design
7/28 Meeting
thursday 7/28 at 5:30pm, at john & andrew's apartment near libertalia - 14 people present, chris facilitating
rough agenda:
intros + check-in
recap last week's meeting, and what's been done since then
for new people: talk about vision in a bit more detail, answer questions!
website
mission! group-editing
logistics
checkout / plan next meeting
>>> recap
chris did a bit of work on the website, now at http://providence.freeskool.org
sarah worked on feedback forms (see google docs)
john is writing a course prep guide and list of resources
annie rose is writing a guide for lesson planning
andrew is brainstorming outreach and publicity locations and designing a small general publicity sheet to distribute
olivia wrote up some mission statement thoughts & ideas
[newcomers, please see the notes from the previous meeting!]
>>> mission statement discussion
"self-education" ? focus on community, not individual
"non-coercive" = you're not required to be there, and you're not subject to strict rules within the classroom, as opposed to most public ed.
"learner" and "teacher" -- let's think harder!
jargon? let's avoid jargon!
we could list the goals or values we seek to embody ..
a space on the website for explaining language used in talking about non-hierarchical education (for instance, what is "non hierarchical"?)
close the "about us" statement with practical visions, desired dynamics, skills to be shared, etc
let's encourage participation too!
>>> nouns
"facilitator" and "participant" are nice, but sorta long, vague, otherworldly
sometimes it's nice to reclaim negative labels! but "student" is also an occupation/identity, and that's a lot of baggage
"learner" seems childish to some people
if some folks are "learners" and one person is not, does that mean they're not here to learn?
"participant" -- too empty? what are we participating in?
maybe these words in our mission don't really matter! the conduct of our classes will soon set appropriate nouns, in action and not in theory/internet nowhereland.
OK : let's use "teacher" and "learner" in the mission + website, but otherwise when appropriate refer to the person organizing the class as a "facilitator"
>>> logistics
it would be easiest if we can give a key to each free school teacher who needs to use libertalia for classroom space, rather than having a collective member come down and unlock for them. chris can ask at the next libertalia meeting about this.
OR: could get one of those wall-mounted combination-lock key containers, which makes it easier to share access without making a million key copies. (the guidelines for facilitators should include some explanation of how to get in, and how to respect the space, etc.)
a printer! libertalia doesn't have a good printer but may get one donated. free school facilitators will probably use this a lot, and so the free school should cover costs of paper + toner as needed.
we could share rent on the IWW office in libertalia? this may make sense if we end up needing a space for more secure storage, or a filing system or computer / printer not available for public use.
contribution to libertalia, depending on use, is probably between 50 and $200 a month.
raising funds : we talked about a benefit show (katrina offered to host!!), trivia, selling school supplies customized with cool graphics, using kickstarter for startup costs?? science fair idea seems like a great publicity tool + fundraiser.
>>> ending
next meeting : thursday august 4th, 6-7:30pm … location TBD
checkouts + divided up jobs to work on for then!
7/23 providence free school meeting
sat. 7/23 at 1pm, at libertalia — 9 people present, chris facilitating
>>> what does "free" in "free school" mean? (what do we want it to mean?)
free can be "free as in freedom" or "free as in no cost", or both.
possible costs: helping libertalia to pay the rent on their space, allowing instructors to make a bit of money back for their time preparing + teaching, covering costs of materials / copies made for the class, copying brochures + calendars
at the baltimore free school, having classes totally without cost was very important to many attendees. but our financial status (+ dependence on classroom space w/ rent) is slightly different
BUT, having classes without any money involved is a really good feeling, and it brings in a whole bunch of people who otherwise might not get involved
some ideas for sources of money:
should we "pay" instructors? or ask them to collect donations, and keep some portion of those donations (most of it) and give a fraction to libertalia.
if a fundraiser can bring in enough money initially, we could remove the part about instructors+learners donating to libertalia from the equation -- and just have instructors ask for donations for themselves. BUT this assumes we have enough raised to also cover the free school's costs other than rent, which do exist.
"at the providence free school, access to education is not determined by how much money or resources you have — but instructors are encouraged to ask for donations to cover their & our costs"
>>> logistics, mission, etc
providing descriptions of each course on the back of our printed seasonal calendar, AND on a website, can help address the question of learners' expectations being far off from facilitators' plans/goals
allow enrolling online? how else can we communicate seriousness / non-flake-out-ness of being a learner in a class? at the same time we want people to be able to leave a class if it's not working for them… this should be determined at each instructor's discretion
if we articulate our mission in terms that do not necessarily explain our political-ness—that is, if we make education and not empowerment the stated goal — will that bring in more people, especially from cultural/ethnic backgrounds different from most of the organizers'?
some pushback on this idea: no need to conceal motivations (in fact that can be bad). we can state the political part(s) of the mission in approachable terms, and can explain that as needed to people who don't understand or think it's strange.
people may similarly be turned off by certain teaching styles. this is something that people at EFA (english for action, a nonhierarchical ESOL-for-empowerment program in olneyville) has run into before. but we can address this at least partially with good class descriptions on calendar & website. also, again, it's wrong to make these elitist assumptions about certain people not understanding or feeling drawn to a certain type of education. let's try it first!
possibility: offering classes in another language! would involve getting people comfortable with this -- and fluent/native to those languages. spanish? hmong? cambodian?
can a class be "closed" after the first week -- that is, can it deny other people who want to join in late? probably best to be flexible, and to leave this up to the instructor's discretion (plus the particular learner's level of interest and knowledge). HOWEVER, some classes like a sexuality workshop do need to build trust over a series of meetings, so there does need to be room for courses that ARE closed.
instructor accountability: we're interested in people facilitating classes to be open to critique, and to learn from feedback, on both how well the class is conducted, and how democratic it feels for learners.
>>> publicity & feeling of openness
let's do widespread publicity beyond just the "usual places" that people flyer for, say, a rock show. let's hit : clinics, malls, libraries, work bulletin boards, other adult ed. centers, high schools, middle schools (!!), job fairs, churches, community centers.. etc
baltimore free school flyering was done by someone doing a route for DJ promotion, and this set a precedent for who showed up and whats kinds of classes were offered.
libertalia already seems more open than a commercial space
what's our relationship to other free classes at other spaces, organized in separate structures / with different goals? there are for instance free english-for-speakers-of-other-languages (ESOL) courses, reading groups, art skills workshops, etc., at DARE, ONA, EFA, AS220, the steel yard … we can link to these different, other educational opportunities, but shouldn't necessarily do it when they're organized on the profit model. we can add totally free, totally allied or affiliated events/classes to our calendar — even if not part of the free school — if we feel really good about them and find out far enough ahead of time. but our focus should be on promoting our own thing and connecting to other resources, not promoting other ppl's stuff for them
let's collect and distribute info on free stuff (classes/talks/etc) happening at local universities!
>>> structure & moving forward
let's collaborate on documents and forms online! google docs — everyone here, and anyone interested, can be invited. (contact providence@freeskool.org to get in on this.)
let's not have any formal structure, but instead have a super informal and open committee, based on who is here and interested. our roles are administrative/bureaucratic/publicity-oriented, and don't really contain any power. also, this committee should ideally dissolve, or at least rotate, over time so the community shares (+holds) the real responsibility here. this is what's awesome about the "free school as framework" vision.
hold monthly, completely open reflective meetings to check in on things. everyone's voice is welcome here, but we ask people who are not involved in the free school in any way to defer to people learning, facilitating, or organizing it. (beyond this, though, there is no hierarchy or power in terms of making decisions.)
we can create a printed set of guidelines on how to prepare for a class you're offering! both in terms of effective instructing + facilitating, and with respect to the radical / horizontal / nonauthoritarian classroom.
find or write a handbook with specific strategies & other resources for this!
plan: make monthly calendars, 2-weeks before we need to have every class figured out and confirmed. distribute these. but also have a larger/more-detailed format somewhere, possibly in libertalia but could be elsewhere. and the online version will be the most up-to-date / authoritative, though we will try not to leave out people with less regular internet/computer access.
>>> end
we divided up actions for the next week and set a time for the next meeting, thursday july 28th at 5:30pm, at andrew + john's apartment. (address not shared here, contact us if you need it for some reason!)
>>> what does "free" in "free school" mean? (what do we want it to mean?)
free can be "free as in freedom" or "free as in no cost", or both.
possible costs: helping libertalia to pay the rent on their space, allowing instructors to make a bit of money back for their time preparing + teaching, covering costs of materials / copies made for the class, copying brochures + calendars
at the baltimore free school, having classes totally without cost was very important to many attendees. but our financial status (+ dependence on classroom space w/ rent) is slightly different
BUT, having classes without any money involved is a really good feeling, and it brings in a whole bunch of people who otherwise might not get involved
some ideas for sources of money:
- archives or recordings of classes or course materials could be placed online, and available for download w/ suggested donation (akin to how bandcamp.com works for music)
- fundraisers!
- monthly trivia night, tying in to material being taught this month
- seasonally, a "science fair"-type event showing off knowledge and skills shared and what may be coming up … this could be paired with some other sort of activity too
- benefit show??
- dance/formal
- get donations online! [or does this step weirdly on libertalia's toes?]
should we "pay" instructors? or ask them to collect donations, and keep some portion of those donations (most of it) and give a fraction to libertalia.
if a fundraiser can bring in enough money initially, we could remove the part about instructors+learners donating to libertalia from the equation -- and just have instructors ask for donations for themselves. BUT this assumes we have enough raised to also cover the free school's costs other than rent, which do exist.
"at the providence free school, access to education is not determined by how much money or resources you have — but instructors are encouraged to ask for donations to cover their & our costs"
>>> logistics, mission, etc
providing descriptions of each course on the back of our printed seasonal calendar, AND on a website, can help address the question of learners' expectations being far off from facilitators' plans/goals
allow enrolling online? how else can we communicate seriousness / non-flake-out-ness of being a learner in a class? at the same time we want people to be able to leave a class if it's not working for them… this should be determined at each instructor's discretion
if we articulate our mission in terms that do not necessarily explain our political-ness—that is, if we make education and not empowerment the stated goal — will that bring in more people, especially from cultural/ethnic backgrounds different from most of the organizers'?
some pushback on this idea: no need to conceal motivations (in fact that can be bad). we can state the political part(s) of the mission in approachable terms, and can explain that as needed to people who don't understand or think it's strange.
people may similarly be turned off by certain teaching styles. this is something that people at EFA (english for action, a nonhierarchical ESOL-for-empowerment program in olneyville) has run into before. but we can address this at least partially with good class descriptions on calendar & website. also, again, it's wrong to make these elitist assumptions about certain people not understanding or feeling drawn to a certain type of education. let's try it first!
possibility: offering classes in another language! would involve getting people comfortable with this -- and fluent/native to those languages. spanish? hmong? cambodian?
can a class be "closed" after the first week -- that is, can it deny other people who want to join in late? probably best to be flexible, and to leave this up to the instructor's discretion (plus the particular learner's level of interest and knowledge). HOWEVER, some classes like a sexuality workshop do need to build trust over a series of meetings, so there does need to be room for courses that ARE closed.
instructor accountability: we're interested in people facilitating classes to be open to critique, and to learn from feedback, on both how well the class is conducted, and how democratic it feels for learners.
- how to achieve this? have some sort of evaluation and feedback process — though it's best for everyone to communicate these critiques during the class itself, some people won't be able to or won't want to do this.
- facilitators should be asked to fill out some kind of "report" after their course comes to a close, reflecting on how it went.
- we could ask learners to do this too. again, discussion is better than writing something only after the class has ended, but we should have both options.
- let's make a feedback sheet!
- [ and : something on how to create or design a course syllabus sheet ]
>>> publicity & feeling of openness
let's do widespread publicity beyond just the "usual places" that people flyer for, say, a rock show. let's hit : clinics, malls, libraries, work bulletin boards, other adult ed. centers, high schools, middle schools (!!), job fairs, churches, community centers.. etc
baltimore free school flyering was done by someone doing a route for DJ promotion, and this set a precedent for who showed up and whats kinds of classes were offered.
libertalia already seems more open than a commercial space
what's our relationship to other free classes at other spaces, organized in separate structures / with different goals? there are for instance free english-for-speakers-of-other-languages (ESOL) courses, reading groups, art skills workshops, etc., at DARE, ONA, EFA, AS220, the steel yard … we can link to these different, other educational opportunities, but shouldn't necessarily do it when they're organized on the profit model. we can add totally free, totally allied or affiliated events/classes to our calendar — even if not part of the free school — if we feel really good about them and find out far enough ahead of time. but our focus should be on promoting our own thing and connecting to other resources, not promoting other ppl's stuff for them
let's collect and distribute info on free stuff (classes/talks/etc) happening at local universities!
>>> structure & moving forward
let's collaborate on documents and forms online! google docs — everyone here, and anyone interested, can be invited. (contact providence@freeskool.org to get in on this.)
let's not have any formal structure, but instead have a super informal and open committee, based on who is here and interested. our roles are administrative/bureaucratic/publicity-oriented, and don't really contain any power. also, this committee should ideally dissolve, or at least rotate, over time so the community shares (+holds) the real responsibility here. this is what's awesome about the "free school as framework" vision.
hold monthly, completely open reflective meetings to check in on things. everyone's voice is welcome here, but we ask people who are not involved in the free school in any way to defer to people learning, facilitating, or organizing it. (beyond this, though, there is no hierarchy or power in terms of making decisions.)
we can create a printed set of guidelines on how to prepare for a class you're offering! both in terms of effective instructing + facilitating, and with respect to the radical / horizontal / nonauthoritarian classroom.
find or write a handbook with specific strategies & other resources for this!
plan: make monthly calendars, 2-weeks before we need to have every class figured out and confirmed. distribute these. but also have a larger/more-detailed format somewhere, possibly in libertalia but could be elsewhere. and the online version will be the most up-to-date / authoritative, though we will try not to leave out people with less regular internet/computer access.
>>> end
we divided up actions for the next week and set a time for the next meeting, thursday july 28th at 5:30pm, at andrew + john's apartment. (address not shared here, contact us if you need it for some reason!)
