&U Mental Thunder

Black Mountain College (1933-1957)
- experimentation
- failure built in

John Dewey’s Moral Principles of Education (1909)
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25172/25172-h/25172-h.htm

Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968)

bell hooks' Teaching To Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994)

safety as a negative concept
hostile environment of learning
psychological safety
- group pride (pitfalls)
- task commitment
- emotional trust
bystander effect 
no structure/chaos theory (causes anxiety)
preserve reality & remove anxiety
spite as fuel
URM’s desire for foundation
rules & fundamentals
ambition ———— empathy
obtuse self confidence ———— need for criticism and feedback

teaching discipline without relying on systems of oppression

effective methods of teaching discipline 
- praise correct praise
- ownership
- socratic method
- consequences > rules
- addressing the root of the problem (identity contingencies) 
- self reliance & building your own “boundaries”
- prepared educators

myths
- competition and the myth limited spots for success is inherently a result of capitalism
- myth of rules 
- unsatisfaction as a motivator
- education without access is dehumanizing (context!)
- “permanent record” see grades
- aptitude see left v. right brain

trauma results in…
- manufactured shame (myths being the cause and this being the effect)
- manufactured spite 

the URM path often looks like…
trauma —> spite/shame —> “success”
the model minority falls into this trap
skew this for a path of…
encouragement + opportunity —> inspiration
see spirit of hospitality (needs to be instilled)





## Discipline w/o oppression

competition » capitalism
myth of limited spots for success

Study = labor

- division
- contribution
- helping others

Values of study

- culture 
- information
- discipline

Discipline models

- praise / correct / praise
- give ownership 
- socratic method

Consequences > rules 

Addressing the root of the problem

Self reliance and building your own boundaries, teaching and supporting self care

Myths of rules

- rules can’t be questions 
- you must be unsatisfied in order to grow
- education without access is dehumanizing - teach someone to fish - John Perkins: “that is a lie. it matters who owns the pond.”
- don’t know the rules
- rules aren’t written within relevant context
- grades determine your value and aren’t reversible
- permanent record
- manufactured shame
- left v right brain
- aptitude 

Trauma » spite » success = broken
“what food trucks are to restaurants” — fucked up way of getting to the same point

change to:

Inspiration » encouragement » opportunity


## Vision exercise

Jaime

- accessible
- multidisciplinary
- a cultivation of the self, creativity, and community
- focus on teaching and creating without hurt, pain, fear, or insecurities. complete vulnerability

Lynn

- tandem effort of people first educational and people first companies
  - where do you go? does education end?
- the intersection of disciplines, industries and experience — a vast marketplace

Justin

- internship model
  - students work on actual projects for actual clients while being encouraged to ask, learn, and fail
- no education “tracks” 
  - jump between areas of focus to find an area of passion
- project based learning / problem-based learning
- year-long TriConf
  - slightly more structured
  - instructors or students come up with classes they want to teach

Ben

- in-person industry mentorships 
- online aspects, or not bound to a traditional schedule
- shame-free but feedback driven environment
- specific personal goals influence individual curriculum
- acceptance not based on prior school performance
- performance measured by improvement, enthusiasm, desire
- collaboration of students is key
- age? range? younger? / older?
- collaborative
- project-specific
- classes can be taken multiple times
- different roles / levels (junior / senior)
- leadership
- eventually student taught?

Luke

- educating educators
  - making them aware of core tenets and identity contingencies, empathy, lack of rules through regular group led discussions like this one
  - regular facilitated discussions with instructors to educate on core tenets 
- access
  - through technology 
  - how can tech be used to give a broader range of access
- breaking aptitude mentality - through exposure to different things outside of safety or comfort with failure being the norm
- group first learning style

Adam

- focused on understanding and investing in the individual 
- teaching collaboration, communication, community, and culture throughout all phases of education
- mentorship from professionals, assigned one person
- all learners are teachers—small core group of students who also deliver community education workshops 
- collaborative project-based learning, with ideas driven by learners
- core group of students accepted through application process, which aims for positive impact for each applicant
- partner with abc to promote augmented learning in areas of individual need (and for degrees)
- partner with PSD to advise on curriculum development at grade/secondary ed levels and education students + teachers about program
- fund student program with grants and scholarships to keep fee structure affordable, and also offer sliding fee structure

Kate

- advanced beginners teaching beginners
- expelling the idea that you need a certain status or degree to acquire new skills (esp in tech), only requirement is the desire to learn
  - “I'm not an engineer”
  - “I’m not an IB students” 
  - “I’m never going to be as good as ______”

Amy

- trying to help students contextualize what they are learning to fit in their experiences
- help find them MENTORS that they can related to (may be remote)
- developing a curriculum teaching style that facilitates students drawing their own conclusions and building their own paths to their own definition of success rather than imposing “formulaic success” models and black and white standards of what succeeding in education looks like
- avoid putting people in boxes - except where they are helpful in understanding how they think, etc. but letting them know these boxes don’t define them

Jake

- an environment for individual discovery and collective encouragment
- build-a-bear
- ease of access, depth and breadth of content

Ryan

- a place where people can access the learning they need in a supportive environment
- access to learning and meaningful work 
- diversity of staff and students are reflective of one another and both are diverse
- mentorship where the mentor and mentees contributions are equally involved
- hands on, minds on
- project based, problem based 
- east pasco
- safe place to fail and try new, scary and and difficult things
- inclusive
- trauma informed
- student led
- equity
- rigorous and relevant
- student centered

Elliott

- MVP
  - 12 weeks
  - project based
  - praise and feedback from peers on each project
  - daily achievements
  - confidence instilling
  - promote contentness

Terry

- give students a real job, task, problem to solve
- adjusted program for students with a job or other circumstances
- trained / informed resources for those needing socio/economic support
- make use of public/free facility that isn’t a classroom 
  - education isn’t “going to school”, it’s two+ people gathering
- initial part of the program to help students soul search, meet mentors, find out what opprotunieis are availabe, soul search, etc.
- 1:1 mentorship between students and working professionals
- embrace/reward failure constantly and meaningfully
- no group instruction (unless student led?) 
  - rather group discussion— cool ideas, inspiration, etc

Sarah

- education style based on self-knowledge / discovery
- educators active / growing in their fields
- project-driven learning
- pipeline solution for orgs
- emotional literacy integrated in our approach
- child-friendly parent-friendly culture
- creative / technical resource center for the community
- open source the curriculum / philosophy
- open air model / pieces visible to the community
- environment that respects and values people

Patricia

- stealing
- pairing beginners with advanced beginners
- teaching choice
- conduct springs from instincts and impulses
  - judgement and adaptability tempers this 
- anyone is capable of dialogical thought
- keep your highs low and your lows high
- consequences as a model to replace rules


- teach coping mechanisms for emergencies
- transparency of failings
- reframe work. not a marathon, but a relay race. better metaphors!
- teach how to ask
- unteach shame
- celebrate small wins
- ask others how they recharge, how they work, what prevents them for doing good work
- prioritize gratitude 
- constraint without restraint — create systems that prioritize constraint without the restraint of the oppressive system






Justin mention documentary “most likely to succeed”