The first service on this website is a series of Short Talks, presented by the teacher in videos, which cover a broad range of subjects related to you and the 21st Century.
Each talk—averaging about 15 minutes—serves as a springboard to a vibrant classroom discussion. And . . . to your own student research.
In the old form of education, students listened to a series of lectures, read chapters from a book, then took an exam. We are going to try a new approach. The teacher gives a short talk, during the first fifteen minutes of class. Then the students can launch into a vibrant discussion for the remainder of the period.
Part of the period can also be used for student research, whether from printed books or online. That way, students can choose what they want to learn about. They are not reading one textbook, but a multitude of sources.
No exam. Your exam is the next sixty years of your life.
The talks are grouped into various themes, giving us more and more to think about on a specific topic. The talks combine factual information with ideas for you to consider. We will explore the Big Questions, putting together the pieces of the Big Picture.
Each talk on a video is accompanied by the text of that talk, so that you can read and clearly understand each sentence while the teacher is speaking. You are welcome to download and print this text, and even to translate it, should you wish.
The first talk (Video 1) is an introduction to the four services on the website.
The next six talks (Videos 2-7) explore the question, “What is a Renaissance?”
The next seven talks (Videos 8-15) focus on Climate Change in the Arctic, and on your own responses to the frightening challenges which you face in our world today. We finish with a very positive talk about wind turbines and the clean energy Renaissance.
The next seven talks (Videos 16-22) explore the strategy of non-violence, so that your movement has clear guidelines as it continues to grow.
The teacher has many other subjects for our talks, but these 22 will give us a good start. You can decide for yourselves how to incorporate the talks into your classroom schedule.
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