Wednesday, August 22, 2012

NEW WEBSITE

We are transitioning over to our new website!!!!
Please start visiting the new site:

freescool.com

Particularly, check out the calendar: http://www.freescool.com/calendar/ for all our upcoming classes, events, and meet-ups.

And, the forums: http://www.freescool.com/forum/  - for discussions and to get involved in organizing!

If you would like to get involved in the website development, email us, or come out on Thursday to our Zine Making and Website Teach-in Party (location TBA, please check calendar on new website!).

with love,
free'scool

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Tomorrow - Monday August 20th - work party in Trinity Bellwoods

Hi Free'scoolers,

even though we're taking Sundays off, there loads of planning and contacting that has to happen for September.
Tomorrow, for all who are free, we're meeting in Trinity Bellwoods Park around 2pm, near the Queen St. gates entrance, to do some work and hang out.

list of topics that we can potentially cover tomorrow: Website, email list-serves, space, teachers/classes, community outreach, zine, human rights framework, collaboration with Anarchist Free University

bring: paper, pens, computers, phones, food, music, good cheer :)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Meeting Meeting Meeting!

There's yet another meeting this lovely tuesday the 14th of rainy rainy august. It is at 6pm in the 5th floor lounge of OISE (Bloor and St. George in case you are not familiar).

We highly encourage everyone to come who is interested in finding out more about the free'scool, getting more involved, leading a class, etc. We also highly encourage people to come who have space and are interested in holding free'scool classes and workshops.

If you have suggestions for agenda ideas, please submit them to our email - thefreescool@gmail.com

Our facilitators tonight will Laura and Arestia.

Peace, Love & Learning!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Sunday August 12th

Reminder, we are spending the day tomorrow at the Zeitgeist Annual Media Festival in Kensington Market - Augusta Street across from Freshmart.

For those interested, we will meet at 11am in Bellevue Park (Kensington Market) to finish the half hour workshop we are presenting at the festival. We will walk over at noon together.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

August 7th Student Union Meetings, and August Plans

Agenda:
1. This Sunday and Zeitgeist
2. Free Art'Scool 
3. Proposal for summer hiatus, last two weeks of August
4. Fall workshops and planning

In Attendance: 9 people
Facilitator: Laura
Note taker: Roxy

Decisions:
1. This Sunday Classes are Suspended, instead, we have a field trip to the Zeitgeist Media Festival (website), which is running from 12pm-8pm in Kensington Market (on Augusta street across from Freshmart). 

2. We have been invited to run a half-hour workshop at the Zeitgeist Media Festival for a half hour; the first 10 minutes will be a dramatic/artistic presentation of our framework and what it means to be a part of free'scool; then, we will run a short critical thinking exercise/discussion. All those interested in helping with this workshop/presentation, we are having the planning meeting on Friday August 10th at 3pm in Bellevue Park in Kensington Market

3. The last two Sundays of August (19th, and 26th), we will take a break from classes, to allow free'scoolers a chance to enjoy the last 2 weekends of the summer. All other free'scool activities will continue (free art'scool wednesdays, student union meetings, outreach, work meet-ups); we will resume Sunday classes in September. 

4. In September, we will host a workshop series (2 Fridays of the month) on the following topics: popular education teaching methods, facilitation and non-violent communication, cross-cultural conflict resolution, anti-oppression, and two possible workshops: bringing a human rights framework into the classroom, and taking back power. 


Discussion:
1. Zeitgeist
- we have been invited to do a workshop; at the last meeting it was suggested that we suspend classes for the day to attend the festival
- There were some concerns raised about Zeitgeist, as many of their 'solutions' to capitalism, and structure are questionable
- Perhaps we should run a critical thinking workshop with them
- We definitely have to go in with a critical mind - there are some really great things they are doing, and some things to be questioning
- It is a really great outreach/networking/educational opportunity
- Some were under the impression that we were going to run classes in Bellevue Park and float in and out of the festival
- We wanted to continue classes for continuity, and because all the courses are in the middle of their teachings
- but we can learn from zeitgeist
- we don't necessarily have the capacity to have some of our people at the festival and others in class
- it is not the best impression if we show up just for our half an hour session and nothing else
- "While i love classes, I think this opportunity for a full day of networking and learning is too good to pass up"
- see decisions - we couldn't make a decision by discussion because most saw the value of both continuing classes, and simply going to zeitgeist. We put it to a vote. 1st was asked if we wanted to do classes in Bellevue park - there were 4 'maybe' hands, no definite yeses. Next option was to go to zeitgeist all day: there were four clear yeses. 

- What are we going to do for our half an hour presentation?
- Ideas: critical thinking, something participatory to give them the 'free'scool experience', a theatre of the oppressed piece on free'scool to be developed in the Drama club on Wednesday evening
- after hemming, and hawing, and almost having to vote....we reached a collaborative compromise!
- 5-10 minute dramatic presentation; 20-25 minute critical thinking discussion/exercises. 
* note: drama class did not prepare presentation on Wednesday the 9th - open preparation is Friday, August 9th at 3pm in Bellevue Park. 

2. Free Art'Scool Updates (by Veronica):
- everything is going well
- the schedule for tomorrow (wEdnesday August 8th) is very open; especially because it is the first one. We will have visual arts and crafts starting at 5pm, drama at 7pm, and and ceremony and music at 9pm
- In a week or two, we'll start holding clear classes with instructors from a variety of diciplines
- Word of the day: Perspective for this Wednesday 
- I have one of the best thespians in Toronto wanted to hold a drama workshop
- Someone thinks they might be able to get a ballroom dance instructor
- Open to help, suggestions, and participation
- very excited to start!

3. Proposal: 2 week Sunday Hiatus August 19th and 26th. 
- everyone was ok with this...didn't take us more than 2 minutes

4. The Fall
- workshop series in decisions was discussed
   - location suggestions: OISE (need to pay), Friendship house with a 'pay-what-you-can'
   - think on this for a week and come back
   - Dates: to be decided based on availability of facilitators
- other topics/concerns mentioned but not fully addressed:
  - need to make material more accessible for those who cannot attend events/meetings - this concern was diverted to the website production, which is still under process and aims to be very clear and accessible with loads of resources
 - we need space! pretty soon winter is coming. 
    - recognition that we've been deliberating on this for a while
   - space proposal still in the works
   - we need any and all space we can get! 
   - We need a big advertising and class 'blitz' in September
   - because of space constraints and growth, we need to change up when we run classes
 - It's great to focus inwards, but I want this group to do more with what's going on in the world!
   - recognition of our limited capacity at the moment and slow growth process

closed the space by moving into Human Rights class. 



Friday, August 03, 2012

Introducing: Wednesday Free Art'Scool

Very exciting news!!!! The Free Art'Scool starts this Wednesday (August 8th) in St. James Park. All musicians, actors, craftspeople, and artists are welcomed to the park during the evening to create art together, and teach their skills! These Wednesday evenings will be a collaborative gathering of artists for the purposes of creating and teaching!

Here is the loose schedule:
5-7pm - visual arts, and crafts
7-9pm - drama club
9pm - art share and ceremony
9:15-11pm - Music jam and skill share

We will be in St. James every Wednesday - hope to see all you artists out there...there!



Sunday August 5th Schedule

Sorry for the late schedule post - there were some proposed changes in the last student union meeting, that took some time to work out. So without further a-due.....

12:00pm - Set up Library and Opening Ceremony
12:30pm - Kung Fu (last week of Kung Fu before September)
1:15pm - Community Resilience
3:15pm - First Nations History (Last week with Brenda!!!!!!!!)
             - Real Democracy
5:15pm - Potluck and Social
6:15pm - Economics (now with Dix AND Laura)
             - Understanding Resistance
8:00pm - pack up and head out!

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Freescool Mtg Notes - Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

Agenda
-expanding classes
-the free art’scool
-required/recommended courses and student groups
-ongoing projects; space prop, video proj, website, databases, econ classes
-red square idea

Expanding Classes
- Having free’scool most days of the week, do more things, more varied, make sundays more of a regroup day. Maybe core classes or ongoing discussion, or vote on what we work on that day
- There are other projects we can do on other days. What days work for people for different things
- The Free Art’scool class will happen on Wednesdays 5 pm - 11 pm at St. James Park, starting August 8th
5 pm - general visual art period: different artists with different styles. People can participate with the artists or just watch. Some artists are good instructors, some more just doing their own thing. There will also be crafts.
7pm - structured drama class, lead by Veronica
9 pm - ceremony and then music jam
- Supplies will come from the artists themselves and a bit from Veronica
- i thought it was interesting we talked about before to talk about ceremony, and at 9 we can do something simple, acknowledge censorship and issues of free speech. i feel the drama class will come up with it, and then after the music jam. good place for people to gather with their instruments and be welcoming for amateurs, not a lot of structure. Just the drama class and ceremony would be structured. Artists could start a structured course from there.
*careful of noise complaints

- Other than that, we should wait to change too much for this September because it will be taking on too much too quick
- However we can consolidate some ideas for the future, such as...
monday have various classes, and also semiotics and also graffiti or street/interactive art
-could bring things like economics into it with elitist and confusing academic language to discourage people from entering a certain topic
tuesday - human rights and mtg
wednesday - arts’cool and project building day
thursday - various classes
friday - feel good day, yoga, spirituality
saturday - field trips

Space and Outreach
chris- alternative thinkings has space where they often have free classes, and also gets into comm they are building. important to think about what we want to create and what we need to create it. we should talk to org.s and communities that we know and talk about expanding and report back here. i will talk to ____ for example.
Veronica - Sketch was busy with expansion and grants - i’m just waiting for the email to meet.
jo - what differs free artscool from sketch is that we are more intergenerational -  can use that as an argument
roxy - we should talk to idea sessions


This Sunday
Roxy - i want to move Understanding Resistance to 6-8 slot because we usually have two classes there anyways and people usually disappear after 8

Dix - i wanted to talk about the structure of the economics class, problem with talking about how important it is to have it, but no one follows through. Not good to have these class conflicts, people are tired, etc. i don’t think it should be my responsibility to push this class because i have a language barrier. i have been very frustrated with how things have done. i want to bring economics into a wider perspective. Can’t do it when no one wants to join the discussion.
Laura - i think also, it could help to have it as an indoor class and we can also have more than one facilitator
chris - maybe it should be shorter because attention span seems to wane
jo - economics relates to many other topics, maybe run econ through other lenses, agree with suggestions, also having readings. i’d like to collaborate with you - how to get out of just theory, similarities with human rights
L- we did interdisciplinary education at my school, works very well
roxy - applies to the freescool trying to build our economy as an organization
nico - what if econ was one hour sometime during the week and then a half hour on sunday
Dix - what if democracy was only an hour and a half and econ is 4:30 - 5:30
Chris - i want to have projects that the students decide themselves
Roxy - we should dialogue with economists
jo- can provide readings too
Dix - we could move it to 4:30 for now, and i would do mimetics, put up article, discuss how politicians use propaganda, i would like someone to co-facilitate
chris - problem with base knowledge of econ, people don’t know, joined with problem of regular attendence. I want to go more classes
jo - you can help with facilitation, don’t need to know the expertise
nico - i think what needs to change is that theres no concurrent class
roxy - there were requests for multiple classes so there were more options at a given time
wilsun - we can chill if we don’t want to take a class. bottom line we are too low numbers for multiple classes
chris - democracy is a strong class, maybe a later slot for that and have econ earlier and see if that makes a difference
r - had this issue before
v- you suggested shortening classes, maybe this sunday for one hour this is a good discussion and those that want to more on to next class can move on to that, and the more dedicated students will be more committed that way.
dix - the most important thing is to be able to discern what is bullshit in the economic discourse today
jo - so why don’t we have two classes : big brother econ and creative econ
dix - i worked in international trade and ran entrepreneurial
laura- i’ll help facilitate econ

*need to confirm changes with TLs not present before finalizing next sundays schedule.

Website
nico - people in Montreal did something similar and there is a really good website platform for this kind of thing
chris - site will have resources and courses


Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Student Union Meeting Tonight...An Important One!

Hi everyone,

as August comes upon us, planning for the fall becomes more and more pressing. We have been discussing plans for expansion for a week or two now, and will continue this conversation tonight (and it's very important that everyone is here!).
We also need to make changes to our Sunday schedule, as a full weekend day in the summer seems to be dwindling our numbers.
There have been lots of great ideas floated; we will also be discussion the free art'scool.
look forward to seeing you all there!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Saturday July 28th, and Sunday July 29th Schedules

Saturday, July 28th:
Starting at 12pm in Queen's Park, Occupy Gardens is hosting a garden party. Bring some food for the potluck (and a reusable plate, fork, and cup), some instruments to jam, and good spirit. There will be discussions and free gardening classes all day! Free'scool will be there as well - we have some things to discuss as a group, and are bringing banners and information on the mega quarry. If you can contribute some materials as well that would be great.
If anyone would like to help set up, please come at 11:15am.

12:30-1pm - Opening Ceremony
1-2pm - Plant a Summer Garden: Hands on Workshop
           - Campus Garden Tour with Dig In! UofT Campus Agriculture
2-3:30pm - Food Politics and the Occupy Movement: talk and discussion
2:30-3pm - Garden Tour of Kahonitake Kitikan: Native Students' Association Garden
3-3:30pm - Seed Saving: hands on workshop
3:30-4pm - Vermicomposting: hands on workshop

Sunday, July 29th:
12:00pm - Gather - opening free'scool ceremony
12:30pm - Kung-Fu
1:00pm - Community Resilience
3:00pm - Real Democracy, First Nations history
5:00pm - break! Potluck (please bring food!!!!!!!), relax, go for a walk
6:30pm - Natural Cordage Making, Economics Discussion
8:00pm - Understanding Resistance (this week, we're looking at arts-based resistance)
10:00pm - go home : )

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Tomorrow: Banner Making for Garden Party 12pm onwards

Hi everyone,

For those not up to date, on Saturday there is a Garden Party in Queen's Park with a potluck picnic, free gardening classes and much more. The human rights class has taken particular interest in the right to water...especially locally re: the planned mega quarry for south ontario (click here for details)

We are making some banners to show city solidarity with the 'stop the mega quarry' campaign. Come out to our usual art spot near ossington station (message us if you have not been before but would like to come), starting 12pm tomorrow.

peace!

Reminders: Tonight and Thursday

Tuesday, July 24th (That's today):
6-7:30pm student union meeting
7:30-9/9:30pm - Human Rights

Thursday, July 26th:
Starting at 5pm - art at the art spot. if you haven't been before, contact us and we'll let you know!
- this is to prepare for mega quarry demo at occupy gardens garden party this Saturday at Queens Park (July 28th); and the little truths parade for the following Sunday (July 29th).

Saturday. July 27th: 


Sunday July 29th: Free'scool classes :)

Friday, July 20, 2012

Correction...brazilian jui-jitsu this week, kung fu starting next week

We put that we would have Kung Fu this week, but it will in fact be starting the following sunday the 29th.

This week, Mike will lead us in some Brazilian Jui-Jitsu before regular classes start!

An update for Sunday, July 22nd

1. Natural Cordage class has been pushed to next week. 
6:30-8pm slot will be used for some small-group free'scool work...like we did last week. topics include: little truths parade through pedestrian sunday, media class/stories, megaquarry and saturday (july 28th) support. 

love you all, and free'scool is developing AMAZINGLY!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sunday July 22nd Schedule

1-3pm - Community Resilience: Class will involved discussion and create space for exploring and managing alternatives in communities. We will look at preparation and adaption at the local level in light of significant changes in society due to unprecedented climate change, peak oil, future energy shortages, globalization, etc. Length: 8 weeks. Goal: bring resources to students to help them talk to and work to organize their communities such that they are strengthened and empowered communities so that they can be prepared in times of crisis. 


            - Ayurveda HealthTraditional Indian Medicine. Ayurveda is the holistic medical system of ancient India that has been in practice for over 5000 years. It explains how the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether interact in the cycles of natures and in our bodies. Illness arises from specific elements out of balance. Understanding these natural cycles allows us to bring the elements back into balance and restore health. This course will be 1 class and comprise of lecture with lots of time for questions and discussion, experiential exercises, and easy home remedies.

3-5pm – Real Democracy
            - First Nations Stories

5-6pm - potluck and party - please bring some fruit and/or other food. 

6:30pm - Economic Discussion: how to re-vamp the course/what do we want/need to know? 

6:30pm-8pm - Cordage-making (making natural rope)***** Put off until Sunday July 29th****: Brief history of natural cordage. Plants to use and how to prepare them (Plants include: dogbane, milkweed, recycled fibers- you can pretty much cord anything). Brief information on ethical and respectful harvesting. Learning how to cord! Ideas for cordage 

8pm-10pm – Understanding Resistance 

July 17th Student Union Meeting Minutes


Agenda: we went with a free-flowing discussion today
reminders: Tomorrow is art project day – meeting at Ossington station at 4pm; goes to 8pm, COMER court case that was scheduled for tomorrow, july 18th, has been pushed back to september, so no action tomorrow morning. Need some people to volunteer to bring some potluck food on Sunday. 

3 new classes this week: 
1-3pm community resilience is starting (looking at ways to plan and protect and provide for ourselves after the current system). this is an ongoing class
1-3pm ayurveda health: traditional Indian medicine. this is a one-time workshop
6:30-8pm Cordage making: natural rope making. 

Fundraising:
1. T-shirts – start making t-shirts and patches
            a. Sylvia has all the equipment except press and designs
            b. Laura has the press
            c. Tomorrow’s (Wednesday, July 18th) art class will solidify designs
            d. Need to get: water-based inks, emulsion, and four screens
            e. Online survey: come up with your own slogan!
            f. Doc on Facebook where we can put up the slogans

2. This Sunday, July 22nd
1-3pm - Community Resilience
             - Ayurveda Health
3-5pm – D and FNH
6:30pm - Economic Discussion: how to re-vamp the course (?) 
6:30pm-8pm - Cordage-making, and Natural Dyes (?)
              8-10pm – Understanding Resistance

Economics: take it online – what questions do people have on economics/we have had some problems, how do we make it more engaging?
- More activities
- Explore new economic systems - How do we transition?
- Bring it to Sunday discussion – how do we re-vamp it…slowly turn it into a class

3. Art-day: 4-8pm - meeting at 4pm at Ossington Subway Station
- Jo has some materials; please bring some if you can
-  Start on some media ideas
- Friday, Roxy and Arestia are going to go around neighbourhoods to talk about free’scool…if anyone wants to join
- Free’scool has a tumblr now!!!! Please send us pictures

4. Space Proposals
- Write out proposal asking for those who have space
- Will start this week

5. Curriculum Vitae
- This Sunday some people re-vamped a draft CV for free-scool. Here are some comments from the original writers:
- What we ended up writing was a derivative of a derivative of a derivative
            - Personally it didn’t contain the potency of the original
            - Don’t think we should dumb down the words – too watered down
            - It is living – keeps changing
            - Would like someone on the outside to look at both versions and combine
them

6. Sunday Potluck: who will bring food this week?
- Arestia, Roxy, ask Facebook group…

7. Wednesday July 18th COMER Court Case:
- Was postponed until September/October – no action tomorrow

8. Fall
Need to …
- have a Huge re-launch campaign with maps, photos, stories of what we’ve done so far
- Find spaces in all different areas of the city
- 1 course to meet 2 days a week to allow consistency and commitment 

Wednesday July 18th


This Wednesday from about 4-8pm we will have our first Art Attack group meet. Basically it will be an ongoing art class where our A-team take some space and materials to work on all sorts of art projects relating to our classes or any other acts of human expression you feel you must create. You can work alone or with others, as long as you bring some creativity along with you. You can bring whatever materials/ideas that you got to share.
We will be meeting outside Ossington station at 4pm to head over to our location together. If you happen to come late and would like to join us, please email us at thefreescool@gmail.com or call/text me at 647.291.5182 (arestia)

Tuesday July 17th


This is a reminder to all Free ‘Scoolers that there will be a student union meeting tonight at 6pm on the fifth floor of OISE. It would be lovely to see you all and recap what we did this past Sunday and continue to work on our many projects and ideas. 
There will also be a Human Rights class tonight after the student union meeting at 7:30 on the fifth floor of OISE with Jo. Join in the active conversation.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Reminder for Sunday

If you would like to take part in the natural dyes class, please bring a white piece of clothing/fabric.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Sunday July 15th Schedule

12:30-1pm - Gather...anyone interested in teaching yoga or other exercise?
1:00-3pm - Human Rights with Jo                 
                - Plant Identification with Doug
3:00-5pm - Occupy Democracy with Brent
                 - First Nations History with Brenda

5:00-6pm - Social Hour and Dinner 
                 - Reminiscing about Occupy Toronto on their 9 month anniversary
                 - People interested in Fundraising will meet to discuss scavenger hunt
                 - Discuss Letter to UofT Engineering Society re: skule
                 - Discuss support for COMER's July 18th Court Case Against the Bank of Canada (Press Release
                 - If you play music, come entertain us :)
                 - Eat and Have Fun 
6:00-8pm - Political Intervention Theatre with Grace
                 - Natural Dyes with Doug

8:00-10pm - Understanding Resistance with Roxy 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

New Name, New Website

Hi Friends,

If you haven't caught on yet...we are now The Free'scool
We have a new email: thefreescool@gmail.com
A new twitter: #freescool @thefreescool
And are in the process of getting a new website; this time, we're splurging for a real site, not a blogger.

A new domain costs $12.95 per year. Please help us raise the funds by donating $1, $5, or the whole $12.95 using the paypal button, or by bringing some money on Sunday.

we may be free, but the rest of the world hasn't yet caught on that 'free is cool'
with love,
your free'scool

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

2 New Course Coming Soon to Free'scool: Healing The Mind and Ayurveda Health

Healing the Mind: A Discussion Course on Self-Esteem and Self Empowerment
A 16 week course (2 hours, 1 day a week) Start time: TBA
with Chantel Tophen

This course is designed to encourage people to shine a light on the behaviors and thought patterns that may be holding them back from becoming happy, healthy, self-confident, positive, constructive, complete and empowered. It is intended to serve as a guide for each individual to work their way through their issues in order to achieve self-esteem in its truest form and thus raising the self-esteem of those around them just by being an example of how influential and inspiring a person can and will become once they have mastered control over their thought and behavior patterns. By healing thyself, you heal those around you, and I believe this to be a very important first step in creating a world where everyone feels free and welcome to be themselves and secure of themselves enough to help and encourage those around them to feel free and welcome to do the same.
Many parts of this course include sharing experiences, memories, and feelings with each other. It is not a requirement to participate in those exercises if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. It is also possible to learn from other people’s examples if that is how you prefer to participate, although I would encourage full participation if possible, when you are ready.
Passing this course does not mean receiving a passing grade. There will be no grades given. Passing is your own evaluation of your progress and whether you feel you could benefit from taking this course again, or if you feel you’ve absorbed what you needed to and are ready to move on with the skills and information you’ve retained. http://www.facebook.com/healingthemind.toronto

Please email us if you are interested in taking this course - it will start after students show interest. Email: torontofreescool@gmail.com  Subject: Healing the Mind




 Intro to Ayurveda: Traditional Indian Medicine
               1-time Workshop July 15th, 2012 1-3pm
with Lilou Moonbeat 

Ayurveda is the holistic medical system of ancient India that has been in practice for over 5000 years. It explains how the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether interact in the cycles of natures and in our bodies. Illness arises from specific elements out of balance. Understanding these natural cycles allows us to bring the elements back into balance and restore health. 
This course will be 1 class and comprise of lecture with lots of time for questions and discussion, experiential exercises, and easy home remedies.


Please email us if you are interested in taking this workshop. 
Email: torontofreescool@gmail.com  Subject: Ayurveda



July 10th Student Union Meeting Minutes


Agenda:
1. This Sunday
2. New Classes in 6-8pm and 1-3pm timeslot
3. Fundraising
4. Volunteers- update
5. NAME!!!!!!!
6. Other

Decisions: every week 3 people will sign up for potluck on Sunday; every week one to two member(s) of the student union will be the welcome committee; July 18th we will fieldtrip to COMER's court case against the bank of Canada: Court FillingPress Release

OUR NEW NAME IS: THE FREE'SCOOL

This Sunday:
- Economics is on break
- Last Human Rights Class on Sundays? – Jo will get back to us
- Plant ID – need to check how many weeks that Doug can do
- Political Intervention Theatre - see if Grace can do more weeks
- For Potluck: encourage everyone to bring something, but 3 people each week sign up to make food for the next week
- For this week: George – main dish, Arestia – desert/snack, Roxy – salad
-  Welcome committee: Roxy and Arestia to split shifts
- During social hour – discussion on july 18th
                                    - informal occupy discussion for 9 month anniversary


New Classes for the 1-3pm and 6-8pm timeslot:
- Pre-registration for classes 1-2 weeks before they start

1. First Aid Training – is coming, Ian is in contact
2. Doug and Grace will be asked about plant ID, and political theatre respectively
3. Healing the Mind- is coming
4. Ayurvedic Health – Li would like to teach sometime after 5pm.
5. Community Resilience – to start the week after next (July 22nd)
6. Want to start an exercise class, for before classes…ask around. Maybe self-defense

Fundraising:
- Treasure Hunt
            - Sponsors to donate gift certificate to get prizes
            - On Sunday, will talk during the social – make a timeline
            - End in a picnic (and music?)

Volunteers:
- volunteertoronto.com costs $50
-LIFT will see if they can sponsor

Name:
Idea brought to student union:
- freeskule
- freesküle
- Rad School -
- Free School  -
- Free’scool
- Take Out Toronto and Take Out Occupy…Just Free’scool


Other:
July 18th - Field Trip to Court Case against Bank of Canada
                  - Get there for 9am and have a 30min-1hr discussion about what the court case is about – then go see it…maybe do a write up for the site?
                  - On Sunday, give a 10 min talk on the case and ask people to write out a question to bring on Wednesday

- Curriculum Rules – George has begun to write out some guidelines,
            - To type it up to give everyone a week to think critically about it

Occupy Toronto: need to write a letter telling them that they need to contact us before making decisions concerning the free’scool  

- Occupy Gardens Summer Jam, garden party picnic potluck on Saturday July 28th at the People's Peas Garden in Queens Park…free skule classes/table?
            -Going to conflict with Megaquarry action.
            -Once megaquarry action is confirmed, talk to Gardens and see if they know about it/are willing to move 

Recap of July 8th Human Rights Class/ Reminder: class takes place tonight @7:30pm, OISE 5th floor


Focus- responsibilities to respect fulfill promote and defend human rights
state-all institutions and individuals 
questions re value of treaties 
discussion of obligation regardless of enforcement 
discussion about the festival for education as class project

Links to issues of concern- environment-the basics water food housing
Idea: defend water first -such as the mega quarry project
field trip- to Mega Quarry Action 

Homework assignment:
Bring a question, statement, poem or whatever medium you prefer that expresses-concisely, what you want to say to the people about the human right to water. 
Individual homework: research the quarry conflict so we are informed before we get involved in action.
educator request-please someone assist Roxy with bookmobile....

Idea: new students get briefed by current students in small groups 
- also please post useful data and articles for library

Time change: 
Given the level of activity being generated and the need for some people to leave the city on some weekends, we are going to hold the next class and others to follow after the student union mtg on teusday evening-730 or so...
there will be a class next sunday.
Sundays off will be posted soon.

ps. I would appreciate occasional snacks to share around, and good homework we can use for action learning 

Thank everybody for attending! 
- Josephine Grey
Human Rights Teacher 

Monday, July 09, 2012

A beautiful Sunday in the park: Recap of July 8th

After a few weeks of rain and then our break, yesterday, we had a great day for learning (although it got a little chilly at the end). As usual, we gathered around 12:30pm and set out the books in a circle, outlining our classroom (s). 

In Human Rights, we discussed the responsibilities of human rights (who and how to hold accountable) , taking special interest in the Megaquarry planned for southern Ontario. This class is slowly moving timeslot to Tuesday at 7:30pm, OISE. Therefore the Human Rights Class will take place Tuesday at 7pm, Sunday the 15th at 1pm, and then, starting Tuesday the 17th, Human Rights will only take place on Tuesdays.              
Homework for the week: create a drawing, poem, lyric, sentence, article, word, etc. on the right to water. 

Next, we split into 2 groups for Real Democracy and First Nations History. 
Real Democracy had a review week - discussing the 3 major oligarchies (feudalism, monarchy, and republic), next week the class will begin to explore Athenian democracy. 

First Nations History read narratives and had a discussion on residential schools, and Brenda shared a little about her thesis which uses storytelling and mapping to exhibit her experiences. 

--------------------------------------------
During social hour we had peaches, cherries, water, and pasta with vegetables, as well as our skule-wide discussion. We discussed: student accountability, workshops for teachers, and the school's name. 

Student Accountability: Our classes have fairly consistent numbers, however, it is often not the same people. A combination of being free, and happening on a summer weekend affects the consistency of all the classes' student-base. We discussed ways in which to improve regular attendance, applicable at the teacher-learners' discretion. These range from assignments, to class synopses, to certificates. The linked document presents a list of all approaches we hope to continuously develop: Raising Learner-Teacher Responsibility Skule-wide support: create a memory box and recycling bin for Sundays - an anonymous system for continuously receiving ideas and criticisms; weekly rotations of organizing group to take responsibility of passerby and general email list; statement of collective liberation visible on Sundays represented by its mascot Anti O. 

Workshops for Teachers: recognizing that most are new to the type of paradigm we operate under, and following up on requests from both students and teachers, we discussed workshops/classes for teachers to learn about popular education methods. We discussed asking popular educators to give a workshop on their experiences/popular education methods. Looking to do a workshop once every 2-3 weeks outside of our Sunday classes. Please contact Roxy (course coordinator) if you would like to get involved in the development of these workshops. 

School Name: the freeskule has recently received notice from the UofT engineering society, that 'skule' is a registered trademark, and we have until the 31st of July to cease use of the word. We discussed the legality of this cease and desist letter, as well as its immorally. We talked about solution-names: freeskule *get rid of the space*, toronto free skool *need to talk to anarchist toronto free skool*, toronto free school,  the rad school *rad as in radical*, and jokingly entertained the idea of the Alternative University of Toronto (AUofT). These suggestions + those from the facebook group will be brought to the student union meeting on Tuesday the 10th. Ultimately though, we need to talk to a lawyer before a decision can be made. 

Other: fundraising - some members of the student union are organizing a treasure hunt on the island to fundraise for freeskule. If you would like to get involved, talk to George on Sunday, or email us. Next Sunday, July 15th, from 6-8pm we have a guest-teacher-learner, Grace Thompson-Campbell, coming help develop a political intervention theatre piece in support of the fundraiser. 

space - Laura has started a gallery space with others, and will have some workshop/art space for freeskule sometime late August/early September. 

July 11th - meeting to discuss general intro to freeskule class.

July 25th, 7pm Hart House UofT - Human Rights class' Families for Education Festival organizing meeting.

July 28th - keep your ears open. 
--------------------------

After social hour, we had Economics, followed by a new 6-week course that started this week entitled Understanding Resistance (equity class transformed, 8-10pm). In this class, we completed a thought experiment which asked learner-teachers to imagine themselves as a cooperative society whose homeland had been overtaken by a competitive society and they were forced to make refuge in the competitive society. Learning from their experiences, they recognize that the only way their culture will survive they must assimilate the competitive society. In groups of 6, students created mindmaps exploring how they would assimilate the competitive society, and then shared. At the end of the class, we will re-do this exercise and examine the differences. Next week, Understanding Resistance will look at ways in which people are resisting the dominant education system, with specific focuses on Ghanaian education, and Indigenous Research Methodology. 
Homework: write down 1 way in which education is used as a tool to segregate, suppress, or hurt people. 

All in all, it was a great day. Teachers, look to the attached document for freeskule tips on how to create classroom continuity. Students, see you tomorrow (Tuesday June 10th) at 6:00pm OISE 5th floor for our student union meeting, followed by Human Rights from 7:30-9pm. (That means we have to start the student union meeting on time!)

p.s. next Sunday Doug is coming at 1pm to teach a Plant Identification Course, followed by natural dyes in the evening. Bring a white shirt if you want to learn how to dye naturally! 

Sunday, July 08, 2012

The economics class now has its own website:

occupyeconomics.ca/skule.htm

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

June 3rd Student Union Meeting Minutes


Agenda:
1.     Reflections
2.     Next Days
3.     Volunteers / Outreach
4.     Festival overview
5.     Space/September  - saved for next meeting
6.     9-month anniversary of Occupy, in St. James? – will invite Occupy Toronto to spend the day with us in Alexandra Park, and dedicate our social hour to talking about good Occupy memories

In Attendance: Dix, Salomeh, Roxy, Laura, Shirley, Roxy, Mizel, Chris, Veronica, Li

Decisions:
1.    This Sunday, July 8th, we will actually have the skule wide discussion! Questions:
a.     Ask Sunday classes if they feel strong enough to move onto another day of the week and free up their timeslot
b.    Need a class (4-week?) to teach people how to teach – gage interest, needs, and availability
c.     Surviving the Apocalypse Class – when and interest?
2.    We will put out a volunteer call-out on Toronto.com

Actions before Sunday:
1.    Outreach: Friday at 1pm anyone who is free will meet at the corner of Dundas and Bathurst (on the south east side, Alexandra Park side) to do some outreach for a few hours. Salomeh is printing off flyers, and will bring them to us around 3pm.

Reflections:
- Courses are going well, people are learning lots
- Human Rights Class has been covering the different international human rights documents, and how to use human rights as a framework for your activism
- We have a couple one-off workshops
- Toronto free skule really provides something more – I have my degree – I think it’s a great and necessary alternative school
- I love that there’s different facilitation workshops
- There is a need for education reports – Salomeh is working on a Youth Report, and Roxy is helping with the higher-education section – other research groups are being de-funded
- Teaching economics is a very challenging thing in this environment – creating a language between economics and social change; people think economics is really boring, but we need to connect this
- We have a bit of a stable attendance problem: you build something up with the class and then only 1 person from that class comes to the next one
- It’s been really interesting for me because I’ve learned that it’s important to have a debate going, not just telling people
- Request from Occupy Toronto for Free Skule to be a part of 9-month anniversary party
- We need to think of some sort of strategy to raise attendance

Adding another day in the week:
- Not at the Time-being
-- I think we should try to perfect the one-day before moving onto a second
- I’m too busy to come to more days
- You could throw in 1 or 2 workshops during the week
- This would require a lot of outreach
- It’s difficult to spend a full day, but then you’re immersed in it for a full day
-In the beginning we wanted the courses to be an affiliate group, and then it’s the teacher’s responsibility to recruit

Bringing out the classes onto different days:
- see decisions

Outreach:
- Media Wrench to make letterhead – Roxy will send out info
- Toronto.com à volunteer opportunities
            - Roxy will write up a volunteer call-out, and post it on a google document for all to see – 24hrs after it is posted and commented on, we will send it out

Roles and Responsibilities of Volunteers:
- Social Media Updates
- Outreach and Recruit
            - Flyers
            - Postering
            -Specific event promotion
            - Calling other organizations
            - Door to Door
            - Streetreach
- Any other creative ways you can think of
            - Street Theater
- Teachers
            - ESL teacher – free language courses
- Web-Developer
- Help with Event Planning for September Community Event
3-5hrs a week

Google Group:
- Salomeh will make one
- Roxy to send out list of emails to Salomeh
- Outreach on Friday

Festival:
- Families for Education Festival
- Action groups/items
- To discuss general education system
- Need to Research Venue Spaces – ideally with outdoor and indoor space
- Queen’s Park, Community Center in St. James Town  - Jo
- Scadding Court Community Center  - Roxy
- Events happening in September – Laura to research
                        - Not frosh week, not Labour Day, manifesto

Funding - Roxy to Set up A Pay-Pal Account for the Free Skule dedicated
                - Indy Go-Go – Veronica will look into this
                -

Art Space:
- Veronica – to contact SKETCH about opening another location in the east end of Toronto
- Petra has offered warehouse space at Dupont and Ossington for Free Skule – would like a ‘pay-what-you-can’ deal
- Jo’s backyard can be used every once and a while

Extras:
- On June 11th @7pm there is a meeting to develop a 4-8 week intro to everything class. Please contact us if you would like to be a part of this planning

Monday, July 02, 2012

Back to Skule!

and meetings!

Student union meeting. Tomorrow. 6 pm. OISE. 5th floor lounge.

Be there, or be square!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Free Skule is On Break This Week


Just a Reminder: free skule is on break this week (ironically coinciding perfectly with the corporate universities' reading week).
Student Union meetings will resume on July 3rd
Classes resume on July 8th.
peace, and enjoy pride week!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Sunday June 24th, see you in Alexandra Park


12:30-1pm - Gather

1:00-3pm - Human Rights with Josephine Grey

3:00-5pm - Occupy Democracy with Brent or
                 - First Nations History with Brenda Wastasecoot

5:00-6pm - Social Hour and Dinner with Everyone

6:00-8pm - Economics with Dix Sandbeck or
                 - Love in Action with Veronica Campbell

8:00-10pm - Equity Studies and Writing with roxy

10:00-12pm - Direct Action Training with Ian

Direct Action Class' June 22nd Action

TORONTO DELUGED WITH RED SQUARES IN SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENT RIGHTS

TORONTO, ONTARIO - 22 JUNE 2012 - As a class project of a Toronto Free Skule course, students unveiled red squares in the city today to draw attention to the abhorrent condition of Ontario’s post-secondary education system. Acting in solidarity with the “Maple Spring” student movement quickly spreading across Canada, they hope to inspire a greater awareness of the issues facing students in Ontario today. The red square, the iconic symbol of the Quebec student strike, signifies that students are “squarely in the red” - that is, deeply indebted because of the costs of education. The issues of debt and education costs are pressing for Ontario students, who pay the highest tuition in Canada. Students' human rights are being violated, and a major policy reversal is needed to correct these violations.

Toronto Free Skulers' Drop Banner above highway, June 22nd 2012

Canada's commitment to uphold the right to education is enshrined in several documents, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This treaty recognizes that “education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights”. As part of this agreement, governments are obliged to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to education, by not creating barriers to education, and by actively supporting individuals and communities in attaining education. As well, the Covenant states: “Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education”. Our government's obligation to uphold the right to education is crystal clear. But when we look at their actions, it is equally clear that they have ignored this responsibility.

Funding for education has been disappearing rapidly. While government funding once covered 80% of postsecondary operating costs, today it only covers 50%. Tuition fee hikes have been implemented to cover this funding shortfall, yet as we pay more, the quality of education falls. Between 1990 and 2006, the ratio of students to full time faculty increased by nearly 40%. Provincially, the government’s behaviour has been abhorrent. In the 1990s, under Premier Mike Harris, Ontario saw a 25% cut in funding for Ontario universities. In 1998, Harris deregulated tuition fees for all graduate and certificate professional programs, resulting in tuition fee hikes of over 500%. This has never been rectified! There is further evidence of displacement of funds: at times, the province of Ontario has decreased funding in the same year that the Canada Social Transfer has increased. Where’s our money actually going?

We must also look at the oppressive denial of education for First Nations, consistent with the systematic oppression on which Canada was and continues to be built. Between 1992 and 1997, the government shifted funding for First Nations’ post-secondary education to block funding, and in 1996, increase to funding was capped. Because of this, 10,500 First Nations youth were denied postsecondary funding between 2001 and 2006. First Nations, the fastest growing and youngest population in Canada, are systematically denied education. This is shameful, and unacceptable.

So, just how much have tuition fees gone up? In 1990/91 tuition fees were $1653; and for the 2011/12 school year, fees averaged an incredible $6640. Adjusted for inflation, tuition fees have seen a real increase of 244% since 1990, and they are projected to increase by 4-4.5% annually for the foreseeable future. Increasingly, the burden of education costs is being shifted onto the shoulders of students.

The debt load which accompanies these fees is daunting, with a provincial average of $26,000 for an undergraduate degree. This is understandably a huge obstacle, and a deterrent particularly for students from low-income backgrounds and students with children. Debt also has a negative effect on retention rates, and success. This is perpetuated through an extremely problematic loan system, the Ontario Student Assistance Program, or OSAP. After being assessed by OSAP, students are allotted extremely minimal living allowances amounting to a measly $7.50 per day for food. If a student is not healthy enough to think, isn’t their ability to enjoy education hindered? 

Consequently, students with high debt levels are far less likely to complete their education; if they do graduate, their career choices are highly distorted by this burden. By forcing students to work while they study, we are preventing them from reaching their potential and in many cases keeping them from completing their education. On top of this, students pay high interest rates on their loans; this amounts to a penalty for lower-income students who are unable to afford tuition costs up front. 

So what is the alternative? It would only cost $2.5 billion annually to eliminate tuition fees; $170 per household per year in income tax. Only $1.5 billion would reduce tuition fees to their 1992 levels. The unpopular corporate tax cuts of 2009 equal a loss of $1.6 billion in revenue this year; we would go a long way towards making education accessible by simply reversing the tax cut. More funding should also come from the federal government. If taxation rates were at the same level as they were in 2000, the federal government would be collecting $48 billion more in revenues each year; a mere tenth of this lost revenue would be enough to eliminate tuition fees for all attending postsecondary in Canada. As the government finds money for faulty fighter jets and corporate tax cuts, it is clear that cuts to education are not a product of necessity, but of misplaced priorities, and broken treaties.

Free or fully-funded tuition is not a radical or impossible demand; it has already been promised to us, and is fully attainable. The defunding we’ve seen over the last few decades violates human rights as it strips the youth of opportunities provided to previous generations. Instead of placing maximum resources in education, and instead of fulfilling their promise of protected, accessible, and free education, the government continues to cut corporate taxes and social funding. It's time for Canada to get its priorities straight. Students at the Toronto Free Skule, a democratic open-access school which runs every Sunday in Alexandra Park, will continue to find creative ways to draw attention to these pressing issues and build momentum around solutions. Keep your eyes open for more red squares appearing around Toronto - this movement isn’t going anywhere! For more information, contact: Sage.Indigo@gmail.com