Guerilla Educators

Tupac and Biggie

First, the caveat.  Please take this post as coming from a 62 year old conservative leaning white Italian guy from South Philadelphia.  That said, whenever I think about the twin homicide tragedies of Lesane Parish Crooks, aka Tupac Shakur and Christopher George Latore Wallace, aka as Biggie Smalls, I get choked up.  Both of these men were murdered in their early 20’s within 6 months of each other in 1996 – ’97 and neither of their assailants has ever been apprehended.  Even within such a short creative time, Tupac and Biggie have had an outsized influence that has transcended far beyond the Rap/Hip Hop genre.  Suffice it to say that Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur were not two of, but the two most intelligent, insightful, and yes, entertaining commentators of the inner city Black and, by extension, American experience of the late 20^th century.  Not unlike Juvenal from the Roman Era, Beowulf, Samuel Johnson from the Enlightenment period, Poor Richard’s Almanac, de Tocqueville, …you get the idea, Tupac and Biggie chronicled the life and times in mostly poor Black America with such acute insight that, had they lived, it makes one wonder how those chronicles might have evolved.  I first, by chance, heard “Juicy” a song on Notorious B.I.G’s album “Ready to Die” in 1994 while driving my daughter to middle school as she was flipping through her favorite radio channels.  I actually had to pull over for a minute to compose myself while listening to that song!  As Biggie says in “Juicy”, …”if you don’t know, now you know, N****r, and I knew then that I needed to know more about this guy.  Something similar happened when I heard Tupac Shakur’s, “Letter to the President” from his album, “Still I Rise”.  In Tupac’s “Letter”, he details with such a ferocious clarity the problems in his “neighborhood”, problems that are imposed from the larger society and far more importantly, from individuals’ personal responsibility, and lack of it, for the distressed conditions in the community.  Am I too effusive in my descriptions of these guys?  I’d love to know what others think.

George Clinton at the Barack Obama Green Charter High School

On Tuesday, February 20, 2012, Mr. George Clinton was the guest of honor at the Barack Obama Green Charter High School, located in Plainfield, New Jersey.  Mr. Clinton was being recognized for his contributions to the school and to being, ahem, instrumental in the establishment of a world class music program there.  The evening also celebrated the release of the single, "RU Free?", an original song featuring Mr. Clinton, Dr. Cornel West, Mayor Corey Booker, and students from Obama Green.  "RU Free?" is available on iTunes. Proceeds go to the school.

See the wide version of the video on YouTube

Michelle Obama at Anacostia High School Commencement

In 1939, the great Marian Anderson was to be scheduled to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.  Provisions in the DAR's charter at that time prohibited "racial mixing" in the audience and "concerts by white artists only" were permitted, so Ms Anderson was denied permission to perform there.  As a result, First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt angrily resigned from her membership in the DAR and made it possible for Marion Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial.

How apt, then, that today, First Lady, Michelle Obama gave a most powerful and poignant Commencement Address to the 164 graduating students from The Academies at Anacostia High School.  Take a look...

ABC News

Fox News

Anacostia High School, now run under the auspices of Friendship Charter Schools, has, until this school year, been one of the poorest performing schools in Washington. This inaugural year as part of the Friendship flagship, improvement at the Academies has been immediate and significant.  This year, about 90% of the graduating class will attend an institution of higher education.  Graduation rates are up, absences are down, academic performance has improved considerably and Anacostia is now a much safer, more nurturing place to attend.  So congratulations to the students, and a big thank you on behalf of those students to Mr. Donald Hense and all the educators who have made this day so special.  And of course, a special thanks to Mrs. Obama!

Barack Obama Green Charter High School Fund Raiser

On May 20, 2010, Dr. Cornel West and Parliament-Funkadelic's, Mr. George Clinton were honored guests at the sold out fund raiser for the Barack Obama Green Charter High School, scheduled to open with 120 students in September, 2010.  Guerilla Educators Charter Consultants is proud to be a part of the development of Obama High.  Here is the article, written by journalist Mark Spivey, from Central Jersey News:

George Clinton, others flock to Plainfield to support new charter school
By MARK SPIVEY • STAFF WRITER • May 21, 2010

PLAINFIELD — After all these years, the No. 1 export here is still funk. And no one cranks it out like the city's prodigal son.
Music legend George Clinton stole the show during a star-studded gala dinner Thursday evening at City Councilman Rashid Burney's Watchung Avenue home, as about 200 people gathered to support the newly founded Barack Obama Green Charter High School. The school with an eco-friendly mission and curriculum, scheduled to open this autumn, also assembled Princeton University professor and civil-rights activist Cornel West and Newark Mayor Cory Booker to speak. "Teachers work harder than you do, no matter what you do,'' Clinton said. "It's the most important profession I know.'' Clinton, 68, spent long parts of the evening reminiscing with friends about his days in the city, as the 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee got his start as a member of a doo-wop group founded in a barber shop near the corner of Plainfield Avenue and West Third Street. Clinton later would go on to found Parliament-Funkadelic (a musical collective including members of Clinton's groups Parliament and Funkadelic), which soared to global prominence during the 1970s and 1980s. Dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt, designer jeans and a multitude of necklaces Thursday, shunning his trademark multicolored dreadlocks in favor of short-cropped black hair, Clinton accepted the key to the city from Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs before throwing himself into a rollicking set as part of a nine-person musical ensemble.
"Let's tear the roof off this sucker!'' Clinton told the crowd after greeting the mayor, throwing on a bright red blazer and launching into his smash 1976 Parliament hit "Give up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)'' off the album "Mothership Connection.''

Earlier in the evening, West captivated a pair of audiences, speaking first to a group of incoming Barack Obama Green students at the First Unitarian Church of Plainfield on Park Avenue before addressing the masses assembled at Burney's home. An imposing figure with thick glasses, a sprawling beard and a broad Afro, West darted from topic to topic, covering items ranging from the new Arizona immigration bill (it's an example of "scapegoating the most vulnerable,'' he said) to his busy schedule ("usually I'm booked nine months in advance, but I said I'm going to make a special allowance on one condition,'' West noted. "If we could bring the unadulterated genius of George Clinton back to Plainfield.'')
Quoting sources ranging from Plato to Beyonce, West echoed comments made by Barack Obama Green co-founder Steven King by saying that the new school's mission is to offer love and hope to urban students who need it.
"The power of love can change and transform any person in any situation,'' West said. West, 56, even shared the stage with Clinton for a song, belting out a soulful duet of his 1970 hit "I Wanna Know If It's Good to You?'' off the Funkadelic album "Free Your Mind ... and Your A** Will Follow.'' Booker introduced West at Burney's home, saying he was impressed by seeing "a community of people here to elevate our children so they might lead us.'' Crediting West with molding him while he was an undergraduate in college, the newly re-elected Newark mayor cited West's 1994 book "Race Matters'' as a particular influence. "It taught me that my intellect was worthless unless it was put to work creating hope,'' Booker said.

Both men had busy weeks before appearing here. Booker attended a White Housesecurity briefing on Tuesday, joining a federal effort to share information about inner-city violence, and West spent three hours on Wednesday speaking to inmates at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. Barack Obama Green officials recently earned Zoning Board approval to establish the new school at the existing Boys & Girls Clubs of Union County facility on West Seventh Street. The two organizations, the schedules of which are not anticipated to conflict, plan to partner to accommodate 120 students in 2010-2011, the school's first year of operation, with an eye on expanding to 240 students by its fourth year. It was not immediately known Thursday how much the gala dinner raised, but tickets were sold at $150 apiece, and by 8 p.m. the expansive banquet hall in Burney's home was standing-room only.
Charter schools are schools that receive funding from public-school districts, but operate independently of those districts. Barack Obama Green will be the city's first charter high school but its fourth charter school — others include the Central Jersey Arts Charter School, Queen City Academy Charter School and Union County TEAMS (Technology, Engineering, Architecture, Math & Science) Charter School. A fifth school, the Dr. Ellen G. Pressman Charter School, opened last fall but closed less than four months later due to a lack of enrollment.

King said Friday that Barack Obama Green has a little more than 100 students enrolled for its inaugural year, less than 20 shy of its allotment of 120.

 

 To learn more about the Barack Obama Green Charter High School, or to find out how to enroll, go online to www.njfirstgreen.org.

Dr. Cornel West at Barack Obama Green Charter High School

Dr. Cornel West, the Class of 1943 Professor at Princeton University will be the Guest Speaker at a fundraiser for the Barack Obama Green Charter High School.  Dr. West is one of America's most provocative public intellectuals and a champion for racial justice.

Also on the bill will be a Very Special Guest Appearance by Dr. Funkenstein – George Clinton.

Special Invited Guests include Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs

The event will take place on May 20, 2010 at Queen’s Acre,1127 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield NJ.  For more information, call 908-400-2886.  Tickets may also be purchased here.

Rocket Park Mini Golf

With the Rocket Park Mini Golf Course, the Lee H Skolnick Architecture +Design Partnership has shown once again why their student centered, education based projects are the coolest, most engaging, and FUN places for children of all ages to be.  Constructed on the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair next to the New York Hall of Science, Rocket Park Mini Golf is replete with real Atlas and Titan rockets fully 10 stories high that help provide authentic intergalactic ambiance. 

As stated on the Hall of Science website, "Players will explore key science concepts such as propulsion, gravity, escape velocity, launch window, gravitational assist, and more as they putt their way the through nine holes:

• Launch Window – In order to reach Saturn, players must pick the right time to launch their “rocket” through turning, intersecting elliptical orbits with planets and other celestial matter that will hinder its trajectory

• Blast Off! – Visitors will be challenged to shoot their ball up an inclined ramp with just the right amount of velocity to "blast off" a model rocket up a gantry
  
• Zero Gravity – Visitors will attempt to putt their golf ball at the correct speed and path to send their ball through a loop-the-loop structure that simulates the effects of “zero” gravity
  
• Earth’s Orbit – Players will attempt to putt their golf ball at the correct speed and angle to send their “rocket” up a ramp and into geosynchronous orbit
  
• Space Docking – Spaceflight sometimes involves complex and exacting maneuvers and at this hole players must putt into one of four space shuttle-shaped targets on a rotating disk in order to reach an International Space Station model
  
• Space Junk – To avoid a collision, players must putt their ball over a rotating disk cluttered with simulated “space junk”
  
• Gravity Whip – Spacecrafts can use the gravitational pull of a planet  to change their course. This hole challenges players to use gravitational assist in the form of a curving path around the Moon to curve the trajectory of their ball in the right direction towards Jupiter
  
• Re-Entry Angle – Players must putt their ball at a proper re-entry angle through the one correct “entry area” so that their “rocket” is slowed down by the simulated atmosphere to safely land on Earth
  
• Splash Down – Visitors will aim to shoot their golf ball across the putting green and into a skee-ball type mechanism with a model of the Earth as its main target"
  

In John Tierney's June 16, 2009 article in The New York Times, "Golfing Through the Statosphere",  renowned astrophysicist Dr. Michael Shara of the American Museum of Natural History, after playing a round with 2 fourth graders concludes, “The golf is fulfilling the museum’s mission.  Kids will learn a little. Adults will learn a little. The golf is good fun. And the rockets are cool”.  We must assume that there will be many life changing "Eureka!" moments on the part many of the youngsters who will experience Rocket Park.  Moments that could open new worlds of possibility for many of them.
Projects such as Rocket Park demonstrate how the Skolnick Partnership infuse their designs with the imponderables of childhood and captures the playfulness and whimsy that makes childhood such a special time.

CEFPI Educational Facility Planner

With the architect, David Schrader, John Sole co-wrote an article for the latest CEFPI Educational Facility Planner magazine (Volume 43/Issues 2 & 3).  Entitled "Educational Facility Design and Project Based Learning; the Real Connection", the article makes the case that school design should complement effective teaching and learning pedagogies, especially Project Based Service Learning... 

World-class teaching and learning can take place under a tree.  This seems like an odd premise to begin making the case for more effective educational facility design, however understanding the notion that a student's ability to learn is not fully contingent upon but can be shaped and informed by the building in which that learning takes place is the first step in better school design.  Click here to read the full story, which begins on Page 19 of the magazine.

Download CEFPI 2009 Magazine

Canadian Idol's Farley Flex at Scott Collegiate

Canadian Idol's Farley Flex was at Scott Collegiate High School in Regina, Saskatchewan recently to assist Scott Principal Mr. Rod Allen, students, teachers, and Community Partners in the kick-off of a hands-on, project based educational initiative beginning in the '08-'09 school year called "Project Hip Hop".  Read all about it in the Regina Leader Post.

Click to see an original student hip hip song, "So Far So Good", created by students at Scott Collegiate 

Rap at Scott Collegiate

The grand finale of the first Scott Collegiate Dinner Theater was an original rap called "So Far, So Good." The song is about life in what Macleans Magazine called "Canada's Worst Neighbourhood." The song was written by three students at Scott in response to their home's dubious (and inaccurate) "claim to fame". Take a look...

Canadian Idol's Farley Flex was at Scott Collegiate recently to assist Scott Principal Mr. Rod Allen, students and teachers in a hands-on, project based educational initiative beginning in the '08-'09 school year called "Project Hip Hop".   Read all about it in the Regina Leader Post.  Click here to go to the Scott Hip Hip blog.

To see other student created hip hop videos, take a look at this...

Nobel Peace Prize Recipent, Wangari Maathai, Visits with Philadelphia Students.

On Monday, October 16, 2006, students from Blankenburg Elementary School were invited to a private reception with Ms Wangari Maathai , the 2004 Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Ms Maathai is best known for spearheading the planting of millions of trees through the GREENBELT MOVEMENT in her native Kenya.  The students were chosen because of the important Service Learning projects they had conducted in the creation of the "Green Cities" tile mosaic at Blankenburg, for the planting of trees around the perimeter of their school, and for a High Performance, Green architecture project.  The Community Partner for the Green Cities mosaic was NetworkArts.  This 30 foot long, student created work of art is a curriculum guide to sustainability.  The tree planting initiative was conducted with the critical Community Partnership support of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and has improved the neighborhood aesthetics around the school.  It has also made the community a healthier place to live and work and has provided the students with the opportunity to learn about native species and what it means to be good citizens.
At the reception, the students had a once in a lifetime opportunity to engage Ms Maathai in conversation about being good stewards of the Earth and about Ms. Maathai's experiences growing up in Africa.  Wangari signed copies of her book, "UNBOWED".