Edu Change & Student Advocacy

     The term DIY – Do It Yourself – has been around for over a century. Originally, it referred to those that would rely on themselves for everything from home repairs to various fix-it projects.      In more contemporary times, it was the anthem for the punk rock and alternative music movements that discovered that bands did not have to depend on large, corporate record companies, booking agencies or management entities to start their careers. Instead, these bands could record and release their own music, book their own shows and take their music directly to the people without the corporate middleman.      Education is no stranger to the DIY movement either. Indeed, much of the spirit of charter schools was the idea that a group of like-minded educators, parents or community members could start their own schools based on the needs of their students.      So, what is the DIY movement mean now to the profession of education ...

      As a student, did you ever have a teacher that could talk the talk, but did not walk the walk?       Well, I’ll never forget having on obese PE teacher in middle school. I am not here to discredit someone for being obese. Indeed, as an adult, I too have become overweight. The difference is that I’m not a PE teacher or someone who preaches health and fitness for a living. He would tell us to run when he could not run himself. I saw this as hypocritical and disingenuous.      How many of you had an English teacher who couldn’t spell or made lots of grammatical errors? Again, I think it’s ok to make spelling or grammatical errors, unless you’re the person who teaches and preaches this for a living.      Once I became a teacher, I worked hard not to repeat these examples. So, as a Journalism and Media teacher, I continued to write, publish and produce my own freelance work. Not only did that keep me fresh ...