Prelude to the Holding Unfolding podcast, a series of interviews with facilitators about facilitating! This mini episode includes orientation content. Transcript online at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/holding-unfolding-podcast-intro-transcript/
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Cover art by Pharaoh Halley, on IG at @pharaohartwork
Learn more about Agile Learning Centers at nycagile.org and agilelearningcenters.org
Learn more about self-directed education at self-directed.org

HoldingUnfolding

Holding Unfolding, Intro

Episode 1 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is an interview with Mel Compo of the Agile Learning Center in New York City! Transcript at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/holding-unfolding-podcast-episode-1-with-mel-compo-transcript/
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Cover illustration by @pharaohartwork
Learn more about ALC-NYC and the "Agile Roots" Mel references at nycagile.org and agilelearningcenters.org, where I wrote a bunch of the web copy and they wrote a bunch of the "facilitation guide" from 2017.
Find them at magicalmelicorn.com, on IG at @the_melicorn, and on Pateron at https://www.patreon.com/melicorn

Holding Unfolding - episode 1 with Mel Compo

Episode 2 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is an interview with Ryan Shollenber of the Agile Learning Center in New York City! Transcript at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/04/17/holding-unfolding-episode-2-ryan-shollenberger/
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Learn more about some of the tools Ryan talks about at agilelearningcenters.org, and a lot more about the culture co-creating meeting he mentions in the article I edited with stories from a bunch of centers and published at https://www.cutter.com/offer/agile-approach-education.

Listen to "Live Like the World is Dying" podcast -- season 1, episode 23 (!?!) "Dibs on Fitness for Every Body," is the specific one we gush about -- at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co/episode/8e82ffbbbe8b47ed/dibs-on-fitness-for-every-body

Cover illustration by @pharaohartwork <3

Holding Unfolding - episode 2 with Ryan Shollenberger

Episode 3 of Holding Unfolding is an interview with Anthony Galloway Jr. of Heartwood ALC in Atlanta, Georgia! Transcript at https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/holding-unfolding-episode-3-with-anthony-galloway-jr-transcript/
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Cover illustration by @pharaohartwork
Learn more about Heartwood at HeartwoodALC.org. 
Check out Anthony's art at TonyKryptonian.com and on IG at @tonykryptonian. 
Learn more about Flying Squads at flyingsquads.org.
Check out Akilah Richard's Raising Free People podcast and network, where Anthony is just starting a mini series (!!!) at raisingfreepeople.com/215/

Holding Unfolding - episode 3 with Anthony Galloway Jr.

Episode 4 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is an interview with Julia Cordero of Heartwood ALC in Atlanta, Georgia (US). Transcript at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/05/01/holding-unfolding-episode-4-with-julia-cordero-transcript/
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Cover illustration by https://www.instagram.com/pharaohartwork/
Music by https://www.bandlab.com/notdummroll
Learn more about Heartwood at https://www.heartwoodalc.org/
Check out the brilliance in this transcript from their Racial Equity and SDE event that we mention: https://www.self-directed.org/tp/racial-equity-summit/
Find the "Lit Charts" Julia references at https://www.litcharts.com/

Holding Unfolding - episode 4 with Julia Cordero

Episode 5 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is an interview with Amber Sawyer of Rivers and Roads ALC in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (US). Transcript at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/05/09/holding-unfolding-episode-5-with-amber-sawyer-transcript/
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Cover illustration by www.instagram.com/pharaohartwork/
Music by www.bandlab.com/notdummroll
Learn more about Rivers and Roads at http://riversandroadsok.com/ and on their Instagram at @riversandroadsok
They also had a cool reflective contribution to the ALC Network annual report for 2020, at https://app.gitbook.com/@nycagile/s/network2020report/~/drafts/-MOqnXiXD0umpq80-N3N/facilitators-say...#rivers-and-roads-oklahoma-city-oklahoma-usa
Follow up on the shout out of Akilah's work at https://raisingfreepeople.com/podcast/
We allude to how self-directed education is often cast as a new invention by some US white men lone geniuses; check out this piece about whose traditions we're actually building on with this practice: https://www.self-directed.org/tp/ours-first/
One resource for learning more about whose lands each ALC we're calling into these interviews from is on is https://native-land.ca/
Finally, those new to comparing education philosophies who want to learn more about those mentioned in this episode can look up John Dewey and the laboratory school as a start on the progressive education movement, Maria Montessori on Montessori schools, "The Hundred Languages of Children" on Reggio Emilia, Summerhill as an entry point for Democratic Free Schools, and the Alliance for Self-Directed Education for content on self-directed education...although there are many other starting points to explore each philosophy from.

Holding Unfolding - episode 5 with Amber Sawyer

Episode 6 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is brief process reflection and a story from a facilitator day with an ALC-NYC kid in early June of 2021. Transcript at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/06/05/holding-unfolding-episode-6-nyc-facilitation-story-transcript/
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Cover illustration by www.instagram.com/pharaohartwork/
Music by www.bandlab.com/notdummroll
Book shout-out is for "The Disordered Cosmos" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54455629-the-disordered-cosmos
Conference mentioned was hosted by https://www.self-directed.org/

Holding Unfolding - Ep 6, a New York City facilitation story

Episode 7 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is an interview with Jean Finlay of the Philly ALC. Transcript at: abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/holding-unfolding-episode-7-with-jean-finlay/
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Cover illustration by www.instagram.com/pharaohartwork/
Music by www.bandlab.com/notdummroll
Learn more about the Philly ALC at https://www.phillyalc.org/
"Raising Free People" gets a shout out, and is hopefully going to get published in Spanish soon! Help make that happen at https://donorbox.org/let-s-translate-raising-free-people-vamos-a-traducir-raising-free-people

Holding Unfolding - episode 7 with Jean Finlay

Episode 8 of the Holding Unfolding podcast is an interview with Zed and David O'Connor of the Philly ALC. Transcript at: https://abbyoulton.wordpress.com/2021/07/04/holding-unfolding-episode-8-with-zed-and-david-transcript/
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Cover illustration by www.instagram.com/pharaohartwork/
Music by www.bandlab.com/notdummroll
Learn more about the Philly ALC at www.phillyalc.org/

Holding Unfolding - episode 8 with Zed And David O'Connor

Season 2 of Holding Unfolding is focusing on stories from members of the Agile Learning Center NYC community! We're starting with some interviews with young people!
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Summer production will be slower and simpler since Abby's trying to do it all alone between other jobs *but* the kids are excited to add transcripts and much better audio editing when they return to the space in September. So stay tuned! 
...
Support the production of this podcast at https://www.patreon.com/agilelearningcenternyc ! Learn more about the center these episodes focus on at nycagile.org/

Holding Unfolding season 2

ALC-NYC Episodes: Jiana, Demian, Erez, Nyah, and Hugo, part 1

Season 2 of Holding Unfolding is focusing on stories from members of the Agile Learning Center NYC community! We're starting with some interviews with young people!
...
Summer production will be slower and simpler since Abby's trying to do it all alone between other jobs *but* the kids are excited to add transcripts and much better audio editing when they return to the space in September. So stay tuned!

Holding Unfolding

ALC-NYC Episodes: Mai, Sterling, Jared, and Demian part 1

Abby asks a teenager, who is sure he'll have nothing to say, about his videogame. It turns out he finds plenty to say!

Holding Unfolding: Tell me about this videogame...

Savannah interviews ALC-NYC's Sustainability Support Group, a student initiative that meets weekly to learn about and implement environment-focused projects!

Holding Unfolding: Sustainability Support Group Interview, with host Savannah

What if learning is everywhere, even in the interesting and fun and “pointless” endeavors? What if it’s something we seek for ourselves as babies before anyone convinces us we have to be directly instructed? What if children are people, whose desires and goals and biological rhythms matter even when valuing them means insisting the child’s life satisfaction and relationships are more important than what any policy-makers, think tanks, or governments would like their life to be? Such a relationship to learning and knowledge as experiential, everywhere, and ongoing isn’t new. Neither is the particular significance it has in informing societies’ relationships to children, who are so obviously engaged in growing and learning. Any history of self-directed education has to start from this longer and deschooled view of history, where the concept isn’t just a counter to mass schooling institutions but stands on its own as a way of being in relationship to kids and to knowledge. Formal or informal, named or unquestioned as a norm, self-directed education has been a human practice across many places and times.

An online course turned into a book turned into an audiobook, this guide starts with a brief look at the history of schooling and at a selection of common philosophies guiding various alternative schools. It then introduces the concept of self-directed education, with its history and some key influences. The following two sections articulate why we know kids can be trusted to learn and how supporting them requires more than just encouraging their interests (although that’s part of the process, too!) The final two sections explain the philosophy and functioning of an Agile Learning Center, the specific kind of self-directed education community where I’ve practiced as a facilitator and educator for over a decade. The conclusion of the guide includes suggestions for where to find more stories from folks in Agile Learning Centers, as well as suggested next steps for folks wanting to do or learn more.

Text at https://leanpub.com/selfdirectededucationintro
Resources/References at https://abbyoulton.com/2024/06/01/agile-e-book-references-and-resource-recommendations/

Section 2: Alternative Education Landscape

Section 4: The Science of Learning

Section 6: Self-directed Education in Agile Learning Centers

What if learning is everywhere, even in the interesting and fun and “pointless” endeavors? What if it’s something we seek for ourselves as babies before anyone convinces us we have to be directly instructed? What if children are people, whose desires and goals and biological rhythms matter even when valuing them means insisting the child’s life satisfaction and relationships are more important than what any policy-makers, think tanks, or governments would like their life to be? Such a relationship to learning and knowledge as experiential, everywhere, and ongoing isn’t new. Neither is the particular significance it has in informing societies’ relationships to children, who are so obviously engaged in growing and learning. Any history of self-directed education has to start from this longer and deschooled view of history, where the concept isn’t just a counter to mass schooling institutions but stands on its own as a way of being in relationship to kids and to knowledge. Formal or informal, named or unquestioned as a norm, self-directed education has been a human practice across many places and times.

An online course turned into a book turned into an audiobook, this guide starts with a brief look at the history of schooling and at a selection of common philosophies guiding various alternative schools. It then introduces the concept of self-directed education, with its history and some key influences. The following two sections articulate why we know kids can be trusted to learn and how supporting them requires more than just encouraging their interests (although that’s part of the process, too!) The final two sections explain the philosophy and functioning of an Agile Learning Center, the specific kind of self-directed education community where I’ve practiced as a facilitator and educator for over a decade. The conclusion of the guide includes suggestions for where to find more stories from folks in Agile Learning Centers, as well as suggested next steps for folks wanting to do or learn more.

Text at leanpub.com/selfdirectededucationintro
Resources/References at abbyoulton.com/2024/06/01/agile-…-recommendations/

Section 8: ALC Stories, Writing Reflections, and What's [hopefully] Next

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021! 
Original text in English and Spanish at https://agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-learning-centers-starter-kit-v3-0/so-you-want-to-start-an-alc

Starter Kit: So You Want to Start an ALC

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021! 
Original text in English and Spanish at https://agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-learning-centers-starter-kit-v3-0

Starter Kit: Opening

Starter Kit: Tools

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021!
Original text in English and Spanish at https://agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-learning-centers-starter-kit-v3-0

Starter Kit: Principles Update

Starter Kit: Foundations and Forms

Starter Kit: Location + Marketing

Starter Kit: Finances

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021!
Original text in English and Spanish at https://agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-learning-centers-starter-kit-v3-0/lay-your-foundation

Starter Kit: Staffing and Facilitators

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021!
Original text in English and Spanish at https://agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-learning-centers-starter-kit-v3-0/its-alive

Starter Kit: Flows

Starter Kit: It's Alive! Culture, Meetings, Conflict, + Deschooling

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021!
Original text in English and Spanish at agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-lea…-kit-v3-0

Starter Kit: Seasons Change And Maintenance

Addendum/Bonus Content: https://abbyoulton.com/2024/10/27/on-change-pt-1/

Listen to version 3.0 of the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit, from 2021!
Original text in English and Spanish at agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/agile-lea…-kit-v3-0

Starter Kit: Seasons Change and Maintenance Addendum

Starter Kit: Back to the Beginning, Why Start an ALC?

Based out of the Agile Learning Center in New York City, I'm Abby and I'm sharing content related to learning and facilitation.

Holding Unfolding

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