Microcollege: The Thoreau College Podcast

Episode #31: Zak Stein - Education In a Time Between Worlds

Zak Stein studied philosophy and religion at Hampshire College, and then educational neuroscience, human development, and the philosophy of education at Harvard University. While a student at Harvard, he co-founded what would become Lectica, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to the research-based, justice-oriented reform of large-scale standardized testing in K-12, higher-education, and business.He is also a writer whose work has appeared in a variety of journals including American Psychologist, New Ideas in Psychology, Mind, Brain, and Education, Integral Review, and the Journal of Philosophy of Education.

He has published two books, Social Justice and Educational Measurement a dissertation that traces the history of standardized testing and its ethical implications, and Education in a Time Between Worlds, which expands the philosophical work to include grappling with the relations between schooling and technology more broadly.

Learn more about Zak's work: http://www.zakstein.org/

Education in a Time Between Worlds

Social Justice and Educational Measurement

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

Thoreau's Garden: https://thoreausgarden.com/

Episode 30 - Miles Iton - Lo-Fi Language Learning Microcollege

Miles Iton tells the story of the founding of the Lo-Fi Language Learning microcollege and the influences that shaped him and the program's pedagogy.

The mission of the Lo-Fi Language Learning microcollege is "to modernize men's educational experiences and career prospects in the Humanities by designing a liberal arts experience around a pedagogy based on the five pillars of hip-hop; breaking, DJ'ing, emceeing, graffiti art and knowledge. 

"Miles “Irie Givens” Iton is an interdisciplinary educator and multimedia artist from Miami, Florida. After receiving his MA in Creative Industries Design from Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University thanks to the Fulbright program, he parlayed his thesis project into the hip-hop EFL teaching startup Lo-Fi Language Learning. Today he is a TEFL training instructor and career coach for students of Lo-Fi’s Arts ‘n EFL program, currently hosted at New College of Florida. As Irie, his international recordings and ethereal concept albums can be found on most streaming platforms. Outside of curricula and multimedia production, he provides digital marketing services for like-minded organizations, expanding Lo-Fi’s operations into a digital education firm.

Lo-fi Language Learning: https://www.lofilanguage.com/

Creative Canvas Cypher (for Colorado residents only): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqqv-X8zjCObnvFYMWBG1QtTL0cPKdrj6-ZYf7Mw9Zs8F3rw/viewform

Say My Name IndieGoGo: https://igg.me/at/say-my-name-book/x/29707727#/

New College of Florida: https://www.ncf.edu/news/hip-hop-creatives-learn-to-teach-efl-at-ncf/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/Thoreau's Garden: https://thoreausgarden.com/

 Episode 30 Miles Iton.mp3

Rickey Glen Thomas "RT" preaches the gospel of draft animal power and agrarian education, describing a pedagogy borne from the musings of Wendell Berry.

Rick Thomas is a horseman, farmer, author and educator who heads the Sterling College Wendell Berry Farming Program, located in Henry County, Kentucky.

Sterling College: https://www.sterlingcollege.edu/

Wendell Berry Farming Program: https://www.sterlingcollege.edu/wendellberry/

The Berry Center: https://berrycenter.org/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

Kotaro Aoki describes his journey to merge the western liberal arts tradition with eastern contemplative and philosophical practices at his school Kotowari in Aizu Prefecture, Japan.

般社団法人 'KOTOWARI' "that which remains unchanging underneath the surface of change"

Kotaro Aoki is the founder and director of KOTOWARI, an educational organization based in Japan. He has years of experience in designing and managing academic courses and educational programs. He has been inspired by his undergraduate studies of Philosophy at Wesleyan University as well as his 3 years studying yoga and meditation in the Himalayas to bring unique and powerful methods of exploring the self and the world to today’s Japanese youth. KOTOWARI provides transformative educational experiences for high school, university and graduate students as well as young professionals in Japan. Since 2021, KOTOWARI has been offering programs annually. Last year, KOTOWARI was recognized as a pioneer in the field of education and was awarded a grant from the Mitsubishi Mirai Foundation.

Kotowari: https://kotowari.co/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

Episode 27 - Mike Haasl - Skills to Inherit Property

Mike Haasl of Rhinelander, WI joins Jacob for a discussion on the importance of responsible land stewardship, and the development of skills and capacities that might help a person acquire land without breaking the bank.

Mike Haasl is a homesteader, engineer, and author living in northern Wisconsin. He studied and partied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked is an engineer for many years before starting a homestead 8 years ago and transition to a role as an educator and teacher of practical skills and permaculture. He is also co-creator of SKIP - which is a framework for acquiring and documenting the skills needed to successfully lead a self-sufficient life and potentially inherit land.

Permaculture and homesteading goofballs: https://permies.com/

Skills to Inherit Property: https://permies.com/wiki/skip-pep-bb

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Episode #26

Reinoud Meijer and Noam Hitsch join us from Sweden to talk about the International Youth Initiative Program, with special attention to the meaning and practice of the word "initiative".

Reinoud Meijer (Born 1975 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands) has been involved with youth and education for many years. He organized, facilitated, initiated and founded a number of youth conferences, projects, and initiatives before co-founding the YIP program.

He has a passion for human potential and development, for regenerative agriculture, -food culture and -lifestyles, and for the power of imagination put into action.

He refers to himself as an Imagineer, who seeks to move possibilities towards probabilities where possible. He is currently the president of the YIP association and a member of the organising team and lives together with his wife and two children on the campus in Ytterjärna, Sweden.

Noam Marei Hitsch was born in Germany and grew up in Austria. She attended Waldorf school until 10th grade and from that point on decided to take her learning into her own hands, traveling to several different biodynamic farms and Camphills in the US and in Europe to learn about agriculture and different forms of community. Agriculture in combination with the social realm and personal development have been instrumental teachers in her life so far.

She joined the The International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden to gain intellectual nourishment in addition to all the practical skills learned from her time working and traveling on farms and in community.

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

International Youth Initiative Program: https://yip.se/

Spark to Flame Youth Initiative Forum: https://initiativeforum.yip.se/

Episode #25: Eddy Nix, Rose Bruce on Reading Shakespeare for 148 Hours Straight

Eddy and Rose riff on the true identity of William Shakespeare.

Eddy Nix is a Viroqua resident and proprietor of Driftless Books and Music, possibly Wisconsin's largest used bookstore, located in a 100-year old tobacco warehouse. He is a Shakespeare aficionado who has also worked as a teacher and theater director, and is currently the lead publisher at Ramshackle Press.

Rose Bruce is a Viroqua resident who, when she is not involved in Shakespearean endeavors, works in the sectors of forestry and ecology. She has previously served as an instructor and project leader at Thoreau College and also worked at the Thoreau's Garden greenhouse. She is a graduate of Warren Wilson College.

Driftless Books and Music: https://driftlessbooks.com/

Ramshackle Press: https://www.ramshacklepress.org/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

Episode #26: Reinoud Meijer, Noam Hitsch - The International Youth Initiative Program

Reinoud Meijer and Noam Hitsch join us from Sweden to talk about the International Youth Initiative Program, with special attention to the meaning and practice of the word "initiative".

Reinoud Meijer (Born 1975 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands) has been involved with youth and education for many years. He organized, facilitated, initiated and founded a number of youth conferences, projects, and initiatives before co-founding the YIP program.

He has a passion for human potential and development, for regenerative agriculture, -food culture and -lifestyles, and for the power of imagination put into action.

He refers to himself as an Imagineer, who seeks to move possibilities towards probabilities where possible. He is currently the president of the YIP association and a member of the organising team and lives together with his wife and two children on the campus in Ytterjärna, Sweden.

Noam Marei Hitsch was born in Germany and grew up in Austria. She attended Waldorf school until 10th grade and from that point on decided to take her learning into her own hands, traveling to several different biodynamic farms and Camphills in the US and in Europe to learn about agriculture and different forms of community. Agriculture in combination with the social realm and personal development have been instrumental teachers in her life so far.

She joined the The International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden to gain intellectual nourishment in addition to all the practical skills learned from her time working and traveling on farms and in community.

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

International Youth Initiative Program: https://yip.se/

Episode 24 - Chris Knapp - The Maine Local Living School

Maine Local Living School: https://www.mainelocalliving.org/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

 Episode 23 Laura Marcus.mp3

 Episode 24 Chris Knapp.mp3

Episode 23 - Laura Marcus - The Glacier Bay Year at Tidelines Institute, Gustavus, Alaska

Laura Marcus weaves together a beautiful web of her educational and professional experiences, from her public school upbringing in Indianapolis, to employment at Deep Springs College, and the founding of her own educational initiatives as an adult.

Laura is committed to a vision of education that integrates the active life with the life of the mind. As co-executive director of Tidelines Institute and founding director of the Arete Project, she has worked with her students to create experiential and liberal educational programs that prepare students to be thoughtful stewards of the world around them. Prior to founding the Arete Project, Laura worked at Deep Springs College and as a ranger with the National Park Service. Laura has her B.A. from Yale University, her M.Phil from the University of Cambridge, and is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. In her spare time, she is an avid backpacker, reader, and cook.

Tidelines Institute: https://www.tidelinesinstitute.org/

The Arete Project: https://areteproject.org/

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

Episode 22 - Vilhelm Skoglund - Effective Altruism and the Future Academy

Vilhelm Skoglund is the secretary-general of Effective Altruism Sweden.  In October 2022, Vilhelm and Effective Altruism Sweden launched Future Academy, a five month long free program aimed to equip university students and young professionals from around the world with the thinking, skills, and resources they will need to pursue ambitious and impactful careers. He has several board positions within the non-profit sector and co-founded Nema Problema, a non-profit aiming to make migration policies more effective. Vilhelm has previously worked as a consultant and has studied law, developmental economics, and sustainability studies at Uppsala, Yale, and Cornell University.

Effective Altruism: https://www.effektivaltruism.org/

Future Academy: https://www.effektivaltruism.org/futureacademyNema Problema: https://www.nemaproblema.se/mentoring-program/