The Wandering Academics
The Why?
A genuine love of learning is dying in our schools. Many students have been implicitly taught from parents and educators alike that learning and education are mostly a practical means to a practical end – getting a job. Students see no reason to learn anything apart from what is absolutely necessary to learn in order to pass a class. “Is this going to be on the test?,” is an all too familiar question in the classroom.
The Wandering Academics is an organization dedicated to rekindling a love of learning and intellectual exploration in high schools and to turn students into lifelong learners and lifelong teachers. We aim to create transformative educational experiences that have the power to change students’ perception of the world and the role of learning and education. We aim to provide teachers with the means and materials to cultivate a unique culture of learning through the development of a global network of interconnected chapters of intellectually curious students and teachers.
"The power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous."
- Edward Gibbon
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The How?
The Wandering Academics brings together three distinct educational ideas to create an impactful and transformative learning experience for students: a growth mindset, a culture of learning, and a community of inquiry. The organization aims to utilize a lasting and ongoing growth mindset intervention to help foster and maintain a unique and inclusive culture of learning which will act as the foundation for the longterm development of a open and critically thinking community of inquiry.
The Wandering Academics will use language learning, specifically the learning of Esperanto, as the basis of an ongoing growth mindset intervention. All successful growth mindset interventions hinge on students not only coming to think that their actions and efforts can develop and enhance their intellectual abilities, but also on students internalizing and giving reasons and arguments as to why and how this occurs. For a growth mindset intervention to be effective, students need to believe, experience, and reflect on how the things they do affect their brain and make it a stronger, more resilient, and more powerful tool.
At first blush, language learning might not seem ideal for fostering a growth mindset as learning any natural language can be a challenging and overwhelming task; where sustained effort can sometimes seem to provide little to no return. However, Esperanto is no normal language. Firstly, Esperanto is an extremely easy language to learn. This is because Esperanto has a rather simple grammar, essentially determined by just 16 rules, and because the language is absolutely regular, meaning that there are no irregularities in plural forms, verb conjugations, adjective endings, or any other linguistic oddities. Therefore, unlike natural languages, Esperanto can be learned to fluency in only a tiny faction of the time required to learn a natural language; this ease and speed of learning is important because it will allow students to consciously recognize that their efforts are having a big impact and that things that once sounded like nonsense begin to take on effortless meaning; their hard work creates noticeable and perceptible changes.
The learning of Esperanto is meant to function as a memorable, personal, and metaphorical experience to show students that their efforts to learn new things can change and improve their cognitive abilities in ways they never imagined. Learning Esperanto will give students a sense of empowerment and will help to increase their self-esteem and self-confidence, not only in their ability to learn languages but in all other areas of their lives in both academic and non-academic settings.
As students gain the ability to converse in Esperanto, the language can be used to create and bolster a unique culture of learning, in which a group of students can begin to reimagine themselves as both learners and teachers, communicating in a new language and learning new things through their new language. This culture of learning will focus on learning new things to reshape and empower students’ minds, learning for the sake of learning with the knowledge that all learning will only add to their intellectual abilities and prowess.
Finally, with the growth mindset complete and a culture of learning firmly established, chapters can start to develop a community of inquiry. This is the last and most difficult stage of The Wandering Academics as it involves creating an openness where students and teachers can begin to ask the big questions and talk about big ideas, and feel comfortable enough to be challenged and to challenge others. A community of inquiry is a community that yearns to understand the world as clearly and as objectively as possible; and by “objectively” we mean the “inter-subjective truth arrived at by human beings through inquiry, experimentation, consideration of the evidence, and dialogue.”
It is only through working together and challenging one another that can we grow and come to a better and more objective understanding of the world around us. The creation and perpetuation of a community of inquiry is key to helping students openly explore their world both physically and intellectually. Each chapter of The Wandering Academics will teach students how to challenge each other in constructive and respectful ways and will encourage students and teachers to hungrily chase after truth. All members of The Wandering Academics will support each other in their collective quest to understand and see the world as clearly as they possibly can.
"Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into."
- John Dewey
Experience and Education
The What?
Each chapter of The Wandering Academics will be locally run by a volunteering teacher(s). Interested teachers can find all of the information and details they will need to start a chapter below. Teachers will review The Wandering Academics Handbook for a overview of how the chapter should be run and what research supports the organization’s goals and methods.
Teachers should start by talking to students and other teachers about the possibility of starting a chapter of The Wandering Academics. The success of any given chapter will depend largely on student and teacher interest and involvement.
Once teachers have a group of students who wish to take part and form an official chapter, teachers should begin by going through the General Program material below. The General Program will provide teachers with all the necessary support and materials they will need to get the ball rolling.
The General Program will introduce students to Esperanto and what The Wandering Academics is all about. The general program should be completed over a few months and by the end of the general program students and teachers alike should be able to comprehend, speak, read, and write conversational Esperanto.
Throughout the process of learning Esperanto, chapter members will take part in various activities to further develop and foster a deep growth mindset and create and strengthen a diverse culture of learning. The organization will provide all necessary resources to assist and support teachers towards these ends. Part of these resources can be found below in the Exploration Buffet, which consists of various presentations and activities that introduce fun and interesting ideas and concepts will Esperanto language lessons built in. The goal of the Exploration Buffet is to get students to start to learn new things and discuss new ideas through Esperanto.
Ideally students would join their local chapter of The Wandering Academics in grade 9 -10 and stay with the chapter until graduation, taking on more senior and leadership roles as the years pass. Students in years 11-12 should be guided to slowly develop into a community of inquiry. Specific activities and guidelines should be followed from the material provided below to ensure that students feel respected and included in this transition and development.
General Resources
Resources include: lesson plans & tips for teaching and learning Esperanto, lesson plans from a wide range of topics and cultures and various other thought provoking presentations and material that can be used for chapter events
"The more the mind takes in the more it expands."
- Seneca
Letters From a Stoic
Exploration Buffet
After completing the general program, chapters can choose lesson plans from the Exploration Buffet below according to students' interests. Each section contains various lessons and presentations designed to generate engaging discussions and to broaden students' Esperanto vocabulary.
Mathematics & Computer Science
"What do you yearn for? Do you yearn to defend your own beliefs? Or do you yearn to see the world as clearly as you possibly can?"
- Julia Galef
The Scout Mindset
Running a Chapter FAQ
How much time do I need to dedicate to running a chapter?
Running a chapter of The Wandering Academics will take about the same amount of time that it would take to coach a school sports team. We suggest that chapters meet once or twice a week after school and at least once during a lunch time period during the week.
Do I have to plan and make lessons to run a chapter?
No! All lessons and program planning will be provided to you through the organization. You will simply need to download the content from our website, review the lesson outline, and present it to your students; at least to start. After a few meetings, we suggest giving pairs of students lessons to review and teach!
Do I actually have to learn another language to run a chapter?
All members of The Wandering Academics will need to learn Esperanto to be able to take full advantage of what the organization has to offer its members, but don’t let this intimidate you. Esperanto is an extremely easy and enjoyable language to learn and we will provide you with all of the content and resources you need in order to be successful.
How am I supposed to teach students a language that I don't speak?
You aren’t! You and the students in your chapter can learn Esperanto together! Aside from our resources, we will also teach you how to organize a Duolingo classroom, which will do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to learning Esperanto.
Isn't running a chapter a lot like having to teach another class at the end of the day?
We sure hope not! Our Esperanto lessons follow teaching strategies from the ESL industry where the focus is on fun game based learning. Lessons are designed to be interactive with a lot of speaking games and learning through play. Also, just because you’re the teacher that doesn’t mean that you have to lead every chapter meeting and activity! Assign pairs of students to review and lead lessons as well!
What else should I know before signing up to run a chapter?
To get a better idea of what The Wandering Academics has to offer you and your students, we suggest reading through the handbook. The handbook provides a deeper dive into the philosophy behind the organization and the supporting research that underlies our approach to education and lifelong learning. The handbook also reviews how the organization will support you and your students along your learning journeys.
