It was twenty years ago today...
Okay it wasn't quite twenty years ago today, but it was nearly 20 years ago. And it wasn't Sgt. Pepper telling the band to play, but rather, Yoko Ono + Brian Rothschild imagining The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus hitting the road with a mission to help students explore their imaginations through the creation of music and art.
That dream has become a reality, and for many people over the past 20 years, the Lennon Bus has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to get hands on experience with the time and tools needed to explore your imagination and express yourself.
Yoko Ono + CBS Evening News
Watch Yoko Ono share the mission and work of the Lennon Bus with the CBS Evening News.
So what exactly is the Lennon Bus?
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a non-profit 501(c)(3) state-of-the-art mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. In its 19th year, with the very newest technology and gear, the Bus continues to be dedicated to providing young people with tours of the studios and participation in free digital media production workshops.
STUDENT PROJECTS
Watch examples of student projects produced on board the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.
But a lot has changed in 20 years. And the magical tools of a mobile recording studio are no longer just on the bus; they’re in the hands of millions of students and teachers.
So as tablets and smartphones become more and more ubiquitous, the Lennon Bus is looking to take a new turn—right into the classroom.
Why?
Because it was never just about getting the cool new music, video, and tech tools onto a bus or into your hands. It was and is about a man’s life, work, and message to imagine a better world for all of us.
And that's a message our world needs right now more than ever.
So what did we do?
We designed an iPad curriculum that brings the life, work, and legacy of John Lennon into the classroom and help schools come together and imagine peace.
Our hope was to produce a curriculum capable of scaling beyond the bus and provide a learning experience that will help shape the future of these students, and thus our world.
With that in mind, we built the first version of the curriculum around 3 core concepts; Creativity, Empathy, and Activism.
Creativity.
Everyday our world faces new struggles; and new struggles need new solutions.
We believe helping students foster their creativity in any capacity will help build their creative confidence to tackle bigger struggles when they are older.
Empathy.
Many times arguments are really mis-understandings because no takes time to see it from the other side.
We believe creating moments for empathy to happen in the classroom will prepare students to make the moments happen on their own, out of the classroom.
Activism.
Screens have separated many of us from the real world and our "voice" has become a "like" button.
We believe helping students understand different ways to take action will help them see how to become more involved in making the world a better place.
Here’s what the curriculum looks like:
Teacher Engagement
Teachers were engaged through professional development workshops to better understand the teachable topics of John Lennon’s life and work.
We walked them through the same Keynote presentation (you can check it out below) that the students would engage with later in the week.
Professional Development
Teachers were provided a professional development workshop in the library earlier in the week prior to engaging with their own students in the classroom.
Student Engagement
Students are engaged throughout the week with multimedia classroom activities designed to help students explore the ideas of peace and social justice through exercises in creativity, empathy, and activism.
Inside the classroom
Photos from a Lennon Bus workshop at PS 25 in the Bronx in collaboration with Apple and the ConnectED program.
Keynote Slides
This Keynote presentation introduces John Lennon and his legacy to engage students in conversations and activities around imagination, empathy, and activism.
Below you can view the individual sections of the presentation.
School Engagement
Finally, we had the entire school come together to make a human peace sign. It is a moment for everyone involved to feel the power of people coming together to imagine peace.
Imagine Peace
Students formed a human peace sign outside and the school was gifted $1,000 from Juniper Systems.
NEXT STEPS
A lyric of John’s reads:
“Only people know just how to talk to people, only people know just how to change the world."
With almost 20 years of experience talking and working with people from all walks of life the Lennon Bus knows how to change the world.
Bring people together.
Over the past year, we have watched our country become divided during a heated, divisive campaign battle from both sides.
But now we must come together.
“I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences, to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges that we face ”
Just today, Barack Obama met with Donald Trump at the White House to start the conversation around how we might come together, to work together, and make this world a better place.
We couldn't agree more and we're excited to see how we might be able to get more people involved with this curriculum, to come together, and imagine peace.