tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29777028638273822942024-03-05T17:00:54.483-05:00PIGG LITPlay Integrate Grow and Guiding. Leading the Implementation of TechEd and MakerEdA Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-13793177210239635102017-07-10T18:26:00.002-04:002017-11-29T10:03:03.403-05:00MakerCamp Day 1: Basket Weaving Myth Debunked<br />
So today was the first day of Middle School STEM Camp The Magic of Making. We are basically running some MakerCamp activities. I love MakerCamp stuff, if you have never looked at it check it out <a href="https://www.blogger.com/(http://makercamp.com/)">(http://makercamp.com/)</a>. <br />
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We first put our button machines to the test and made some buttons aka name tags. It's a great way to get them drawing at first and then giving them a chance to talk without running an icebreaker. <br />
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Over the weekend my colleague (Ms. Are) and I saw the basket weaving on the MakerCamp website. We loved the up-cycle idea of the newspaper and thought it's basket weaving we can do this with the girls. I love that we both just watched the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uDvAZXKFzg&index=2&list=PLwhkA66li5vD1UaNIK174q2xPuEZicIr8" target="_blank">video</a>, found the <a href="http://makercamp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Paper-Basket-Final.pdf" target="_blank">instructions</a>, and just handed it over to the mostly 7th and 8th graders this morning. They too tackled with gusto. We thought it would take about 90 minutes. Well we both should remember to double that. Three hours later we got two baskets done. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKWzqHLWA1cPkqeTaMfrFM3Lkc6gwGUTTaz0Z9E2L_ebzlWtyeZottBTsjMGZ52WX-mOeezKNYti1CJ8is-bQK0dJoWIhUyWDe95VcEM_TH5vas6JkfWD0NjackxxtLxpGySUvdGMSKBS2/s1600/PaperPlates+-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKWzqHLWA1cPkqeTaMfrFM3Lkc6gwGUTTaz0Z9E2L_ebzlWtyeZottBTsjMGZ52WX-mOeezKNYti1CJ8is-bQK0dJoWIhUyWDe95VcEM_TH5vas6JkfWD0NjackxxtLxpGySUvdGMSKBS2/s320/PaperPlates+-+1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Basket weaving is challenging. I will never ever use the basketweaving 101 joke ever again. It takes thought and work to get it right. They really had to problem solve and read the directions to get the basket right. They had to take it apart and start again when it wasn't working. They had to ask for help and get help from others. They had to take deep breaths and start again. They had to deal with the unexpected. None of us thought that the corners in the beginning would be the middle of the sides at the end.<br />
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There was some frustration with the weaving and how to weave especially with the corners and how to get the basket to look right. They struggled, we struggled, but together we got it done.<br />
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I plan on using this in my study skills class this fall. I am going to try to reduce the number of strips to 6 on both sides (that's my homework this week). Then I want to ask some questions to them to think about:<br />
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<li>How easy was it to make the basket?</li>
<li>What challenges did you face with making the basket?</li>
<li>Why?</li>
<li>What did you do when you got stuck?</li>
<li>Did you finish your basket?</li>
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<li>Why or why not?</li>
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<li>How accomplished do you feel?</li>
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I am hoping to have the discussion about how when learning something new there are challenges with it. It seems foreign, you have to go back reread instructions, watch videos again, ask for help when needed, sometimes taking it from people you might not normally think that they would have the answers (peers who are working with you). You have to redo things, and that might mean starting from scratch. Finally the results might not be what you envisioned or look exactly like the example, but it is your work. It might not be the perfect basket the first time around, but if you keep practicing you would bet better. </div>
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All of this can be used in any classroom while learning. Basketweaving is a great way to show them how learning takes time, and needed attention.</div>
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A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-74590458722294727492017-01-18T18:04:00.002-05:002017-01-18T18:04:23.511-05:00Let the Blog exchange begin!<div>
One of my colleagues, a History Teacher, has decided to have her students learn how to blog with another school in Baltimore, Md, they found each other through twitter. What is awesome about this not only the history that students are learning but the authentic use of technology. As students are writing we begin to discuss voice and tone of the blog and understanding how writing it is important to use words that convey the tone. It is not like a face to face conversation where you can have inflection in the discussion. This gives them a chance to deepen their own conversations about the topics since they will be looking at others blogs commenting and replying to comments on their own writing. The blog is academic as they are writing about history, but gives them a chance to understand how to write to audience vs. just what the teacher wants. I am excited about this blog and can not wait to read their posts. </div>
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We have decided to use blogger since we are a GAFE school it was easy to set up. They found it easy to make changes they needed and everyone was set up within an hour. They have just started writing about the first prompt now, so some don't have anything published yet, but if you want to check them out visit <a href="http://ushistory-drb.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">US History with Dr. B!</a></div>
A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-74873892661074633922016-08-26T17:47:00.000-04:002016-08-26T17:47:13.445-04:00As the new year begins..I have a few goals this year for my classes. Ironically it isn't about my curriculum. As I spent the summer with all the news and everything that has happened, these are things I have thought about. <div>
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they are things that I am going to aim to work on both in my classes and outside. </div>
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1. Speak the Truth: The truth matters. Lying or exaggerating about the situations does not get you out of the situation only can cause deeper problems. </div>
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2. Behavior matters. Be mindful of your behavior and how your actions can speak volumes. </div>
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3. Respect others. People matter, everyone has a story and parts of their lives you do not know about. Respect them in and outside of the classroom. </div>
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4. Take risks. Try new things. Don't let the unknown or the fear cause you to stop. Overcoming the fear can allow you to learn new things.</div>
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5. Fail. It's okay to Fail. Learn from the failures. As most times failures is where learning happens the most. </div>
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6. Apologize when a mistake is made, and not hold grudges when mistakes are made. Nobody's perfect and everyone is learning even me. </div>
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A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-68592854698489615842016-03-22T15:51:00.000-04:002016-03-22T15:51:36.995-04:00Why Drawing is related to Technology Integration<br />
Last night among my twitter feed came a tweet about the <i>TEDx Talk: Why people believe they can't draw -and how to prove they can and technology.</i> I clicked the link and family duty called. I just got to look at the link today. I apologize that I can't find the original tweet. But I have a feeling they wrote something similar to what I am about to write. If you are reading this let me know so I can fully credit you! I tried to search using the ted talk but no one I follow came up.<br />
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So here is the TEDx Talk: (It's only 15 minutes long)<br />
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And here are my results of learning how to draw:<br />
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Not bad if I do say so myself. But how does drawing relate to technology, that's easy it's the same mindset. How often does someone say I am bad with technology or I can't keep up with new technology? I hear this often, but just like drawing One can learn technology it just has to be broken down for them. This is what I learned from the video:<br />
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1. Simple steps. Mr. Shaw first drew a picture then broke it down into the simple steps to recreate. A good technology integrator does this. We break things down into simple steps. We need to remember how overwhelming technology can be and starting simple is key. Letting people know they can use technology just start small.<br />
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2. Apply knowledge to a new setting. Once he has the basics shown he demonstrates how you can take if further to create a new cartoon drawing. A good technology integrator helps show how new apps are similar to the knowledge one knows. While things might be different with applications they may also be the same. We look for ways to show others how to make these connections<br />
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3. Don't be afraid to be creative. Thinking outside the box can create new and exciting drawings with alterations. Technology provides way to be creative, don't be afraid to try something new, take the risks give it a shot. Its hard to be creative. We all know this, but creativity is essential in ed tech. We can all be creative just like we can all draw. When we open our minds to creativity we open our minds to new things.<br />
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4. Mindset is key. Around 14:30 Mr. Shaw asks a question: "How limiting beliefs and thoughts that we carry around with us each day? ... and if we think differently about these beliefs what else can we be open to?" Challenge our beliefs to grow, have a growth mindset that we can always learn. Even from the most unique places. In technology we are all learners always, how much can we learn from our students, from each other at schools, from others at conferences. Open your mind to believe that one can learn, we can all work together to learn new things. It is often I hear that someone believes they don't have much to offer but they are generally ones with fabulous ideas. <br />
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So open up and Draw, Be creative, and Learn. What will you try today?A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-84530630705460367712016-02-17T19:45:00.000-05:002016-02-18T13:52:31.933-05:00A Shift in Education...Today during our faculty meeting we watched "Most Likely to Succeed." (<a href="http://mltsfilm.org/">http://mltsfilm.org/</a>) A documentary about High Tech High that takes a different approach to education. They don't have traditional classes, or use textbooks, but students work together on integrated projects to demonstrate their understanding and teachers are facilitators of the learning helping students learn how to be life-long learners. The school doesn't give grades they have a public display night. This is a true PBL setting, team of teachers who guide the students to develop.<br />
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This is the third discussion about innovation that is happening in education that I have experienced in the last month. First at ECET2, where educators talked about developing ourselves as leaders and how our passion for learning and changing education system from the ground up. Then at NCGS Global forum, where many of the themes talked about innovation and having to develop students who will be changing careers a few times and many of the careers are not even invented yet. (Side note not a new concept I heard this 18 years ago my first year teaching at PA Technology Educators conference).<br />
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And now this documentary, about a school who took PBL to the extreme, giving teachers freedom and autonomy to explore developing students who are creative, innovated, and thinkers. The thought is exciting to think about not teaching to a test, to have discussions with students about what they are learning, to get them to be creative, motivated to explore, and find their own voices.<br />
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As I watched the movie, I watched the student groups develop into the classes; the teachers were on the sidelines. They were not jumping in to solve the problems. They were letting the kids struggle to find the solutions. This is not easy. Some of the students did not finish their projects in time, they need to be able to fail and fail big. The teachers didn't solve the problems but worked with the students to learn from the fail and how to over come. <br />
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So this leads me to question what can I do? What do I do already? The one class I teach DET is like this already. The students get to make something that has to be using hardware and software. What they make is up to them. I have gotten some really cool prototypes out of the class and I hope to see students take it further. I also teach robotics where they work within the confines of the FTC challenge to build a robot. Both of these, have very few tests, but students are still learning computers, science, math and writing. In addition to how to work together, how to speak in public, how to research and the design process. Students in the class all write reflective pieces and I know I need to do a better job of making them reflect. We all don't reflect often enough. I need to leave time for that. I also have to make more of their final products public. That public event is key. The more public the better. I need to figure out how to do that better.<br />
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I am now reflecting on my other classes. Can I reduce some of the items that I make them do, to give more open ended project? Can I find a way to get them to work together more? I see that they learn more when they are in small groups, how can I foster that? <br />
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I need to let go and turn the work over to them more. I need to foster them to be creative, to find solutions to things together. I need to let them work together to gain an understanding, while all will still have an individual section they should be working more in groups. I do a lot of it but I should be doing more. As I move into the third trimester classes can I revamp my classes so that I can do more of the collaboration, more open ended projects, can I get them to integrate more classes into mine. Can I work within my confine of the traditional schooling to do some non-traditional education?<br />
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I hope so, my school is already open to the ideas (I did mention I watched this movie at a faculty meeting right?). I just need to move forward and let the students grow. I have seen that it can work, 8th grade course showed me that. It started this blog. I started to let go of the classroom and turn it over to the students. I find it most rewarding when I do that. The students rise to the challenge they do learn, it might not be traditional learning, but the learning is happening. I need to do it more. Model the thinking out side of the box, the working together, the exploration that we want them to develop. Our school takes time out of the schedule in a few weeks to do a week long integrated project with the freshman and sophomores. I am now looking more forward to that week with the freshman that I have been an integral part of the planning. I hope that we can give our students a small part of the amazing work that was shown in the movie. I hope that we can also continue to push the shift of Education to see more integrated project based learning as the norm.....A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-74558007242470757092016-01-29T12:02:00.000-05:002016-01-29T12:02:31.925-05:00A reason to teach....Yesterday I went in school to teach AP Computer Science before I left for ECET2. But there was one problem. I couldn't get my program to work, I had the code from pervious years and it worked back then. Wednesday night before class I could not get my own code to work. I had to pack for the conference, spend time with family and try to get my lesson to work. I had the code that I used before, and kept getting a null pointer exception I couldn't figure out why. So at 10:30, I went to bed an woke up early Thursday to give it fresh eyes. And nope! Couldn't find my error. So I went to class with the lesson fully knowing I had a huge problem. I was hoping that as a class we could find the error.<br />
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I was nervous, that we were not going to get the program to work. But I started teaching anyway, thinking it would be a good teachable moment. We got to the point where we hit compile and... the girls' code worked and mine didn't. Sigh of relief, but then I said to them "Okay what is wrong with my code? I can't find my error."<br />
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That's when the awesome moment happened! The student who when she has errors in her code gets frustrated with always feeling she is the one who is struggling (although no more than the rest of them). She has been working so hard, but the programs are just taking longer than she wants to come together. She has been meeting with me regularly and spending lots of time working to refine her ability.<br />
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Well SHE found my error!!!! I had 9 colors instead of 8 in my array and that's why I was getting null pointer! (WHOOPS I must have made edits to it demoing it in previous years) I was so proud of her! She had an aha moment! It was awesome! I saw her confidence in her ability come back!! It was great to see her walk out of the classroom all smiles. She got the gold star of the day! I was so proud of her! <br />
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This is why I teach.<br />
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<br />A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-44169852048670061242016-01-12T19:23:00.002-05:002016-01-12T19:24:36.215-05:00Finally I did it!Today I took the test to become Google Educator Level 1. It was a long test that I finished in two hours. The test is pretty simple if you have been using GAFE at your school and I highly recommend it. It is basics in fact most of my students could pass. <br />
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I have been meaning to always do it and with persistence from a colleague I did. It helps to have the colleague to force you to continue to do things. So I can official post the badge below! It might sound odd but I am proud that I took that step. I hate taking those steps, but I know I should. I am glad I did it finally after two years of saying yes I should do that. Level 2 will be done by the end of the month and hopefully to get the trainer one as well by March! Now I am on a roll!<br />
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A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-37191928818279428522016-01-05T21:01:00.000-05:002016-01-05T21:01:03.304-05:00Can you guess a Number??Today a few things happened. I was so happy that my automatic starter works in the car and my heated seats gave me a warm ride to work. Even though I knew my partner in crime was sick and the day would be busy, since I covered her classes.<br />
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I realized I missed teaching those 8th graders, the course that started this blog, and enjoyed being a guess lecturer in the class. They have been playing with Scratch for a month now, have their ideas for the games they want to develop and have great enthusiasm for creating the games. <br />
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My colleague has done an amazing job for never having any formal education in programming and she also found a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z06QR-tz1_o&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">cool video to show them</a><br />
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Then I got to show them how to program a simple guessing game. Something every Intro to Programming I know does. The I am thinking of a Number... Can you Guess it. I love it because it does the simple loop, if statements, random numbers and variables. <br />
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It wraps the basics of programming into a nice package. With Scratch it also sets home what the video talks about, get the basics done then add more later. We get the basic game done and then add in a counter, make it look pretty, make it better. (Side note another colleague always would say what can you do to make it better, and I have adopted it -okay now make it better)<br />
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I was able to introduce some formal programming to them: what variables are, how to name them, Camel Casing, difference between when to use multiple if statements vs if-else, understanding how to change a counter, using random. <br />
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It was fun, the second class went better and I was able to have them write an outline of the guessing game so they can begin to formalize their thought processes. One thing I learned when working on games, that outline is so important. Having the steps of what you need to program is so important. <br />
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Ours was basic:<br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Give Instructions I am thinking of the of the number</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Established the number in a way that is changing</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ask for guess</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">If answer greater or less than the number</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Say so</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Guess again if wrong until right answer is given…</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was able to tell them about some things they should watch out for when programming. Talking about what we have found in the past to work and what doesn't work. </span></span></div>
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Then as I was leaving at 5pm today, the Make it Better Colleague tweeted about the <a href="http://fouroclockfaculty.com/2016/01/start-now/" target="_blank">4 o'clock club</a>. I read the blog post, and smiled. See he and I had this conversation this summer about keeping each other on track to do more of what we want to do, blog, run workshops, get more involved in associations we are members of, etc. I took this as a sign to blog again. So I came home and after I worked out (Got a fitbit for Christmas and was determined to hit 10,000 steps the first day back but that is another blog) I sat down and wrote this...<br />
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It was a good day. I love talking Programming with both AP and 8th Grade today. I didn't get some of the other items done, but I had a good day. Looking forward to another one tomorrow! <br />
<br />A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-76574212939838588142015-12-19T07:16:00.001-05:002017-12-01T10:29:47.022-05:003D Printing Thoughts..This is what I started in May of 2014 when we started with our Makerbot:<br />
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<i>This year we got a Makerbot, and it has been my task to help teachers and students utilize the Makerbot within the classes. So far the projects have had 7th grade Science design cells, Latin classes design Roman Buildings, 9th English classed design Demons based upon "The Screw Tape Letters". In addition to fun items such as key chains and Yoda. I have worked using 123d Design, Tinkercad, Google Sketchup and 123d Creature. </i><br />
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I never published the post, have no idea why. In fact I have a few on 3D printing started and never finished so as I head onto Xmas break where I can catch up on writing here are a few thoughts:<br />
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We now have two that run pretty consistently, and one that is in the process of getting fixed. The lessons I have learned from this have been incredibly interesting. In addition to the project above we have also had:<br />
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<li>Third Grade Butterflies</li>
<li>Skulls of Day of the Dead</li>
<li>A Nativity Scene by 5th grade</li>
<li>Robotics Pieces</li>
<li>Biome Animals</li>
<li>8th grade Jewelry</li>
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Off the top of my head that's what I can think of. It has been crazy here working through the projects in the Makerspace. But a few lessons I have learned:<br />
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<li>123D Sculpt (123d creature) exports really small, it's best to use MeshMixer to transform, make a solid and add supports</li>
<li>Replicator G takes a long time to run the code, and hasn't given me better results than MakerBot Driver settings. MakerBot has also better their settings to be able to give more information to the prints.</li>
<li>When making figures that have detail it is best to use a slower speed than 90. I have found 50 works better and smaller objects I go slower than that around 25 to get the details. </li>
<li>When having kids export over the information it is best to have them also give you the stl file as well in case you have to go back in and make edits. </li>
<li>The printers don't behave well all the time, but most of the time.</li>
<li>If you leave the PLA in the printer and it doesn't run for a day are two run the Load script before you unload. I can get the unload to not jam as much.</li>
<li>Jams happen, spend time getting rid of them. I use a needle and paperclips to help get a nozzle clean. </li>
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The students are finally starting to come around and print. I have had a few play with Tinkercad and print some items for parents which is fantastic. It has been a three year process but they are finally coming into the space to try the printers and other items we have.</div>
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A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-21157292647375014942015-08-26T18:42:00.002-04:002015-08-26T19:30:52.918-04:00Awesome tables!So today I just created my first Awesome Table! <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/scriptsexamples/available-web-apps/awesome-tables">Awesome Table</a> is a way to make a spread sheet into a table and searchable on a page in google sites. I saw it when I went to the only intermediate workshop I found at ISTE done by <a href="http://edtechtofu.blogspot.com/">John Calvert</a>. <a href="http://edtechtofu.blogspot.com/2014/11/student-book-review-database-w-formmule.html">He demoed it as book review</a>. Which I already talked to our Librarian an about, and will do that in September. However, I have been looking for a way to keep track of apps and websites that teachers and students use so others can look for apps to use in their classrooms. <br />
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I am giddy with excitement that it is starting to work. Now I just have to get others to help populate it. That might be the trick to get teachers to actually spend a few moments to write down some items. I am hoping they will. If not I will at least have a place to record my information as I work with the teachers and students.<br />
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This was easy to create. The documentation is good. I already had a google site created so it was simple to add. It was a matter of creating the form first, getting a few responses to start, and then following the directions on the add-on.<br />
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One thing that was difficult to decide on was when to use what filter. If you have checkboxes in the form you want CSV for there is a drop down menu for each one. This might get long, so I am going to spend some time on figuring out how to do it like tags. It has been easy to change filters and just save the responses spreadsheet so that is good. The other thing is that the links in the cells aren't transferring as links. I haven't done much research on it yet so I am going to spend time looking at that. But here is a picture of what the table look likes:<br />
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The other difficulty thing is the ratings only show the ratings that have been given, same with the dropdown tables. This somewhat bothers me. If I want to know what I don't have as well as what I do have reviews for. </div>
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But I am excited and this is a good way to have a wonderful start to the year!</div>
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<br />A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-79858081318284457562015-07-30T23:56:00.001-04:002015-07-31T00:16:23.944-04:00Can't Sleep, Mind is Racing...It's that time of Summer again that my mind is racing about the new year. While I have been prepping all summer long for what's in store, the last few nights have been constant thoughts racing and not sleeping. So I sit here in the dark, with the screen down at about 25% brightness to jot down my ideas and thoughts. I hope that this will allow me to get some shut eye. <br />
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<b>Thought 1: </b> Robotics. This year I will be coaching our Robotics team. I am very much looking forward to it, but it is going to be a lot of work. I still need to read up on the new App Inventor System, start planning the trips we want to take, and the rubrics for the work. The course is a graded trimester elective. I know FTC has lots of resources out there and I have been looking at them leisurely but now it is time to get to business and formalize it. Also I need to get more adults involved.<br />
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<b>Thought 2: </b>DET. In June, I wrote most of the curriculum during the PBL workshop. The workshop was fantastic and I mapped out the entire trimester in a formalize manner. I started the rubrics, formative and summative assessments but still have to finish the map. <br />
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<b>Thought 3</b>: Integration. I want to do more. I always want to do more. I want to make sure I have meetings with every teacher about their technology goals and how I can support them. I also want to make sure I continue these meetings. It sounds like lots of work but this is how I can continue to build the relationships to get others using technology, programming and making. <a href="http://futureme.org/">Futureme.org</a> will be used for this one. I learned about it at ISTE in Philly. In fact, I plan on sharing this with the faculty about making their own goals and sending them back to themselves. Sending the emails are great ways to remind us of the goal setting.<br />
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<b>Thought 4: </b>Tracking last years good stuff. I am formulating a way keep track of the great projects I collaborated on. We work so hard on the projects and they get shared within our community but I always forget to blog about them, or reflect on them. I want my students to continually reflect so it time that I do. I sometimes hate putting my words and work on display. However modeling what I want to happen is crucial. It doesn't have to be perfect. (I know this isn't since it is Midnight). I talked about doing this all summer long but finally got the courage to write. I missed the great opportunity to blog about each day of our Maker Camp a colleague and I did a few weeks ago. Stay tuned I may just catch up on that this week. I guess I just need to make it a habit to write every day. That's what the English teachers always express. A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-53453855613315882352014-09-19T06:20:00.002-04:002014-09-19T06:20:40.339-04:00MakerCon!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I was extremely fortunate this past Wednesday and Thursday to attend MakerCon in NYC. It is a conference for Makers by Makers. It is a place where there are new product launches, information about creating MakerSpaces in cities, looking at new startups, and learning from people who have successful startups. <br />
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One discussion was how 3D printing is starting a third industrial revolution. That isn't about mass production but mini manufacturing where people are producing themselves. It has allowed for rapid prototyping as well. It was amazing to see some big business: AutoDesk, Intel, and GE, that were all for embracing Makers and small business, not trying to shut them out. I love to see that they want to work with the little guy not against them. That they are thinking about how big companies need to embrace this major change in production. That people want to MAKE things!<br />
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As I am typing I have so much running through my head <a href="https://beta.snowshoestamp.com/" target="_blank">SnowShoe Stamps </a>, <a href="https://firstbuild.com/greenbean/" target="_blank">Greenbean</a>, <a href="http://modio3d.com/">Modio</a>, <a href="http://www.carbonorigins.com/apollo">Apollo.</a>. Oh and this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://localmotors.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96ZllBnMBUD1O-LyQ6kut030C8sJ_BWMhJOSfQztT2jIJr6zVdjzwxEeFYDDS5VXnAOhsbCc3ViHD09s4e2FQABL1GPOMinFYEyJrhA5pbNJHk9P9KA-kGYoryOO1LOnUtVpdNxRheLlU/s1600/IMG_3204.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://localmotors.com/">Me with the 3D Printed Car</a></td></tr>
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I see my role in education changing, I see education changing. How can we get students working on this quickly, teaching them how to utilize boards like Arduino, how to program various items, and learn what is needed? It's about blending and moving away from traditional classrooms. Its about letting them play and then teaching in the moment. Why does the Makey Make need to be grounded? How do you complete a circuit? Why do you need a resistor, and how big? How much would you sell that for if you need to produce it? What are your costs? How to advertise and make it look good? I would love to see more standards based and more project based assessments. I am hoping to have the shift in my classes. Most of my classes are project based, where they are assessed on the projects and their reflections. DET I am hoping to be able to have them create the processfolios where they are documenting their process as well as the final product. I want all my students to know they are MAKERS and the possibilities are endless.<br />
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As I said my mind is all over the place and I look at the schedule from this MakerCon from the last and as I reflect. In May in the Bay Area, the conversation was about the Maker Movement. I was talking to Binka from MAKE and I called it a Maker Revolution. She smiled and said she liked it. I said I see so many changes happening so quickly, how mindsets are shifting. I know I wasn't the only one to call it that, but this MakerCon everyone called it a Revolution. I like to think I have a part in this Revolution.<br />
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Check out the archive videos of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwhkA66li5vBEkRxCLCrX7IrHySh3LHj3" target="_blank">MakerCon here!</a>A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-80334160831389095812014-08-05T22:52:00.000-04:002014-08-05T22:52:21.235-04:00What a Rush!Today I gave my first presentation about what I do as a technology integration. I must admit, I was nervous about doing the workshop when I found out I would be closing the day. I spent time thinking and planing about showcasing some Digital Design and Fabrication that I do at school with all of my colleagues. (so thankful that they let me into their classes to do some digital things) I HAD THE BEST TIME! I was able to showcase what we do and spread the word about all of the cool things to do with making, digital design, STEM, STEAM, in all classes not just Techie ones. I simply explained my roll and what happens and looked at how I view technology integration. <br />
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My main view is collaboration! This is the key to getting any design in classrooms working with everyone colleagues, students and utilizing each others expertise to build a great curriculum. This has started and we have had some cool projects happening in the past few years. I am glad I was able to showcase them at NJAIS digital educators conference.<br />
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I love getting to share what is happening at the school and what my colleagues are doing in their classes. Some things that I shared:<br />
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<li>Utilizing iBooks Author for students to create a digital magazine about Immigration in various countries. This was done in World Languages so the magazine was entirely in French or Spanish.</li>
<li>Using Voice Record, Audacity, and Wikispaces for a Modern US History Oral History Project.</li>
<li>Using Scratch to create Animations about the Perfect Paragraph and different cycles in Biology.</li>
<li>Creating Commercials, News Clips, mini lessons through iMovie, Educreations, bcontext. (side note if you upload to YouTube you can create closed caption in various languages where you have to write the text this is great for World Language).</li>
<li>Digital Fabrication with a 3D printer and 123d Design, 123d Creature, Google Sketch Up</li>
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<li>Creating Plant and Animal Cells</li>
<li>Jewelry (in Art class but this could be math too where they create a business)</li>
<li>Roman Architecture in Latin classes</li>
<li>Demons in English class (They read the Screw Tape Letters)</li>
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I realized we have done so much in this short amount of time. My colleagues are amazing as they let me in to help collaborate on the projects bringing in the tech, art, computer science, digital literacy as they work on the content. I am blessed to work with these amazing people<br />
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I was dreading the end of summer, but now after presenting what I do I am so excited for the new year!<br />
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BRING IT ON!!!!<br />
<br />A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-33245209213309313282014-06-19T09:24:00.003-04:002014-06-19T09:24:24.291-04:00Summer Time = Curriculum PlanningIt's Summer and the time when my hubby gets jealous and annoyed that I have time off. However, I always feel that I am working. This summer I have two curriculums to write, two curriculums to review and adjust to a new schedule and one to refresh myself on since I haven't taught it in a few years. In addition I am taking two MOOCs one that I am seriously behind on, and attending three conferences. This is stuff I can not get done during the school year but can during the three hours in the morning that the toddler is off to summer preschool. <br />
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The two curriculums I am writing I am excited about. One is Designing Emerging Technologies (DET). This is a class to come after Intro to Programming and offer students a chance to blend hardware and software together. It really is a MAKE class. The class will look at designing something (up to the students). My plan is to take the girls to the Makerfaire in September so that they can see what is out there to get the creative juices flowing. I also plan on including some Makey Makey, Ardunio components and some building of circuits. It is a trimester course so it runs for 7 cycles, I like to plan per cycle for the courses that are trimester to make sure that we can fit everything in. There are two cycles before the Makerfaire so I plan to introduce the major topics of electronics during this time. <br />
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My Rough outline so far looks like this:<br />
Cycle 1: Electronics<br />
Cycle 2: Ardunio Play<br />
Cycle 3: Plan a Project to create<br />
Cycle 4, 5, 6 Create Project<br />
Cycle 7 Wrap up with a display and possible mini project.<br />
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The second curriculum is Computer Science Principles (CSP). This course is based on the proposed AP course Computer Science Principles. Therefore it already has lots of ideas out there and in fact, I am right now taking a MOOC that is all about CSP. This is the MOOC, I am massively behind but I am hoping to catch up since there is also a break coming up in the course. This course I am still wrapping my head around as it is teaching abstract ideas of Computational Thinking with using very little of a actual programming language. This is a full year course and the idea is to blend the six big ideas of the course together in units. The six big ideas are Creativity, Abstraction, Data and Information, Algorithms, Programming and the Internet. The idea of the course is to be collaborative and project based. I am looking forward to designing it but am still gathering information before I outline the course. I am hoping the MOOC and the Collegeboard conference will give me some good ideas for the units and activities. <br />
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<br />A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-45392818748829032022014-05-17T14:39:00.000-04:002015-12-19T07:19:24.801-05:00This past week I spent three days enriching my Make skills. I went to MakerCon and Making Possibilities workshop hosted by MakerEd, in the Bay area of California. It was fantastic. I got an incredible amount of ideas and am looking forward to implementing them. Now I just need to catchup on all the work I missed, and the Eastern time zone...A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-88008881951303307912014-05-17T07:17:00.000-04:002015-12-19T07:27:07.825-05:00Lessons Learned this year with the 3D printer...Last may the school got a 3D printer. We were all excited about the printers capability and for the most part have enjoyed it! The students are creating various types of objects in classes. We have created Roman architecture (Latin Classes) , plant and animal cells (7th grade Science), jewelry (8th grade Art) and demons (9th grade english). The demons was my favorite this year. They read the Screw Tape letters and had to design their own demon then write about why they designed it the way they did.<br />
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Anyway I have found that knowing the software can add supports is fantastic but MeshMixer is even better at cleaning up the 3D prints. MeshMixer has allowed me to build supports that have less cleanup. It also has imported easily into the software for the printer. I also build the raft so that the prints are easy to remove, a pastry scraper has also been beneficial to lift the prints from the painters tape. The painters tape is also a must in the room. Unbelievable the uses for painters tape. <br />
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I have come to hate rain and humidity. I find the rainy days printing doesn't go well since the PLA doesn't like humidity. Also I have found that it takes a long time for items to print. Students need to learn patience when printing. They need to realize that it will take a long time for an item to print. Our average prints have been 3 hours.<br />
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I have also figured out how to level the build plate takes practice that light amount of friction is hard to find. There are tools out there that can help you get the right measurement. But If you find someone who knows how to level the plate and ask them to let you run the paper through afterwards you can get the feel. Once it is level and you don't really move the printer its good.<br />
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Don't worry about the mistakes. There are lots of them and it is okay to have them. I have many in my basket. This happens as well as rafts. I always use one so I can get the print off the bed easier.<br />
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This is my thought as a newbie just entering into the 3D printing territory. A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-24919748221120202962014-01-26T06:55:00.000-05:002015-12-19T06:58:53.538-05:003-D Printing CellsThis past year the school got a 3D printer, and started me on another learning curve. I got to design, print and explore the uses of 3D printing. It has been a fun learning experience! Our first major project was 7th grade printing Cells. The girls had plant or animal cells that they designed and printed. We worked with 123d Design on the computers vs. the Web App. The downloaded app allows some free drawing of faces which gave more opportunity for the girls to draw the parts that they wanted. A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-41865091314888010072014-01-02T11:17:00.003-05:002014-01-02T11:17:37.205-05:00New Year Resolutions....At the beginning of the school year, I always start with vigor and excitement. Then as the school year becomes busy and hectic and some of my ideas seem to get placed on the back burner. Winter break gives us a chance to rest and regroup. Then New Year gives us time to think of resolutions. I decided to make a few as an educator.<br />
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I resolve to:<br />
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<b>Experiment, and Explore:</b> The past two months, I keep remembering something my daughter's pediatrician stated to me at her last check up, "You have to let her be herself." Students need the time to be themselves and learn for themselves. They need to be able to experiment, explore and learn on their own. They need to be able to try things and if it doesn't work ponder why. Students need the time to discover on their own and be themselves. I resolve to give my students time to explore, try things, learn from their mistakes. In addition, I plan on taking risks with my teaching and trying new projects.<br />
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<b>Reflect:</b> Often we spend less time on the reflection than we should. Students need to reflect on their own work. They need to be able to evaluate themselves effectively and spend time learning how they learn best. Reflection allows them to start becoming independent learners. As they start to reflect on what works and what doesn't work as they are learning, they can then help begin to develop their own learning plans. I also plan on spending time reflecting on my teaching and lessons in order to refine my own skills.<br />
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<b>Find Balance:</b> Everyday over break something crossed my path about having balance in life. Taking time to be with family, how to get organized to spend less time cleaning, how not using technology at times is good thing, how exercise can help in more than one way. I think it is important to help students find balance and relax. They often stress over the demands of school, parents, classmates, college acceptance, tests. I would like to help my students find balance with their work load and I can start with mine. I resolve to have check ins with my students about the work load, remind them if they miss a day or a homework assignment it isn't the end of the world. They need to know that it is okay to not work some days and have some fun. In fact we, as educators need that too. We need to demonstrate in our own work days and loads that having balance is important.<br />
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I hope by making only three I can uphold and maintain them.<br />
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<br />A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-50235350996986516122013-12-12T11:49:00.001-05:002015-12-19T07:18:13.756-05:00Can a whole school code?We did it! This week being CSed week, my department chair pushed me to arrange to get everyone coding. With help from our administration the entire Upper School and Middle School stopped classes and coded for one hour using the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1160114625"></span>Hour of Code <span id="goog_1160114626"></span></a>A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-13767998190473609252013-08-06T18:11:00.001-04:002013-08-06T18:11:24.405-04:00Engaging students through Photoshop. In the MOOC, Adobe Training for the Trainer, week three we are to reflect about "how to encourage educators to engage students through Photoshop. Many students find Photoshop editing a fun activity and a "neat thing" to learn. I find that they are always engaged when they are learning. In fact for World Arts day in the Middle School, I will do a workshop that helps students learn the basics of layers, selecting and simple color matching by placing their faces into famous works of art, this is always a hit.<br />
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I think it is a matter of helping teachers design projects or adapt current projects for use in Photoshop. Creating collages and posters, for example, can now become digital. A former colleague used to do an "About Me" project where students started with a photo of themselves and created a collage to describe how the world sees them, or how they would like to be seen by the world. I can see that in a Health class or English class as a visual poem. <br />
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I have also helped students create their own logos for a social justice project using photoshop (yes illustrator is probably better but they seem to find photoshop less difficult). Likewise I have helped students build French buildings of their dreams by putting various pictures together. <br />
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As I was reading the forums one teacher discussed how they teach students how to create diagrams with overlays on the pictures, arrows, text etc for their reports. I never even thought of this but I like the idea especially for science and math classes. They can create many cycles, diagrams from their own pictures to add a bit of creativity.<br />
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Civics classes have created election posters through the use of photoshop. Students can create magazine covers, cover pages, super impose various pictures through out history that are all about the same theme. The possibilities are endless with just basic knowledge, time to explore and some creativity.A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-6540452774850854242013-07-22T16:13:00.001-04:002013-07-22T16:13:37.828-04:00Why is Creativity Important?Today I started a MOOC (Massive open online course) through Adobe, Train the Trainer. The goal of the course is to help incorporate the Adobe platforms into curriculums and build creativity and digital media and visual story telling into education. For more information see the <a href="https://edexfe-public.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/EDU_Adobe_T4T_Course_Overview_July_21st.pdf" target="_blank">overview</a>. The course asks during the first week to reflect on "Why is creativity in education important?"<br />
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I thought this would be a good way to get into blogging again. I fell creativity is important because it fosters risk taking. When students feel they are being creative they tend to try something new, or stretch themselves to achieve the overall goal that they envision in their minds. It gives them a chance to relax and learn with out realizing they are learning. As they take risks to try something new students also build self confidence. It amazes me when I watch students learn new technology so that they can produce a video, animation, or brochure for a class. They aim to have it look like they envision regardless of their skill level. I get to watch many of them try new techniques they never thought they would try.<br />
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Creativity also helps them research these techniques and learn to follow directions (at least in the digital world). My mind comes back to the past PBL where the girls learned how to add close captioning to their you tube video. They needed to figure out how to do this by researching it, following the directions, and this would not have been done if it wasn't for the creative video that was produce. Many of them reflected on the skills they learned when they were being creative with the video. The creativity gives a ownership to the students in their learning.A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-69922897599961777092012-12-06T12:14:00.000-05:002015-12-19T07:37:19.154-05:00Dear AppleDear Apple,<br />
I work at a school that has incorporated iPads from 6-12. For the most part this has been a wonderful experience. I had the opportunity to show of Numbers to eighth grade Science students. They were able to easily follow the basics inputing numbers, creating rows and columns, and working basic mathematical operations. I have one complaint about Numbers, it does not do regression. We even explored creating scatterplots and can use functions find the slope and the y intercept of the data, but we couldn't add a regression line. Sure we could plot data based upon the calculated information however that isn't showing a line of data. Would it be too much to ask for this functionality? Math classes would enjoy it as much as Science classes. It would be great not to have to find another app.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
meA Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-45324121775778540332012-10-23T16:42:00.001-04:002012-10-23T16:42:26.853-04:00Bring back the Makers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwcinsM6zghkJiD2beZrxo8CrhJRz3UozVs1pmddvYgpYmd2vlbn_3clsYinrJjE49oEFEZhq0ILqpqDIsSoTfqc-Rjb8YcwmcUVd_uD5nGFoDY4AMWk8Le-SpUnqytBLFIDiAkylk0VHJ/s1600/IMG_4138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwcinsM6zghkJiD2beZrxo8CrhJRz3UozVs1pmddvYgpYmd2vlbn_3clsYinrJjE49oEFEZhq0ILqpqDIsSoTfqc-Rjb8YcwmcUVd_uD5nGFoDY4AMWk8Le-SpUnqytBLFIDiAkylk0VHJ/s320/IMG_4138.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fabrication Lab at Stanford</td></tr>
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This past week I spent two days learning about digital fabrication and the maker subculture. The conference was held at Stanford University and was called<a href="http://tltl.stanford.edu/fablearn2012" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://tltl.stanford.edu/fablearn2012" target="_blank">FabLearn</a>. According to Wikipedia "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_modeling_and_fabrication" target="_blank">digital fabrication</a> is a process that joins architecture with the construction industry through the use of 3D modeling software and CNC machines." The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_subculture" target="_blank">maker subculture</a> is defined as "the technology-based extension of the DIY culture." (again according to wikipedia). For two days I spent time on Stanford's campus discussing FabLearn, how to bring these two ideas into education. How these two ideas are part of the movement in education where students need to be come creators and makers, not just memorizers. For two days I looked at how creating projects from the design up can help students become better learners. Many projects were interdisciplinary and teachers spent time teaching other disciplines as well math, art, history, science were all pretty interwoven. The time spent was giving me flashbacks to my middle school shop classes: woodworking, metal welding, and print making and my home economics classes. These are the low tech versions of what I spent the time learning about. These have also seemed to slowly begin to disappear from the education setting.<br />
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I sat in a class that was similarly designed like those Middle School classrooms with huge workspace tables where four or five could spread out metal drawers underneath us where tools were stored, and open space. The difference was that around the edges were 3-d printers, laser cutters, ventilation systems and more than one computer. We spent some time in processing computer language using pre-existing libraries to design a lamp made from paper (you could make it from other materials but paper is low cost for workshops). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJum1Pr3jATz7sLyhbYbMfVg9et0csU_iE5YJ-XTWLHYIJ1lchxEQj_8RynFGREiwY-HNAA9CCS4sKjgsMBjsZcXHC77kymer09pvPgAnc05KeiB961OIYmxtyjvOJgCjvuNYZe3FPfk-y/s1600/lasercutter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJum1Pr3jATz7sLyhbYbMfVg9et0csU_iE5YJ-XTWLHYIJ1lchxEQj_8RynFGREiwY-HNAA9CCS4sKjgsMBjsZcXHC77kymer09pvPgAnc05KeiB961OIYmxtyjvOJgCjvuNYZe3FPfk-y/s320/lasercutter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laser Cutting out the Lamp </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1ssIt6xL0SvXxibwgA2WSAep6jWc_ndk0RXpEc4leFe7rSeTsQoUgMR9Dle7-R_Hpz24Uw-ypbLoQ6RYdxa1LC2CxFZVIT9PEa9JeBvJHBNrz4i9829sm1O_TEpARt22h4PsBk9qr38t/s1600/DSC_0289.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1ssIt6xL0SvXxibwgA2WSAep6jWc_ndk0RXpEc4leFe7rSeTsQoUgMR9Dle7-R_Hpz24Uw-ypbLoQ6RYdxa1LC2CxFZVIT9PEa9JeBvJHBNrz4i9829sm1O_TEpARt22h4PsBk9qr38t/s320/DSC_0289.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Computer Program (photo by Phyllis Wright)</td></tr>
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Our presenter was the creator of the software and a student working on her masters degree at MIT. We created a <a href="http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=2254" target="_blank">"codeable object"</a> as she called it. I must admit it was a lot of fun. I was able to manipulate the code using mathematics to build various designs that then using the laser cutter I cut out on paper and built the lamp. The whole process took about two hours. There is a downfall that it took a very long time for all of use to use the laser cutter. Depending upon the design details it took about 10-15 minutes to print, plus the top and the tissue paper that was about 30 minutes per person. I did not time it but it was a lot of down time, that everyone in the class noticed. Since it is also a laser, you can not leave it unattended, there must be someone there at all times. We talked about how some schools have open times where students can come and print, others stager the projects so multiple items are happening at once (this is not as hectic as it seems), others just live with the down time.<br />
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I could see having the students multi-task with other assignments for the class they are in. They could be working on multiple items in the class at once so that during down time they have something else to do as they wait. Classrooms become chaos but a controlled chaos since you need to plan for this. I could also see use in showing how math, science and art are all intertwined. Even in history, I saw some amazing 3-D models of historic times such as Rosa Parks on the bus. All complete in proportion to the space they had. Could it have been done without the digital aspect? Probably. Did that help add another discipline and learning experience I tend to think so.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCOAoxgUkF-vqV_6nzTuDLjSjCPLi8QwXFsX-6YhjE5i8Bt6YEFNOjWhtDVMTAAj4nSrTkdkq0OoEgvR10y7r4dUHl9-Veh1fzH69-gsIq40yM9iOU5ryylRuJjDFp-YIYtUOuXtqAXLD/s1600/DSC_0326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCOAoxgUkF-vqV_6nzTuDLjSjCPLi8QwXFsX-6YhjE5i8Bt6YEFNOjWhtDVMTAAj4nSrTkdkq0OoEgvR10y7r4dUHl9-Veh1fzH69-gsIq40yM9iOU5ryylRuJjDFp-YIYtUOuXtqAXLD/s320/DSC_0326.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putting together the lamp (photo by Phyllis Wright)</td></tr>
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I loved how math created such a beautiful lamp and with out the science there isn't any electricity. I saw how we could begin to build interesting engineering and design courses that could give students an idea of how to discover and make their own items. Find an need and create. I think that is so important as we have this shift in education, students need to learn how to be creative, they have so many tools at there fingertips it is time we allow them to utilize everything to learn about the world around them and invent the future.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDCPQMVtBKOZoct05plPKWXJTovdrPSU9HhDYE3ETpTJv7ykwpx-qKu3BkNcE7G15WO74riiWnKxvwAQiFGfVaFdX_oOAIxi0ezK59fB-uAfBqTswk3Y8GvQajIfJLZwgSJ_5DQY9PCtOK/s1600/DSC_0329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDCPQMVtBKOZoct05plPKWXJTovdrPSU9HhDYE3ETpTJv7ykwpx-qKu3BkNcE7G15WO74riiWnKxvwAQiFGfVaFdX_oOAIxi0ezK59fB-uAfBqTswk3Y8GvQajIfJLZwgSJ_5DQY9PCtOK/s400/DSC_0329.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and My Lamp (photo by Phyllis Wright)</td></tr>
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A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-33329122162460840222012-09-10T19:48:00.001-04:002012-09-10T19:48:43.526-04:00Technology Integration...It has been crazy back to school. We have only been back a week and it feels like we never left. My plan to become more organized is starting to materialize. I have created and appointment calendar for teachers to "sign out" the integrators to work with us either one on one or with a class. (Thanks to google again).<br />
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Today, I worked with the Honors French and Honors Spanish begin their trimester long project of creating a magazine. The project is going to be done in iBooks Author so they can add videos, pictures, text, etc and then publish them for their classmates to read on their iPads. Today they played with iBooks Author and just tried to get a feel with the program, adding, deleting editing and searching for tutorials. The girls and educators are both excited about this adventure. I am going to check in on the class in a few weeks to see how it is going. By November they should have the magazines finished! I can't wait!A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2977702863827382294.post-6214432299534609002012-08-30T20:15:00.000-04:002012-08-30T20:15:13.030-04:00GOOGLE!!!I love google. As I start a new school year, I spent the afternoon showing off google. I realized that I no longer keep an paper planner. In fact I haven't kept one for a few years now. I use a google calendar for each of my classes. When I first came to my current school, the google calendar was an easy way to follow our 7 day rotating schedule of rotating periods. It's a crazy hectic schedule and with the classes color coded it was great to see everything. I would add events to the calendar and as I planned wrote the topics in the details. See an example:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtiIr-M5nNFgdfLZ2M8WU5xBNlcLLBbv1BkinvT7pnCnTUPFVeJ5BpOkz8jKDtI22x0XqXu3W21CiTQEO3H55PPL0duI_qTIMU-dYEXR1tvpB2QbQa6abXDltJ7fwj8DKYrg_7_sR1SLjp/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-30+at+7.59.06+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtiIr-M5nNFgdfLZ2M8WU5xBNlcLLBbv1BkinvT7pnCnTUPFVeJ5BpOkz8jKDtI22x0XqXu3W21CiTQEO3H55PPL0duI_qTIMU-dYEXR1tvpB2QbQa6abXDltJ7fwj8DKYrg_7_sR1SLjp/s640/Screen+shot+2012-08-30+at+7.59.06+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The following year, I started sharing the calendar with students and parents by embedding it to my teacher website. Now that the students have iPads they can add my calendar to their calendar apps and not miss the topics that are going to be covered for the day! Plus with appointments, teachers and students can easily schedule times with me, that I know will work for me. The set up has taken time but it does work smoothly. An added plus is I can easily review pacing of the course by flipping back through the years on the information.<br />
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This year I also plan on using google forms often in my classes, from surveys, and rubrics to attendance. Google added a grid to the forms, this allows me to keep track of attendance with each student being a row. Since it automatically timestamps for me I don't need to enter the date only the period. I can also add any notes to the day that I want. If I need to go back and change someone's absence to be excused, I can edit it later. This form has become a link on my home page of my iPad.<br />
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I am not the most organized person but maintaining the calendars and now the form has given me a chance to be somewhat organized during the day. So thank you Google for the organization that you have begun to instill in me over the past 6 years.A Testahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07754242706349412983noreply@blogger.com0