Maker Kit

A few weeks back I purchased a maker kit that went along with my hobby of sewing, the Lilypad Arduino. This product allows you to write code using a computer program and upload it to the circuit board which can then be sewn onto fabric. It can be programmed to work with LED lights, sound bits, etc. I found some really cool potential projects on Pinterest and the Sparkfun website where I bought the Arduino. Since this project was about using items from a thrift store or stuff I had lying around I decided to use some scrap fabric to create a little light up stuffed creature. I was in the process of gathering my scraps and planned on putting it all together this past Saturday. However, when I finally opened the package with the Lilypad Arduino I realized that it did not include the connector piece to upload the code to the actual Arduino, which meant I had to pause my project. An employee at a local computer parts store tried to help me out in finding a connector piece, but discovered that it was only available online. I was able to buy one, but it set me back a few days in actually making the project!

These creatures from Sparkfun were my inspiration:

Below is the scrap fabric that I had leftover from a blanket I made for my son. I had almost a whole bag of stuffing leftover from a hedgehog stuffed animal that my daughter made. My tentative plan is to use these materials to make a stuffed star with light up tips!

To be continued…

Well, my project idea did not work at all. The LED lights never arrived, and the replacement Arduino did not come with the correct connector cable so I couldn’t transfer the code I had written to it. My professor graciously allowed me to change courses for this project and scrap my first try at this. For Round 2 I am attempting to use a 3D printer. I don’t actually have a 3D printer, but I wanted to try out creating something anyway. I used the Tinkercad program to try and make something that I could use with my kindergartners, which proved to be quite a challenge.

My first project idea went along with our Math unit on 2D and 3D shapes and also with our Social Studies unit on the past. I was hoping we could discuss how people used to travel and what they could do if they came to a river, i.e. build a bridge using 3D shapes in Tinkercad. I was hoping to have the students actually build the bridge and then I would print them out, however putting a bridge together proved to be a big challenge for me so I thought it would be too much for my students.

My second idea was to have the students use 3D shapes to build a robot. This was difficult for me as well. I watched a video on how to build the shapes up vertically, which was my first obstacle, but the controls seem very sensitive and making sure everything was sized correctly and lining up the right way was difficult. To modify it, I thought maybe I could just build the robot and show it to them on the Smartboard before printing, then have them identify the shapes they could see in the robot.

I have been very surprised at the difficulty of this project for me. I wouldn’t say that I am over the top creative, but I’m usually at least a little creative. And I can usually troubleshoot my way around software, but the Arduino and Tinkercad both seem so different from what I am used to. My experiences so far have shown that they are too advanced for kindergartners, but I am excited to look into other ways I could use them should I ever move to an older grade!

If you’d like to recreate my project (without all the roadblocks, of course), follow these steps!

Materials:
A computer with internet access
The Tinkercad program (FREE!)
Access to a 3D printer
Wooden 3D shapes

Step 1:
Using your computer, got to Tinkercad and create an account.

Step 2:
Click “Create a New Design” to start a new project

Step 3:
On the right side of the screen, you will see all of the shapes and pieces that you have available to you. Simply click on a shape and drag it to your workspace. From there, you can resize and modify the shape to your liking. See the video for some tips of building vertically!

Step 4:
To print your creation, click on the “Export” button above the shape menu. In my case, I need to download what I’ve made and save it to an external drive so my husband can bring it to his work. If your printer is connected, you can print from here or also send it to an outside printing source.

Resources:
https://www.tinkercad.com
www.evernote.com

Instructables.(Retrieved 6 November 2018) Lilypad Arduino Light-up Creature. https://www.instructables.com/id/Lilypad-Arduino-Light-up-Critter/

Sparkfun. (Retrieved 7 November 2018) Lily Tiny Plush Monster. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/lilytiny-plush-monster/all

Little Makers

I have started the second course in my Master’s program, and it is all about being a maker. I have always thought of a maker as someone who creates new and completely original things, i.e. my husband. By day, a production welder. By night, a metal artist. His works of art are all unique creations:

His day job is at a smaller size shop, and because of their size they are often taking on small projects that the larger companies don’t want to touch. This requires modification of the machines to reach the desired outcome, and he often plays a part in setting up these machines so that they can create a new product.

I tend to view myself as more of an editor of other’s work. I will find something that I mostly like but want to tweak it a bit, either because of cost or because I feel there is a better way. I will figure out ways to use what I have to reach a similar outcome. Through the reading this week, I have come to realize that things are rarely “original” and all three of these examples are makers (using what is around you in a new way)!

I see the ways in which all of types of makers have helped the world to be a better and more interesting place. As a teacher of young children, I want to help the next generation learn how to be creative with what is around us. I believe children naturally look at different ways an object can be used. (As I am writing this my kids have used blankets, kitchen chairs, a backpack, a dollhouse, and hair clips to construct a fort in the living room. My son has attached a necklace to his bag of Halloween candy just because “doesn’t it look cool, mom?!”. My daughter is cutting up various objects to make puppets.) Exposure to different tools and mediums and allowing time to “play” will naturally bring out that side of a person and I’d like to do more to incorporate that into my teaching.

The video remix I created on being a maker focuses mainly on how humans have been makers all along by using the resources around them to meet a need. I show examples of primitive tools, as well as some modern ones, and what we have used this tools for, followed up by the fort that my kids have made! It really is amazing to me that we have been able to adapt and use the items around us and continue to do so today, only in a different way. Creating the remix was actually much more difficult than I anticipated because of having to convert file types, cut down the length of videos, and my generally slow laptop!

Here is my remix!

Sources:
[Discover primitive technology]. (2018, July 14). Primitive Technology How to bulding a Grass hut.. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY1_NNWyqlw

Primitive Tools [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://torange.biz/primitive-tools-43918
torange.biz

Chet Arrowhead [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowhead

P. (2010, August 10). Colonial Tools [Digital image]. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/2052060608

[Jessica Tonegatto]. (2018, November 3). Maker Video.. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVNVA8Y1hBM

Western Forge Craftsman Screwdriver [Digital image]. (n.d.) 2015, March 15. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Western_Forge_Craftsman_screwdrivers.jpg

Reflection

As my first Masters class comes to a close I am reminded how much work goes into being a student. For me, it is on top of my teaching job but for my students it is still a lot of work. Technology is all around us and we can either allow it to take up more of our time unnecessarily (browsing aimlessly), or we can use it to enhance and make our life easier.

We hear often about how students grow so much more when doing exploratory activities in school, and yet it can be easy to slip back into the lecture-complete worksheet cycle. Week 1 reminded me how important it is to get back to that and to teach my students how to take charge of their learning.

Week 2 reminded me that I am capable of learning anything if I set my mind to it. The Network Learning Project proved to be difficult at times, but as I have introduced the ASL signs to my students they have picked up on them quickly and it is already saving my voice and helping them communicate with each other!

Week 3 reminded me that I am surrounded by a vast network of knowledge and I need to tap into it more. So often I recreate something or go at a project alone because I don’t want to bother people but then it ends up taking longer and probably doesn’t turn out as well as it could.

Week 4 was a great refresher in keeping myself organized. As a teacher, there is often so much going on at one time and it can be difficult to keep track of it or keep up on it. Technology is so easily accessible these days that you can literally check in on things on the phone in your hand. “Getting it Done” is simply a matter of figuring out which technology will help you out the most.

Week 5 was a tough one for me. So often I feel like I have to teach my kindergartners the BASIC skills before we can move on to any technology or exploring, when in reality they are already more comfortable with technology than I was as a teenager! In this day of tablets and video games I need to embrace this as a way to help my students to learn and grow.

Week 6 was a fun one, and the TPACK game gave me great insight on a problem I struggle with daily – how to get those creative juices flowing again.

Overall, it has been tough getting back into the “student” swing of things, but it is paying off in the long run! Next up in the program I’d like to look deeper into appropriate apps that I can use with my young students, as well as what screen time does for the developing brain.

TPACK Mashup

This week I have been learning about the TPACK Model. In a nutshell it is how we as teachers can incorporate:

Content (what we want someone to know),
Pedagogy (telling the students what they need to know), and
Technology (what we will use to get the information across to our students) into our lessons.

It seems overwhelming at first, but in their Site 2008 Keynote address, Drs. Mishra & Koehler explained that it doesn’t always need to be that way. For example, a whiteboard can be considered a piece of technology for a particular lesson. That helped me to realize that as teachers we already do much of this, only without breaking it down in this way.

One challenge that comes up for me personally is that it can take a LOT of creativity to fill a week’s worth of activities for kindergartners…so much so that it feels like your “creativity tank” is out of gas. This can be frustrating and mentally exhausting at times and trying to tell yourself to just be more creative doesn’t always work and you’re not even sure where to begin. Mishra & Koehler created a mashup game to help get past this hurdle. In this exercise, you randomly choose two of the TPACK pieces (content, pedagogy, & technology) and figure out how to fit in the third. This is the example they shared: Choose a content (3rd grade ELA? 6th grade math? Undergrad cultural studies?), and choose a technology (microscope? wiki? photoshop?), then think about what pedagogical strategies you would use to incorporate the two.

We decided to play this TPACK game, with some parameters, to see what would happen:
* Without telling them why, have someone choose three objects for you (a plate, a bowl, and a utensil)
* Have the person choose a number to decide what task you will try and do with those objects (slice hard cheeses, make a fruit salad, make a veggie tray, make whipping cream, or make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich)
* Film the resulting work…here is how mine played out!

As a teacher, we have to frequently adapt our lessons (sometimes right on the spot!). I love the idea of having more than one tool in my pocket to choose from if something isn’t working properly or just doesn’t fit the current activity.

ASL for busy teachers

Wow, these past few weeks have flown by! As I state in the video reflection below, I feel like I took on too much trying to learn ASL in a few short weeks. I started on YouTube searching for basic american sign language and found a ton of videos, however the motions seemed very fast and I was having trouble remembering the motions and the faces to make to convey the message correctly….watch for more details on what I learned!

What I learned does not look like very much, but I still very much believe in using a network to teach yourself something. As shown in my first post about this project, I have used the internet to teach myself many things and loved that I could go at my own pace and rewind if something wasn’t clear for me. I’ve also used forums to ask a question from others who are experts in the topic when I’m just not understanding, and I feel that is so huge! I really don’t feel like I chose the right topic for this particular project though. I learned some really great stuff through this, I just don’t think it translated very well through my posts and videos. Oh well, lesson learned!

While I don’t believe I will be sending my kinders off to do YouTube research (yikes!), someday I hope to teach an older grade and I think this would be such a fun project! I would absolutely show them my sewing projects, and furniture that I’ve built using YouTube tutorials so they can see that they can do anything they set their mind to!

Lesson Plans for the 21st Century

My latest assignment for my Master’s program was to create a exploratory lesson plan for my kindergartners that integrated new technology. I tried out the following programs that were new to me:

* Padlet: This is a cork board building program. Every week as I introduce letters we build a map of word that begin with that sound. I thought I could use this program to build a map together on the Smartboard, but it appeared to be something users build on their own and then share, and not necessarily something I could build easily in front of the class.
* Powtoons: This program allows users to animate short videos. I thought the kids would love it because animation always seems to hold their interest more (like BrainPop), but it seemed more like a program for marketing and advertising. The templates were not geared towards creating an educational video for my grade level.
* Mentimeter: This is an interactive survey tool. I thought kids could use it to respond to how they felt about a story, but it seemed like a lot to set up for something that wouldn’t necessarily enhance the lesson.
* Google hangouts: This is a video and messaging service. Since my district is already on Google, I thought it would be easier to integrate into a lesson. I still would like to use this down the road as we get more into our Science and Social Studies lessons. Last year my daughter’s class used this with their 4th grade buddies to talk about animal attributes and play a guessing game. The students were very excited and engaged!
* HiHaHo: This service allows you to enhance YouTube videos by adding extra text, and questions.

I decided to go with HiHaHo since I use song videos a great deal in my lessons already. I used two videos that we have been using lately about shapes and added some quiz type questions throughout the video. The questions make the student stop and think about what they’ve just heard in the video and apply it to what we are working on with identifying shapes. Being able to identify 2D & 3D shapes is one of the standards that I need to assess in kindergarten, and is usually the unit that we start with in kindergarten. The students love the videos and technology so I feel that they will be engaged with this activity. It can also provide a snapshot for me on how my students are doing as I walk around the room while they are working on it.

The lesson is here.

On a side note, I saw some great applications that I would love to use someday if I work with older students. Kindergarten can be difficult to do true exploratory activities in because students are still learning basic level skills and are not able to read directions yet.

Learning Project

As I mentioned before, I have chosen to teach myself some basic sign language as my Learning Project. Usually I like to read how to do things, but with this it made more sense to watch videos since there is motion involved. I found a TON of videos to watch on YouTube about this but realized that this may be harder to learn than I thought. I was under the assumption that ASL is kind of a universal language, but have since learned that each speaker customizes it to their personality.

I never realized that when speaking in ASL that you’re supposed to use many facial expressions along with the hand signals in order for what you’re saying to make sense. In the same way that hearing people speak with different tones and volumes to convey a message, those suffering hearing loss use their face.

I also foolishly assumed that sign language could be spoken in any country, but, AMERICAN sign language cannot be used in every country. How did I miss that one…

These are the best videos that I have found so far that weren’t too long, and weren’t too short:
25 Basic ASL Signs for Beginners

Basic American Sign Language for Beginners

My attempt at ASL!

Busy Busy Busy…

It seems like these days there are so many things that a single person has to get done (or maybe it has always been this way but now I’m the one responsible for doing said things so I notice it more…). As a teacher, it seems like there are always 1,000 things on my to-do list and no time to get them done. As a mom, there are about 5,000 more things to add to that ever growing list. When I read about the mental workload of a parent I thought, “Yes! This is what is draining me!”

The question is, how do I lessen this workload? Or how can I manage it better? For me personally, my journey to organizing my thoughts began in high school. During a very bad car accident I suffered a traumatic brain injury and ended up in the hospital for several week. Out-patient therapy for my physical injuries, as well as my brain injury, went on for 6 months. During this time, I learned that my brain was unable to process information the same way and so I had to make adaptations to how I functioned. One area that was affected was short term memory, so writing notes to myself became my friend. This was in the early 2000s, so while technology was present it was nowhere near what it is now so my notes were handwritten in spiral bound notebooks (some of which I still have!).

Fast forward to today…my life is on my smartphone. My work is on Google, and my phone is an Android, so it just made sense to explore options by Google. What I have discovered is that I can add everything I need to remember to a Google calendar. I have found that I can access and edit this from my phone and the computer, which makes it very convenient for me. This requires me to check it often, but since it is all in one place I don’t mind. If it is a time sensitive thing that I need to be reminded about, I can set a notification on the event as I create it so an alarm will go off to remind me to do it.

For my long term to-do list, I turned to Google Docs. Here, I am able to make a running list of things that need to get done and categorize them using the Leader in Me quadrant grid:

Google Docs doesn’t give the option to “check off” items on my list, but I can easily just delete once it is done.

A third option that I use is Samsung Memo on my phone. This app does allow you to create a check list, which I often use for my grocery list or things I need to get done. So far I’ve been able to keep track of most things using these 3 applications…and then of course there’s the paper wall calendar that I update so my kids can see…and frequent texts to my husband to remind him of the events on the calendar….did I mention the mental workload of motherhood yet???

Professional Learning Network

Welcome to my Professional Learning Network!

When it was time to think about who I learn from, my first thought was my family. Among these individuals there is a vast amount of knowledge and experiences that I often tap into when I am looking for more information. Through my parents, brothers and sisters, and cousins I can often look at things from a different perspective and get new ideas.

My work family, obviously is a huge help for me. In particular, those that work at my school since we are sharing in a unique experience educating our students. There are many new teachers that bring a fresh outlook to education, as well as seasoned vets that have “been there, done that” and can give advice on what to do. I fall somewhere in the middle and am now able to share some of my ideas with the new teachers!

Social Media is a big one these days. From the comfort of my own home I am able to browse topics of interest to me, and gain help from those that I am connected to.

Lastly, we have had some great PD presenters in my district that have shared plenty of resources. One in particular has also encouraged us to reach out to her anytime we have a question.

Lifelong Learning

My next assignment in my Master’s program is to find something new to learn how to do using only YouTube and forums.  Thanks to my husband, this is something I am already familiar with.  He has fixed all of our broken down cars, done house projects, and even built his own garage from the ground up using YouTube!  People are amazed at all the things he is able to do, and he has always said, “There really is no excuse these days…you can literally learn how to do anything with the internet!” – and he is right!  Searching “How To” on Google brings up a whole slew of pages.  In fact, this is how I started my search to figure out something to learn about but what quickly overwhelmed with the possibilities.

I have actually done this process before when I sewed a quilt for my daughter: using a post from The Missouri Star Quilt Company, and now it is time to do it again!  I turned to my Facebook friends for some suggestions and got so many (thanks guys!).  Overall I tried to settle on something that I could manage with my crazy teacher schedule, and settled on learning basic sign language!  You’re the winner, Matt K. 🙂

Right now I only know about 4 signals (toilet, water, thank you, and me too) that I try and use with my kindergartners to bring the noise level in my classroom down and I would love to incorporate more!