Blog Post #2

     After reading the three articles, I could connect with all of them. Although the article had a lot of great ideas on using a donors choose account, I don't see myself starting one (Murphy 2015). Instead,   I will ask my classroom community to donate household items for projects. Sometimes I will ask that my request go in the school newsletter so that it may be seen by a broader audience (if I'm in need of baby food jars and my students don't have younger siblings.) So far, my needs have been able to be met in this way.
     Looking within my classroom community can be handy too. Oftentimes families want to volunteer but they can not come into the classroom. If I know they are woodworkers or work with other tools (after sending home a volunteer questionnaire), I will ask for their assistance in providing materials for the classroom- it could be scraps of fabric, wood or ribbon. On the other hand, I welcome volunteers who have a talent that they are willing to share (like cooking in the classroom or different print making techniques.) My husband and father-in-law have been asked to cut materials for me from time to time too.
     I have also collected things from thrift stores and garage sales while visiting relatives in the summer. Along with the thrill of the hunt, this can be also be an economical way to find good stuff without breaking the bank. Occasionally I even find something lovely to add to my home decor. Thrift shopping is fun to do with children too. It's never too early to teach them how to find a good deal!
     I also look outside for things to use- sticks, rocks, leaves, beach glass, plants. Nature is ready and waiting to be used into great maker projects! It is an unlimited year-round resource! Sometimes I collect the materials, other times the students do. As Yokama wrote, when we ask students to make things, they get a deeper understanding and their experience becomes more personal and relevant, (Yokama, 2014). Using materials from their environment provides a rich resource from which the students can use to deepen meaning. I look forward to reading Invent to Learn, a book that was cited in an article by Aaron Vanderwerff, May 14, 2014 on EdSurge.
     Finally, as I wrote in an earlier post, the leftover items from my own children's art corner eventually find their way to my classroom where they find a new life. Sometimes I tell the students when I bring in something new, sometimes I don't. It's fun to watch them discover the 'new' items and to see what they will do with them.
     From this class I am looking forward to broadening my knowledge of maker spaces and incorporating new items (even to me) into my classroom, like paper circuitry!



L. Yokana. (2014, Dec. 2). Capture the Learning: Crafting the Maker Mindset. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/capture-learning-crafting-maker-mindset-lisa-yokana

E. Murphy. (2015, Dec. 15). Why You Post: 8 Reasons Why Teachers Use DonorsChoose.org. Retrieved from http://www.donorschoose.org/blog/2015/12/15/why-you-post-8-reasons-teachers-use-donorschoose-org/

A. Vanderwerff. (2014, May 14). Makers in the Classroom: A How-To Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edsurge.com/news/2014-05-14-makers-in-the-classroom-a-how-to-guide

Blog Post #1

     After reading all of the articles, I connected with the last one from edutopia the most. The author, Vicki Davis, wrote a great piece about using social media in the classroom:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-classroom-vicki-davis

Basically, she said, the majority of the students are using social media anyway, so school is a prime place to practice using it responsibly. She then went on to list several examples of how it's already being used in classrooms around the country. I especially loved the comments below the article because several people commented on the importance of teaching students to use social media appropriately. Using digital media is a tool, and like any new tool, students need to be taught how to use it correctly. I agree that having a school policy in place regarding digital media, and following it, is also helpful for everyone involved.
     One of Ms. Davis' suggestions was to post classroom learning on a blog. I send home a newsletter every week, but why couldn't a student or students post a note on a class blog about our learning and making? I could see doing that. One of my teaching partners moved to another part of the country and we talked about being pen pals next year, but we could also be digital pen pals. I also like the idea of using post it note 'tweets' as exit tickets. These ideas seem doable to me.
     So on that note, I'm going to follow Vicki Davis on twitter. After perusing her feed, I found several items of note that were of interest to me, and have got me thinking about how I can use more
digital media in my classroom.


Reference

V. Davis. (2015, Feb. 15). A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-the-classroom-vicki-davis

Conference Reflection

     I was most excited to attend this conference. Nicole gave a demonstration on paper circuitry to 

our 

staff this past spring which piqued my interest. Combining the topic with art in an elementary setting is right up my alley. 

     Before the conference began, the only knowledge of paper circuitry I had was received during Nicole's presentation. A few days before the conference began I researched circuitry kits to give to my youngest daughter for her upcoming birthday. She is always making and creating things out of discarded things around the house to use with her dolls, and I thought with the added element of electricity, it would jazz up her creations (I was wrong, but more on that later.)

     The first obstacle to overcome was to sign up and use Twitter. As I think back, I think my mind automatically does this during the day, thinks in short snippets or writes lengthy essays in my head about things that I think are important, but may not be necessarily important to anybody else. As it turns out, maybe my thoughts could be useful to others? And posting those quick thoughts could actually be fun? All the while I was learning more about elementary paper circuitry and thinking about how I could incorporate it into my classroom. 

     I was basically starting with a blank slate, and needed more knowledge to be able to teach it effectively. By the end of the conference I had a good base, but still not enough for me to walk into my classroom and deliver a meaningful lesson on it. This course will enable me to find windows of creativity that go beyond my world of blocks and play-doh, something that I am excited about finding, and use it with my students.

     As I am moving up to an intermediate grade next year, what are the things I need to have on hand to provide the students with a rich maker space? As I did a little research during the conference, I found out it's not much different than the things needed in a primary classroom. That bit of news was great because I could bring many of the items that my own kids have outgrown or lost interest in but are still usable at school for my students to use- upcycle and recycle ! I have a growing box of maker goodness ready and waiting for summer to be over so it can go to school and be used by new students!

     So, while I was taking the class, I had to see relevance to me and my world and make a connection to be able to teach it. Thankfully there were many creative people in the class who shared their ideas! In addition, using the Tweetdeck will allow me to follow specific topics, such as paper circuitry, in a concise manner, furthering my understanding of paper circuitry and virtual teaching and its uses in a classroom. I don't want it to be a 'one-time' only lesson. I want to find ways to incorporate it throughout the year, and teach the children to be able to use it independently to enhance their learning.

     Where do I fit on the Virtual Teacher continuum? I think somewhere in the middle. I think that as the technology changes, people's comfort level adjusts with it. While I don't/haven't used social media in my classroom, I have definitely brought the World Wide Web in when developmentally appropriate, using it for current events (when the volcano blew on the Alaskan chain this past spring) or viewing example uses of simple machines. My own children have used Edmodo sporadically in their upper intermediate classrooms, so I am a bit familiar with that program. Could I use that in my own intermediate classroom? This school year I will be using a TV and IPAD in the classroom, which replaces my projector. Those are new tools that I will be learning. But definitely, I am the student in this class, learning new language, new tools, their meanings, and how all of it will fit into my work as a teacher. 

     So, back to my youngest daughter and her birthday present of a real awesome paper circuitry kit.

She was not thrilled, even downright mad after opening that gift. She hadn't seen much of what I had done in the paper circuitry class, so the whole thing was foreign to her too. I brought out the computer and showed her some pictures of what she could do with the gum drop lights and tried to make connections for her (just like I had to do for myself earlier in the week.) Finally, I brought up her wax museum project where she dressed up as a famous person and had to put her research on a display board. On the board she had made a fake button for people to push if they had a question for her. I explained to her that had she known about paper circuitry then, she could have made her button light up and then I showed her the page in the circuitry book that said 'don't press.' After she saw that, she was interested and has worked through several pages in that book. That is the quest, to see the relevance and meaning to what I am learning about being a virtual teacher, and to use it on my journey in the classroom.