After careful thought and consideration, I plan to put into place the following ideas I have garnered from the taking of this class this summer, into my classroom this fall. The first is to keep up a classroom blog that would keep track of our maker space learning. I envision the students being able to do most, if not all of the work, with minimal assistance from me, to keep it going. This would entail me to teach appropriate uses of technology, something that I read about and posted in an earlier blog. I hope to post at least once a month in our classroom blog, or maybe bimonthly on our maker space, so that by the end of October we have at least two posts about our classroom maker space with a great possibility of more.
In a previous post I wrote about introducing engineering challenges and trying one per trimester in my classroom. Since then I've rethought that idea. Why not begin on the first day of school? I think that if I stick with doing one STEM challenge during the first week of each month, it will make the start of each month exciting. This plan will have my class completing two STEM challenges by the end of October. Of course we can always do more, but I feel that this is a reasonable goal for me. I found one engineering activity on Pinterest called "Help Harry" (The Teacher Studio, 2015). The idea is to help Harry see more around the classroom by building him a perch. This activity is done in cooperative groups and I think it would be fun to do on the first day of school.
Elementary paper circuitry was the subject of the section that I attended during the three day virtual learning conference this past June. As I posted earlier, I can see myself doing a couple structured lessons on simple circuits with my students starting with the first week of school. After that, I envision the students including paper circuitry into their learning of Kodiak plants, which we study at the beginning of the school year. We draw and label plants, learn their scientific and Alutiiq names, and even make up our own plant. In October we recognize Constitution Day. We will discuss the Constitution and break down the parts of the flag. My goal is to have the students incorporate paper circuitry into their plant study and into the design of an American Flag. I will have conductive pens for the students to use, along with the conductive paint and copper tape.
Finally, what I'm most excited about is the maker space in the classroom. Over the last few weeks I have been on the hunt for new and engaging ideas on the 'how to' in regards to this space. I've purchased samples of items, taken pictures of items, talked to colleagues and continue to read everywhere I can to help me do this in my classroom. In an earlier post I discussed different ways that this space could be used in my classroom- students rotate through in groups, have it open during certain times of the day for student use, or open to all at once, depending on the needs of the day.
Overall my desired effect and plan is to:
1. Institute a classroom blog on our maker space, with students doing most, if not all of the work, posting at least 2x by the end of October. They will know appropriate use of technology and will be able to do this independently with me as the final editor.
2. Implement STEM challenges the first week of every month, completing 2 by the end of October.
3. Teach simple and parallel circuits to my students using paper circuitry so that they can include it in 2 social studies lessons by the end of October. Afterwards, they will have these materials in the maker space to use as needed.
4. Establish a maker space in my classroom where the students have ownership of the space and can use it independently.
Our trimester ends the week before Thanksgiving. My ultimate goal/desired effect is that we continue my plan into November and beyond into the rest of the school year, weaving STEM into our classroom, keeping the maker space alive, along with paper circuitry and our classroom blog.
Reference
The Teacher Studio. (2015, Sept. 3). Engineering inquiry and cooperative group work |. Retrieved from http://www.theteacherstudio.com/2015/09/engineering-inquiry-and-cooperative.html
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