As part of our textiles curriculum, students are shown how to create and print custom buttons on our 3D Printers. If they don't like buttons, they can custom print a tag to be sewn onto their garment or in this case (image) iPad pouch.
This is a quick and easy task that is designed to get them thinking about the application of 3D Printing in the textile realm.
As part of a Year 10 graphic design unit, students designed their own jewellery and then we scanned in the diagrams, converted them to 3D shapes using Selva3D and printed them off. In reality, it is probably more a laser cutting exercise than 3D Printer, but we didn't have a laser cutter.
This is such an incredibly simple concept. Students who do ceramics normally sketch their name on the base of the object that they have made. A Makers Mark stamp is another extension of that and an opportunity to talk about branding.
If you want to take this concept pone step further, creating a metal "makers mark" can be done via shapeways and here is an example of one. You could create it as a keyring and get it printed in metal.
Every two weeks we sit down with every Year 7 class in my school and we do "reading observations" with them. I meet with them briefly for 30 - 90 seconds or more and record:
What they are reading during that session
What they have been reading at home
Whether they have found it hard to find time to read and why
Whether there is a book they can recommend to me (if they have read more than one book since I last saw them)
The data gathering is fast and furious. We have codes that we use in our notes to record the data and then I transcribe the data before we forget the interaction.
We stealthily move throughout the reading couches with our clipboard, taking down the student ID number, and the reading observation notes for the sessions. We can get through 28 students in a 40 minute time period, if there are no interruptions to the session. The teacher's role is to get the students sitting and reading and then if they wish, model reading themselves while maintaining a bit of classroom control.
I have tried to do this task on a tablet and/or laptop, but the distraction that the technology causes often outweighs the benefits. The clipboard has a printout of a record of what they have read, so questions can be asked about whether they continued to read a particular book or if another student is reading their book.
We are slowly learning names as well, so for some students I don't even have write down an observation because I see them at the circulation desk borrowing piles of books and we have conversations when they return their books.
Transcribing the notes takes about 20 - 30 minutes per class. Sometimes I check to see if students are borrowing anything as well to confirm whether they are or are not engaging with our collection.
In terms of time release, it takes us the equivalent of 0.2 (or a class) to manage, transcribe and work with a wider reading class.
I came across a great video by Austen Kleon about some techniques that he uses to keep the creativity juices flowing and in amongst his ideas was "blackout poetry".
Students need to go through the text and outline any words that jump out at them. The after working through the story or poem in their mind they need to blacken out the rest of the text. If you have some paint markers, they are good for blackening out text. But don't be limited to black, use different colours to evoke feelings in the poetry.
So I photocopied some pages from some famous books off the shelf and had a go at creating some blackout poetry. This gets around the idea of ruining a book and the bond paper seems to be better at taking black markers.
I use a lot of props in Write Club to get kids writing. Story Cubes, story cards, images, lyrics, quotes; the list goes on!
Today we did an exercise about the "five senses". Inspired by watching "A Quiet Place" on Saturday night, I thought it might be a good exercise to get students focusing on how they might leverage their senses when writing. Using descriptions involving their senses to set a scene or evoke a feeling.
Examples:
Someone is climbing up a castle wall, use each of the bubbles to identify the different reactions of your senses when you are climbing.
This article is a worthwhile read and also links to a podcast of the article. The website also has some excellent resources to build depth into your characters and develop effective plot arcs. Check out the site, there is a lot of material and resources to keep you entertained!
Another fabulous podcasting site with many topics ranging from from How to build a fantasy car to Worldbuilding cartography. I love podcasts for the ease in which I can listen to them driving to and from work, or if you are a student walking the dog or catching the bus
Now Novel have a great blog post on Story setting ideas. They take examples from well known writers such as Rowling, Dicken's and Tolkien. The author uses the example to show techniques in writing and how you can use this technique in your own writing.
North by Northwest have put together a World Building Basic Worksheet that you can use as a skeleton to craft your own world. Cut and paste this into a google docs and add ideas to it when you want to work on your world.
This youtube channel has some great video’s on how to write your world and build your characters. Most of her video's are about 10 minutes long and an ideal watch if you want something quick to inspire you to continue to write. Most of the video's also have useful links to follow-up on.
I was excited when I was asked to present at Edutech 2018 on Coding in Libraries as part of the Future Libraries Congress.
The experience was rich and broadened my professional horizons. I spent hours preparing for the event, so when the editor of WASLA contacted me and asked me to write an article for their journal, I jumped at the challenge.
So here is the link to my article, I'd love some feedback. My writing evolves with every article and I enjoy the process and the rigour that is involved.
I hope you enjoy the read.
Lawson, M. (2018). A practical guide to setting up a Coding Club in your School Library. IC3. Professional Journal Of The WA School Library Association, 8(No.2 July), 13-15. (link)
My Leadership Colloquium study this week has brought me to the study of effective team work and has lead me to the work of Patrick Lencioni. This video is 40 minutes long, but there are some great stories and ideas for improving leadership and teamwork.
What do we do to improve our teams?
Do we listen to all the feedback and seek to improve our skillset?
Prakash Nair presented one of the plenary sessions on the first day at Edutech. His presentation was titled "Space for Learning" and he posed the idea that we need to "educate like a gardener not a carpenter".
Based on Alison Gopnick's book "The Carpenter and the Gardener", Prakash spoke about the mindset of the Gardener (being effective) and Carpenter (being efficient).
The Efficient Carpenter focuses on building their craft so that projects can be done quicker, less cost and less effort. Many of these are what we would call quantitative measures.
The Effective Gardener referring to the planting of the garden according to quality, relevancy and timeliness, in tune with the seasons. Many of these are qualitative measures, harder to measure.
The Carpenter educator is controlling, hierarchical and standardised and the Gardener educator is empowering, distributed, flexible and personalised.
He drew parallels with the 'cell like' structures of the old school environment and the organic flowing flexible environment of the newer learning spaces that you might find in newer school buildings. Building on the theme that as educators we need to be more like a gardener rather than a carpenter.
Listen to Prakash Nair talk about Learning Spaces.
Of course conference goers expressed their delight at this new concept on twitter; even though the idea of free range learners isn't a new one and has been brought out many times by 'progressive' presenters over the years. Back in 1998 Jamie McKenzie was talking about free range students and how connected learning would release students from the learning confines of the traditional industrial classroom.
Relating it back to our School Library
During Prakash's presentation he spoke about a school having a "DaVinci Studios" or "project centres" or even "learning commons" spaces. A place where students can work on their personalised learning plan with resources at their fingertips. I reflected back on a blog post that I did in 2011, asking the question when "Library" became a dirty word. With the reinvention of library spaces in these new future forward school buildings, many schools are also throwing out the concept of teacher librarians.
Our libraries are like a garden, we plant seeds of knowledge and ideas in the minds of students and try and nurture them with an environment conducive to learning. In our learning commons, we have hot drinks and cookies for homework clubs, we rearrange furniture for events and always respond with a "yes". Our goal is to create the best learning environment.
Whilst unpacking this keynote, it reminded me of the Kipling poem "The Glory of the Garden". Kipling talks about a beautiful English garden but then as the poem goes on, it talks about the importance of the gardeners and how gardens don't really grow unless they are properly cultivated.
Is your library being properly cultivated? Is it tended by weekend gardeners (teachers without library qualifications) or landscape gardeners (teacher librarians).
References
Gopnik, A. (2016). The gardener and the carpenter: What the new science of child development tells us about the relationship between parents and children.
