3D printing is a technology that immediately made me think, "Wow. We're in the future." I did recently learn that this technology was created in the 80's and simply was held back because of patents...but that only impressed me more! hopefully, now that those patents are expiring completely, we'll see a real 3D printing boom.
As you may have guessed, 3D printers are devices that can print actual 3D objects. If you're not familiar with the technology this is a great short documentary on some of it's potential:
Obviously this technology is relatively expensive, but I think a several hundred dollar investment would be well worth the endless possibilities that come with being able to create real life objects with a printer. Not to mention, one popular company offers their printers with a "Buy 2 get 1 Free" deal for educational institutions.
When it comes to the potential classroom uses, as I mentioned before, the possibilities are endless. It might be tough to get our hands on a real fragile fossil, but we can 3D print a replica that school children can handle with no fear of damaging an expensive artifact. We can print figurines for use in games or activities, or tools for very specific purposes. I think part of the fun of a 3D printer would be bringing some of the children's ideas to life.
It's going to require a lot of new disciplines for me, but I really like the idea of creating open possibilities in the classroom. I like the idea of embracing tools that can make things possible that may have not been possible before. I imagine being able to take a childs idea, maybe about a strange structure or a small tool that they think could benefit them, and bringing them through the process of making it real.
As I observe more and more real life classroom hours, I've begun to realize that my assumptions of how teaching 'works' and how things happen need to be challenged and developed more, and I'm currently having trouble picturing specific paths because of this, but regardless I believe it's a tool thats adaptable enough to fit a lot of different goals and plans.
Monday, November 30, 2015
American Priveledge
I left for home one day after an in class discussion on race privilege and prejudice that was sparked by the shooting of the allegedly handcuffed Jamar Clark. Waiting for the bus in the irritating cold I was approached by a stranger who began a not entirely welcome conversation, as often happens on public transit.
The man was black, in his twenties with short hair and Beats headphones dangling from his neck. "I was just over there where that police car is." He said. I recognized my instant prejudice of the situation - being approached on public transit by a minority, and so I assumed they were probably going to ask for something. Alternatively I thought he might be trying to steal from me - the latter situation being one I have never experienced yet seemed to expect of these specific interactions. I recognized, probably in thanks to the earlier in class discussion, the conclusions I was jumping to and opened myself up to the conversation, and started listening. And he began to tell me what happened.
He approached an active police scene out of curiosity, he was wondering what was happening when the female officer on the scene yelled to him "Back up! I don't want to get shot today." He knew immediately it was because he was black, and so he left. He then approached me for conversation where I immediately jumped to my own bias about him as well. It was a short bus ride, but we sat together and we talked more about the things he deals with on an every day basis. He worked really hard to save enough money to buy a new car. The first few days after he bought it he was pulled over nine times. Whenever he sees police officer while driving this vehicle he has to assume he will be pulled over. I was able to see easily see this was a really nice young man, and I recognized it the moment I chose not to ignore him based on my own prejudice.
Just a few days later my boyfriend and I packed up Blue Blast (Our Dodge Caliber that is outfitted with a 4'' memory foam pad in the back, offering a comfortable warm place to sleep on long trips) for a pretty spontaneous trip to Colorado to catch an encore of a show we saw in Minneapolis.
600 miles into this trip, the morning of the concert and 400 miles left to our destination, Blue Blast gave up on the side of the highway After a little research we discovered that 7 miles away was our only hope - a little town of Gothenburg, NE. A small town built around community and that describes itself as progressive in many ways, with a population of 97.3% white people, and 1.8% mixed. My boyfriend and I had to split up immediately to find the nearest mile marker (The tow truck would't come without it.) and immediately were offered help by different nice people.
In fact, everyone we interacted with or heard interacting with each other was extremely nice. We felt a little bit out of place, with my boyfriend in his fashionable hoodie and laptop messenger bag, but no one gave us a hard time. As we sat in Deb's Diner, where we could choose from a few different cheeseburgers or a crock pot buffet consisting of Chili, Spaghetti or chicken wings, I began to think about the man I met on the bus.
Within minutes of breaking down 3 different strangers invited us into their vehicles to help us out. A very nice homicide detective even came to help after he saw us part ways (which he assumed meant that we'd had an argument) and within a half hour we had a tow to the local auto shop.
I don't mean to suggest that Gothemburg was the type of place that may refuse service based on skin color, or maybe not give the attention we received from the local businesses, but I definitely think our skin color played a huge role in the amount of stranger support we were offered. We were back on the road within a few hours and made it to our destination of Boulder CO with hours to spare.
When Allen Stone performed 'American Privilege' that night, it definitely took on a deeper meaning for me after everything that had happened. And 'everything that had happened' was really nothing that hadn't been happening before. It was just everything I became more aware and sensitive to.
My boyfriend would often joke about 'white privilege' - most often the specific trait he called 'assumed innocence.' We'd walk up and down the back alley of this venue in Colorado hoping to catch an interesting 'behind the scenes glimpse' of the show. He'd point out that no one would be alarmed by our presence because we don't fit the stereotype of trouble makers, and therefore would be assumed innocent rather than guilty. This same concept comes up any time a Target door alarm goes off in his presence and no one suspects him of stealing, or how if he were to shoplift he could likely get away with the excuse of being forgetful, since that 'assumed innocence' is on his side.
The longer I reflect the more instances I can think of where this privilege has come into play, and it's definitely not something I want to bring with me to the classroom. I don't want to make assumptions about students, or families. I recognize and know that there is a current societal issue of prejudice and privilege, and I can't deny the fact that some of these things can have truth to them - even if it's just a nasty self fulfilling prophecy where our assumptions perpetuate the issue. I can't deny that it's a real issue, but I can choose to do my best not to perpetuate it and take it even further. Some students are going to have their privileges and their obstacles because of their race or background, but I can do my best to keep them out of my classroom.
The man was black, in his twenties with short hair and Beats headphones dangling from his neck. "I was just over there where that police car is." He said. I recognized my instant prejudice of the situation - being approached on public transit by a minority, and so I assumed they were probably going to ask for something. Alternatively I thought he might be trying to steal from me - the latter situation being one I have never experienced yet seemed to expect of these specific interactions. I recognized, probably in thanks to the earlier in class discussion, the conclusions I was jumping to and opened myself up to the conversation, and started listening. And he began to tell me what happened.
He approached an active police scene out of curiosity, he was wondering what was happening when the female officer on the scene yelled to him "Back up! I don't want to get shot today." He knew immediately it was because he was black, and so he left. He then approached me for conversation where I immediately jumped to my own bias about him as well. It was a short bus ride, but we sat together and we talked more about the things he deals with on an every day basis. He worked really hard to save enough money to buy a new car. The first few days after he bought it he was pulled over nine times. Whenever he sees police officer while driving this vehicle he has to assume he will be pulled over. I was able to see easily see this was a really nice young man, and I recognized it the moment I chose not to ignore him based on my own prejudice.
Just a few days later my boyfriend and I packed up Blue Blast (Our Dodge Caliber that is outfitted with a 4'' memory foam pad in the back, offering a comfortable warm place to sleep on long trips) for a pretty spontaneous trip to Colorado to catch an encore of a show we saw in Minneapolis.
600 miles into this trip, the morning of the concert and 400 miles left to our destination, Blue Blast gave up on the side of the highway After a little research we discovered that 7 miles away was our only hope - a little town of Gothenburg, NE. A small town built around community and that describes itself as progressive in many ways, with a population of 97.3% white people, and 1.8% mixed. My boyfriend and I had to split up immediately to find the nearest mile marker (The tow truck would't come without it.) and immediately were offered help by different nice people.
In fact, everyone we interacted with or heard interacting with each other was extremely nice. We felt a little bit out of place, with my boyfriend in his fashionable hoodie and laptop messenger bag, but no one gave us a hard time. As we sat in Deb's Diner, where we could choose from a few different cheeseburgers or a crock pot buffet consisting of Chili, Spaghetti or chicken wings, I began to think about the man I met on the bus.
Within minutes of breaking down 3 different strangers invited us into their vehicles to help us out. A very nice homicide detective even came to help after he saw us part ways (which he assumed meant that we'd had an argument) and within a half hour we had a tow to the local auto shop.
I don't mean to suggest that Gothemburg was the type of place that may refuse service based on skin color, or maybe not give the attention we received from the local businesses, but I definitely think our skin color played a huge role in the amount of stranger support we were offered. We were back on the road within a few hours and made it to our destination of Boulder CO with hours to spare.
When Allen Stone performed 'American Privilege' that night, it definitely took on a deeper meaning for me after everything that had happened. And 'everything that had happened' was really nothing that hadn't been happening before. It was just everything I became more aware and sensitive to.
My boyfriend would often joke about 'white privilege' - most often the specific trait he called 'assumed innocence.' We'd walk up and down the back alley of this venue in Colorado hoping to catch an interesting 'behind the scenes glimpse' of the show. He'd point out that no one would be alarmed by our presence because we don't fit the stereotype of trouble makers, and therefore would be assumed innocent rather than guilty. This same concept comes up any time a Target door alarm goes off in his presence and no one suspects him of stealing, or how if he were to shoplift he could likely get away with the excuse of being forgetful, since that 'assumed innocence' is on his side.
The longer I reflect the more instances I can think of where this privilege has come into play, and it's definitely not something I want to bring with me to the classroom. I don't want to make assumptions about students, or families. I recognize and know that there is a current societal issue of prejudice and privilege, and I can't deny the fact that some of these things can have truth to them - even if it's just a nasty self fulfilling prophecy where our assumptions perpetuate the issue. I can't deny that it's a real issue, but I can choose to do my best not to perpetuate it and take it even further. Some students are going to have their privileges and their obstacles because of their race or background, but I can do my best to keep them out of my classroom.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Strength
In a recent lesson I discovered an opinion held by Lisa Delpit that teachers should recognize and build on a student's strengths. This is something I believe in 100%, and an idea that I discovered for myself fairly recently.
When I started my education beyond High School I ended up in a private school majoring in Biology. It definitely wasn't my calling in life, but I wanted to take the route I was supposed to take, even if it meant working extra hard at concepts that I just couldn't really connect with, no matter what I tried. I eventually chose to leave that school to figure out what was truly right for me - and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I learned that I was following a path that didn't play to my strengths, and as a result I would have spent my life working extra hard and never reaching my potential.
The logic of this actually made sense to me when I came across Tom Rath's Strengthsfinder. This is a book and online personality test meant to reveal your personal strengths. It doesn't speak at all to your weaknesses, because those shouldn't matter. It shouldn't be your focus. The idea here is that if you are strong at something you're going to see 10x the results with half the effort. This isn't to say that knowing your limitations doesn't have it's value, but if math doesn't make sense to you, and you just can't connect with the concepts, you're obviously going to have a tough time following an academic path based in it. That's not to say that you couldn't find success easily, but you'll be in a classroom with people who just seem to effortlessly get it. You could put in the hours, the focus and the effort to catch up and be as good or even better - but what if you instead focused that energy on something you were already good with?
I've talked before how I believe that exposure to all subjects is good, but overexposure becomes a problem. There is a fine balance when dealing with children - because they often don't know what's best for them or what their strengths are, but that's where we come in. It's our job as educators to help students find their ways, to recognize their hidden or budding talents, and to give them the tools and direction to be successful with what comes out of them. We are mentors and developers, and if we want to see success grow from the students we teach, we must help them figure out what that success may be to them.
When I started my education beyond High School I ended up in a private school majoring in Biology. It definitely wasn't my calling in life, but I wanted to take the route I was supposed to take, even if it meant working extra hard at concepts that I just couldn't really connect with, no matter what I tried. I eventually chose to leave that school to figure out what was truly right for me - and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I learned that I was following a path that didn't play to my strengths, and as a result I would have spent my life working extra hard and never reaching my potential.
The logic of this actually made sense to me when I came across Tom Rath's Strengthsfinder. This is a book and online personality test meant to reveal your personal strengths. It doesn't speak at all to your weaknesses, because those shouldn't matter. It shouldn't be your focus. The idea here is that if you are strong at something you're going to see 10x the results with half the effort. This isn't to say that knowing your limitations doesn't have it's value, but if math doesn't make sense to you, and you just can't connect with the concepts, you're obviously going to have a tough time following an academic path based in it. That's not to say that you couldn't find success easily, but you'll be in a classroom with people who just seem to effortlessly get it. You could put in the hours, the focus and the effort to catch up and be as good or even better - but what if you instead focused that energy on something you were already good with?
I've talked before how I believe that exposure to all subjects is good, but overexposure becomes a problem. There is a fine balance when dealing with children - because they often don't know what's best for them or what their strengths are, but that's where we come in. It's our job as educators to help students find their ways, to recognize their hidden or budding talents, and to give them the tools and direction to be successful with what comes out of them. We are mentors and developers, and if we want to see success grow from the students we teach, we must help them figure out what that success may be to them.
Digital signage in the classroom - with Enplug!
Enplug is a super simple digital signage software that's used in all sorts of places. I first saw it in the Goodwill store in Dinkytown where they use it to engage their customers with social media. The wedding venue I work in, also uses it so that guests can upload live photos and messages during a wedding. I've done more research into what it can do, and it turns out the answer is: a lot.
Enplug can be used for menus, social media feeds, graphics, news feeds and more. I would mostly use the social media feed and graphics with the idea of having a constantly updating digital screen in the classroom that provides a fresh feed of content every day. It doesn't need to be a super fancy screen either, for the most part any t.v. screen would work.
The social media aspect would be used as a way to engage the kids with conversations taking place outside of the classroom. The nice thing with a system like Enplug is that it's filtered, and I can choose what content comes through from the vast unpredictable world of social media. I always imagine working with young kids, so this would be especially important for keeping offensive content out. As for the content that is let through, I can imagine a couple of fun educational uses.
The first would be in a sort of vocabulary capacity. The idea is for the students to choose specific words or subjects and to simply catch any content that is using those words or phrases. Depending on the subject matter, this could bring in some new ideas and interesting discussions.
Another option would be to have parents and students participate with a specific hashtag, and contribute content to a specific idea or project. This could be showing their families, their work, their home, something from home they are proud of, etc. It could be an ongoing show and tell project even. These screens wouldn't be part of an active lesson, but would instead create passive content for children to engage with before class, during recess/lunch, or even after school. If I can get kids to engage in the learning process outside of 'structured learning time,' then I think it would be an experiment that I'd consider a success.
Enplug can be used for menus, social media feeds, graphics, news feeds and more. I would mostly use the social media feed and graphics with the idea of having a constantly updating digital screen in the classroom that provides a fresh feed of content every day. It doesn't need to be a super fancy screen either, for the most part any t.v. screen would work.
The social media aspect would be used as a way to engage the kids with conversations taking place outside of the classroom. The nice thing with a system like Enplug is that it's filtered, and I can choose what content comes through from the vast unpredictable world of social media. I always imagine working with young kids, so this would be especially important for keeping offensive content out. As for the content that is let through, I can imagine a couple of fun educational uses.
The first would be in a sort of vocabulary capacity. The idea is for the students to choose specific words or subjects and to simply catch any content that is using those words or phrases. Depending on the subject matter, this could bring in some new ideas and interesting discussions.
Another option would be to have parents and students participate with a specific hashtag, and contribute content to a specific idea or project. This could be showing their families, their work, their home, something from home they are proud of, etc. It could be an ongoing show and tell project even. These screens wouldn't be part of an active lesson, but would instead create passive content for children to engage with before class, during recess/lunch, or even after school. If I can get kids to engage in the learning process outside of 'structured learning time,' then I think it would be an experiment that I'd consider a success.
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