Skip to main content

Less Physics Mo Problems

Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms...

High Interest Day = High Empowerment Day


My practice the last few years has been collaborations with classrooms outside of my building. It's something that I always looked forward to. You can read about some of these amazing collaborations between high school and elementary school kids in these older posts:



Last week, I was invited to be part of one of our elementary school's high interest day in which students are able to attend a wide variety of sessions that allow them to explore a range of topics. I decided to see if any of my high school students wanted to be a part of sharing the physics of sound and electricity with the elementary students. I was lucky enough to have 5 amazing students answer the call!
I won't go into too much depth about what we did. But we designed two different activities to engage in. The first was using Makey Makey Kits to use as music inputs and video game controllers. The second was using LittleBits Synth Kits to allow students to explore the different components that allow for the creation of a modern synthesizer.
A Makey Makey allows the user to create their own controller to function as an input device. Think about this as a way of mapping keyboard controls onto something else. Basically, it can be hooked up to anything that conducts electricity. So rather than touching keys on a keyboard. We can use other things as buttons. Things like aluminum foil, Play-Doh, water, gummy candies, even other people.
Here's a basic into video if you are unfamiliar with this amazing tool.

After a brief introduction to the tool, students were able to experiment with the high schoolers guiding the exploration process. I curated a number of different programs that students could use as their Makey Makey for. 


If we had more time, students could have designed their own in Scratch. But with sessions of only 50 minutes. We wanted to provide a variety of experiences.

Using Play-Doh to create a Wack a Mole Game.

Creating our Own Dance Dance Revolution Controller

One of the most special experiences was using the Makey Makey to help get a student with visual impairment involved in the play. 
The ability to use the Makey Makey to create expereince for all learners was amazing. Even more amazing was the work of the high schoolers who realized that relationships are at the heart of all instruction. They did a wonderful job of introducing themselves to each group of learners who came into the classroom. Making them feel welcome from the start. It was amazing to see these guys in action. These elementary students were going to be asked to take an active role in the classroom. The fact that they were all welcomed so warmly let them know this would be a safe place to be curious and take some risks for everyone.

With the Synthesizer Kits, the high school students modeled how they worked explaining the different components.  I love this rainbow mat area to get students out fo their seats and close for modeling of processes.

The high schoolers then challenged students to make their own instruments and amaze them with their creations. LittleBits are magnetic circuit kits. They are easy to build and take apart. Students can easily put components together and rearrange instantly to see what happens. 


The work the high school students demonstrated is everything I am looking to achieve as an educator and these guys were able to do it instinctively. There is a lot I could learn from the learners in my own classroom!

At the end of one of the sessions, the student with the visual impairment asked me a question. He asked me if we would be back next year because he wanted to play some more. I had to hold back the tears in that moment. Not only because of the opportunity that this student had. It was also because it was a group of my students who had created the experience for him. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter Cards for Blogger

So, I’ve been seeing people with beautiful Twitter Cards in my Twitter Stream. They make it clear that there is a web page to visit and give a quick preview of what would be found. Something like the one below: I’ve been wondering how to get one of the cards to appear when I tweet out a link to my latest blog post.  Since I use Blogger, there is not a simple button to click to turn this on.  I had to find a way to paste new code into the HTML code of my blog.  It took some searching from multiple sites to get a completely functional.   This site though was quite helpful.  But, I’d like to walk you through my process and hopefully it helps a few out. There are a few types of Twitter Cards.  Two that at most frequently see are the basic summary card and the summary card with large image.  Below you can see the layout of each, but realize that they both have the same content pieces. This is going to look like a lot ...

Personalized Learning Tasks and Roles

Yesterday, I read a great post by Jim Rickabaugh dealing with the roles of learner and teacher in a personalized learning environment by looking at tasks . The roles were set up on a continuum. This article timed perfectly with a reflection on part of Students at the Center by Allison Zmuda and Bena Kallick on idea generation and task development I had in mind. These two works are the focus of my reflection here. I think a key misunderstand teachers have when it comes to digging into personalizing learning is that for planning purposes, we no longer begin with standards but with student desires.  I believe like all good instruction, we need to start with the standards.  Think about it, standards are what we want all learners to know and be able to do as a result of passing through our educational system. That is why it is essential that we make sure that standards are representative of what we believe is important for learners to be informed and productive in th...

Pear Deck 101 + Q&A

  Last week, I presented as a part of Pear Deck’s Pear Fair 2020. My presentation was Pear Deck 101 for Google Slides. During the presentation, there was a live chat. Many people said it went too fast for a 101 Session. Luckily, it was recorded so it can be rewatched.  Also, many said that they wanted to know how to build a Pear Deck first. I structured the presentation to show what Pear Deck was before showing how to make one. Perhaps that wasn’t the best structure. But, I’m going to stick with my philosophy of showing what something is before showing how to make it. The presentation, which can be watched below, was structured in several different sections What is Pear Deck? Providing an overview of the experience from the Teacher and Student perspectives. How do you build a Pear Deck in Google Slides? How do you start a Pear Deck presentation? How do you end a Pear Deck presentation? Here is the Slideshow I shared during the session bit.ly/pearfair101 Time really flew in...