Sewable Circuits
Posted: May 19, 2012 Filed under: Professional Development | Tags: arduino, conductive thread, LED, MIT, sewable circuites 2 Comments »
Today was the first of two days at a workshop hosted by the High-Low Tech Group at MIT. The objectives of this event for educators it to explore sewable circuits, accelerometers, and the LilyPad Adrduino controller.
My first project was a simple circuit with a batter holder and an LED. I decorated it to look like a flower.
My next project that will be continued tomorrow is a glove with an accelerometer attached to an arduino processor. I am loving this workshop!
Tech Integration in a Steampunk Musical
Posted: May 12, 2012 Filed under: Art | Tags: ARmy of BRoken TOys, Liars & Believers, musical, steampunk, Walter Sickert 1 Comment »
The Peace Ray above and the audience dancing to the sounds of Walter Sickert and the ARmy of BRoken TOys after the show.
I just saw the closing show of 28 Seeds, a steampunk musical. Telling the story of how the apocalypse happened, 28 Seeds had great music from Walter Sickert and the ARmy of BRoken TOys. Besides being lots of fun, the production did a very nice job of using tech. From the QR codes on the many monitors facing the audience and a live twitter feed that featured actors during the performance, there was quite a bit of modern tech sprinkled amongst the the more recognizable steampunk accents. Loved the brain in the tank!
Last MEMSET for the year and perhaps forever!
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Professional Development | Tags: MEMSET Leave a comment »Well, that is a bit dramatic, but true on one level. The Massachusetts Elementary and Middle School Educators using Technology (or Educational Technologists) met for the last time today at BB&N Middle School. It is amazing to sit in a room of teachers and tech specialists talking about independent elementary and middle school technology topics.
One thing we recently ran up against was that the acronym MEMSET has been taken, so we can not get the com or org domain. We need to rebrand to move forward. Thus, MEMSET will be no more. We will be another group next year–the group formerly known as MEMSET.
Tonight’s discussion covered benchmarks/standards, how they are integrated in the classrooms, how they are reported, and how different constituents are held accountable for them. Then over dinner, we had presentations from different members on tech integration projects. One particular one struck me. A third grade project using conductive thread to create circuits on a quilt echoed the many articles I have been seeing on wearable electronics.
I look forward to this group, under its new name, continuing the great work next year.
Reflection, Stepping Back at #131
Posted: May 8, 2012 Filed under: blogging Leave a comment »This is blog post #131 of an almost daily habit I started over winter break. My original purposes for this and my parenting blog was to carve out space in my day, daily, for writing. I also wanted to use the time to grow as a technology teacher and to be held accountable for reflective practice in my parenting. All of these things have happened, and I am pretty proud of the accomplishment of getting two blog posts completed daily.
However, my writing is not what I really wanted from this time. Now that I have wrested it from the TV and other distractions, I want to refocus my writing. I have a children’s novel that has languished for over a decade and other book ideas I want to see if I can take a swing at.
With the two blogs, I find that my freshest writing is happening in my parenting one, and this one is running on fumes. I have lit a charge in my growth as a technology educator, and that is going well. I am, however, deeply engrossed in several big projects at school, and they are not the type of daily update material I was hoping to use in this blog. So, I will scale this blog back a bit. I will write when I am excited about some technology growth I have made. I imagine that this will happen roughly weekly, but I am not going to hold myself to a rigid schedule. This way, I hope to just convey thing about which I am truly enthusiastic and that might be more relevant for the followers of this blog.
Until the next big thing, then.
Teacher Appreciation Week
Posted: May 7, 2012 Filed under: Teaching | Tags: Teacher Appreciation Week 1 Comment »This week is teacher appreciation week, and I am very fortunate to be in a place where teachers are really appreciated. This has not been the case in every teaching job I have had. I started my career in Philly where new teachers were human resources and not much more. After teaching four grade levels in three buildings in two years, I decided to take a break.
When showing appreciation for your teachers, your children’s teachers, your former teachers, technology can play a role. From finding people on Facebook or person finders to email and skype, tech can serve as a link and communication tool.
However, I vastly prefer the hand-made cards and heartfelt conversations I have had over the years.
I have now found an email for my AP physics teacher in high school. I hope it is current and finds him. What an amazing teacher.
Cultivating Evernote
Posted: May 6, 2012 Filed under: Apps, Web tools | Tags: Evernote, gardening 1 Comment »I didn’t plan on getting back to Evernote so quickly, but I have found a worthy long-term project for it–my garden. I am slowly getting into gardening. Last year, I planted a few veggies with my daughter, and this year we are trying a few more. Meanwhile I am getting up and running on composting and other related topics.
To assist this, I have created an Evernote notebook about gardening in which to collect my findings. I hope to get a few things grown this year, but mostly I am learning. Part of the learning happens outside with my hands in the dirt, and part of it happens with my nose in a book or looking up info.
My goal is to find a good garden planner, a source of info about when to plant different veggies, resources for improving my soil and using containers for gardening. I hope to make next year’s garden much better, and part of that is the experimentation that happens this year. Let me know if you have good garden resources, digital or otherwise.
Basecamp
Posted: May 5, 2012 Filed under: Tools, Web tools | Tags: Basecamp, project management Leave a comment »My school’s web project is being managed in Basecamp. In some ways this is a nifty tools to increase communication and create a workflow to complete a project in time. However, in that one-size-fits-all way that many solutions have, it is lacking some features that would make it more useful. One can get around these by uploading files, but that necessitates clicking and opening. I’d love native support for viewing PDFs and much more. Luckily, I only have to use it for a short while.
I wonder how the state of project management will evolve as web capabilities continue to expand.
