Fun Finds Friday

Read the original post of how I use Fun Finds on Fridays.

This week's finds:

1.  Gorgeous Time Lapse of Chicago by Eric Hines - Absolutely stunning!

2.  Voltige (Aerobatics) - CG Animation video with trapeze artistry

3.  Wonderopolis - "Where the wonders of learning never cease" - Be curious, and learn all kinds of interesting things. You can even post what you are wondering.

4.  Beat Maker by Splice - Compose your own beat, or listen to the creation of others

Space Spin-Offs

We were able to visit Kennedy Space Center in late May.  Since I had just finished reading Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (Truman Nominee by the Missouri Association of School Librarians), I was intrigued by the space technologies, and how Gibbs had enhanced them for his futuristic novel.  

Three things that Stuart emphasizes in his story that I was able to see first hand: sleeping in space (the characters in the story sleep in pods in the wall), spacesuits, and space toilets (always a student favorite - toilet humor). 

Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (affiliate link)

Strap yourself in while you sleep so you don't float away.

Spacesuit

Space Toilet

I discovered the term "NASA Spin-off" when I spotted the Space Blanket in the gift shop.  It was developed in 1964 by "vacuum-depositing a very precise amount of pure aluminum vapor onto a very thin but durable, film substrate.  This technical process forms a "perfect reflective barrier" that captures and helps to retain and focus over 80% of a person's radiated body heat."  It is used by militaries, medical personnel, disaster preparedness and relief agencies, and search and rescue groups.

It is small enough that it fits in one hand when you open it.

NASA has a publication and a website to highlight technologies "that are benefiting life on earth in the form of commercial products".  This would be a great launch pad for innovation studies.  

If you have a chance to visit the Kennedy Space Center, be sure to check out the Space Shuttle Launch Experience, which simulates what it is like to blast off.  The best description I head was "it is like driving down a gravel road at 80 miles per hour".   Also fun, the Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour, which takes about an hour, and gives you views of the launchpads and buildings.   And be sure to check out the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit. 

After all, "The sky calls to us." - Carl Sagan

Project Based Learning

Do School Differently, From Day One

In late May, I was able to attend Project Based Learning training by the Buck Institute for Education.   The facilitator was an expert in the field, and modeled not only how to develop a project, but gave us lots of classroom management ideas for PBL as well.

She mentioned three rules of lesson planning:
1.  Curiosity comes first (questions can be windows to great instruction)
2.  Embrace the mess
3.  Practice reflection

Our district's third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers worked in grade level teams to design PBL units to implement in the fall.  In the image below, we were doing a Silent Gallery Walk and providing feedback on sticky notes via an "I like" and "I wonder" protocol.  When using this protocol with your students, remind them that the "I like" feedback needs to be specific.  Simply saying, "I like your project" isn't helpful.  The "I wonders" truly help us get deeper.

We also watched a powerful video about teaching children how to critique.  Ron Berger models a lesson with children, giving feedback about Austin's butterfly.  This is a great video to share with students as a model of how to give constructive peer feedback.

Critique and Feedback - 

The Story of Austin's Butterfly - Ron Berger

The Buck Institute offers amazing Resources for download on their website.  During training, it was helpful for me to walk through PBLs that other educators had completed with their classes.  Be sure to check out the Project Search page to learn more.  It is free to sign up, and you can access documents like the Project Planner and a variety of Planning Forms.  Join their G+ Community or other Social Media Connections to build your PLN.

I love to collect "Gems" - Some from this PBL training:

* Hunches need to collide - ideas take time to develop

* Your classroom should be a place where ideas could mingle, and swap, and create new ideas

* Find the people who have the missing pieces, and that could be used to build and improve your own ideas

* Student questions are the seeds of real learning

* Embrace the messy process of trial and error

* Success is sweet, but failure is good food

* As a teacher, you should constantly be taking the temperature of the room.  Who gets it?  Who doesn't?

And... "This is our class, we can solve it!"

Tech Tip Tuesday

Read the original post on how I use Tech Tip Tuesday.


Tech Tip for this week:

Organize Your Google Drive.  I actually walked the kids through the process, organizing my Drive as I went, but gave them a reference as well.  I usually need to revisit my own drive about once a month to clean it up, as I am not good about filing documents as I create them.

I leave a few frequently used documents out of files for easier access, including my digital "To Do List".

What tech tips have you discovered this week?

Motivation Monday

Jay Silver, Inventor, Founder/CEO of JoyLabz, is an inspiration to the Maker Movement.   He founded Makey Makey: An Invention Kit for Everyone in 2012.  Over the past two years, my students, grades 2-8, have enjoyed "making" things with our Makey Makey.  We launch with the ever-popular banana piano, and branch out from there.

Makey Makey (affiliate link)

I recently read the article on Edutopia: Trees of Knowledge. Silver metaphorically addresses how learners can "sprout new branches and grow their trees to the tune of their own heart's song."  He also references the "roots" to his learning tree.  What "roots" have helped you grow your tree?

To encourage students to create their own viewpoint, and essentially their own world, we can encourage conversation with answers like, "I wonder"  and "Tell me more".  Answer questions with questions to help students grow as learners.  Encourage students to be "active curators of their own viewpoint on the world, not a recipient of my viewpoint."


Click through for some Monday Motivation:

1.  Jay Silver's Ted Talk: Hack a banana, make a keyboard!

2.  Article on Edutopia: Trees of Knowledge

3.  Opinion Piece: The Future of Education Demands More Questions, Not Answers

4.  Jay Silver's Website

5.  Follow Silver @wakeupsilver and @makeymakey on Twitter

Fun Finds Friday

Read the original post of how I use Fun Finds on Fridays.

This week's finds:

1.  Google Keep -  Organize your notes - in text, pictures, or audio recordings.  Keep is tied to your Gmail account, so it is accessible on any device - I love the app on my phone!  You can set reminders, share your notes, change colors, and add labels.

2.  Curiosity Machine - Fun website featuring design challenges across many areas: aerospace, art of science, biomechanics, biomimicry, civil engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, food science, materials science, mechanical engineering, neuroscience, ocean engineering, robotics, and satellite systems.

3. LEGO Color Chart - "Features every color of LEGO that exists."

4. Pop Up LEGO Himeji Castle - Talapz took 15 months to finish the castle, and has previously built other pop up LEGO creations including Todai-ji (Buddhist temple) and a Kinkaku-ji (Kyoto's famous golden temple.

Booked

We usually have NPR's Weekend Edition on the radio as we get ready for church on Sunday mornings.  One Sunday in April, I was blown away by an interview with author Kwame Alexander:  How to Get Kids Hooked On Books?  'Use Poetry.  It Is A Surefire Way.'  There have been very few books over the years that I have stopped, and immediately ordered a copy as soon as I heard about it.  Alexander's new novel Booked was one of them.

Kwame writes books about middle school boys in verse, rather than prose, and he is exceptional at it!  His earlier book, The Crossover, won the Newberry Medal.  Booked is about Nick, a twelve year old boy who loves soccer, and HATES books.  This premise alone is enough to pull in those reluctant readers.  But as readers get to know Nick, they also learn that "He hates books because his father makes him read the dictionary every day."  

My middle school students adored this book.  It was loved by voracious and reluctant readers, boys and girls, whether they were sports-oriented or not.

Booked (affiliate link)

Listen to the impressive interview via NPR:

How to Get Kids Hooked On Books?

'Use Poetry.  It Is A Surefire Way.' 

Visit Kwame Alexander's Website

Follow Kwame on Twitter

Check out Alexander's Book: Page-to-Stage Writing Workshop: Awakening the Writer, Publisher, and Presenter in Every K-8 Student

Read Kwame's acceptance speech for the Newbery Award for The Crossover

Happy Reading!