Just Use Duct Tape

Recently, a friend/colleague on Twitter posted an article titled Why Duct Tape and Cardboard Might Be a Better Option Than a 3D Printer. The article spoke about why fancy 3D printers might not actually be helping our students learn how to create. In the article, the author mentions that too many students rely on pre-designed ideas.

Stuck at Prom - 1st Prize
Noah & Jenna

We have a 3D printer, but only a few students know how to use it for creative purposes. Most students download templates and print things out. There’s not much actual creative thought that goes into it.

So how can we help our students bring back the creativity and logistical thought process for design? Duct tape. Simple yet elegant, duct tape can be used for many things in the classroom and creativity is just the iceberg.

I love reading articles like this that help remove the expensive obstacles of new equipment while still teaching the skills that students will need in future careers. In the case of creativity, students can use duct tape and other odd items for a multitude of projects in the classroom. I would most likely use the duct tape for an engineering challenge. By providing students with a finite amount of supplies, they would need to first plan out their project before just building something. This would require them to first create a final idea and then work backwards to decide how to reach the goal. I could then build in a secondary lesson about how it relates to their education in general. We have a final goal for when students reach the end of high school, and teachers, schools, etc. work backwards to determine how to help students reach that end goal of graduation.

John Spencer
Vintage Learning

For ESL students, this type of challenge can remove the language barrier and allow them to express themselves. It will also help students to see that not everything revolves around language. It's one of the things I love about the courses I teach; they are global and can include anyone. In science when we are learning about scientific names, I explain to the students that by using these standard two word descriptions we can remove the language barrier when communicating with other scientists around the world. In math, we discuss that numbers are the same in any language and only the word problems might be different. Whether you say "two plus two" or "dos mas dos", the answer is always going to be 4.

Learning Is Not a Strict Progression

Image Source: Lost My Music, Tumblr

I hope it doesn't come as a shock to anyone by this point, but I am a bit of a geek (my geekdom is bigger on the inside). I recently watched a short video Machine is Us/ing Us for a class and it reminded me of this quote from Doctor Who regarding the progression of time.

I remember in grade school when we would be told to skip lines so that we can go back and add to our rough drafts. That progressed to the dreaded asterisk when we needed to add even more after editing. Followed by arrows for switching the order of paragraphs. Editing became such a nightmare that many students gave up and settled for a lower grade, rather than re-write an essay multiple times.

Today's student has the ability to continue improving a piece of writing without the necessity of re-writing it each time. Google Docs, and newer versions of Microsoft Word, allow the student to see a history of revisions. Now, not only can our students make those changes, they can watch the progression of the changes being made. The Chrome extension Draftback creates an animated video of the changes using the revision history of a document. I haven't used it in a while, but I believe you can speed up the replay to create a time-lapse of the documents creation and edits.

As technology has advanced, we have had the opportunity to advance with it. In addition, computers too are learning from us. When I taught math, I would often make a comment to students that the calculator was not a substitute for their own knowledge. Some human, at some point, invented that calculator and it can only function as it has been programmed. The computer might simplify tasks, however they are not self taught. Computers rely on the programmer starring at a screen of code and formulas.

Image Source: iato19459, Reddit

I will conclude with one final sci-fi reference that puts this into perspective. Data from Star Trek was an android that strived to be more human. While his outside was that of a human, he was in fact a machine. Data spent the better part of Star Trek: The Next Generation trying to become more human and yet couldn't. He wanted to speak with contractions and yet he was unable to and would often say things like "I will..." instead of "I'll..." He was unable to learn from the human because his programming was not written in that way. Data was however able to compute what appeared to be impossible mathematical situations in a few seconds.

Both humans and computers must continue to grow together. We will continue to program computers and build more advanced machines, but they can only go as far as the human creating them. I often tell my students that teaching is like a puzzle. I provide them with my knowledge and experiences which their brain then combines with the knowledge and experiences of other teachers. In the end, the student should surpass the teacher because they are adding to the collective knowledge within their own brains.

Constructive Feedback vs Hurting Someone

Recently I watched a member of my PLN leave a group chat over an innocent comment.

Feedback is something that we all need in order to grow as professionals, but I'm sure most of us have been on the receiving end of feedback as well. Although designed to be helpful, if you're like me you will take certain comments way to personally.

Recently a former colleague of mine was complaining because during a walk-through, the principal wrote "your garbage was too full for the beginning of the day" under the classroom environment section of the feedback form. Is this truly helpful feedback? Would the principal have preferred the garbage be on the floor? I'm sure the comment was meant innocently. Just like teachers have certain forms they need to complete, so do principals. Perhaps this teacher was doing everything correctly but the principal was required to give at least one place for "improvement" and couldn't find a real area.

I remember that once during a PD, a principal said that every assignment we returned to students required feedback and "great job" was not acceptable. The student could have done an exploratory job but we were still required to give them a place for improvement.

As I continue on my journey in education, I need to look at this in relation to my students. Is there an acceptable point to not give room for improvement. I know that no one is perfect, but that doesn't mean we have to crush someone's spirit.

I might think my comment is helpful, but when a student has worked extremely hard on a project they might take a major emotional blow that will end up preventing them from trying the next time.

To Compete or Not to Compete

This week, I took my students to the PA Computer Fair to compete in digital design and webpage design. Both students worked really hard on their projects and I'm extremely proud of their final projects.

Their projects on display.

Before we took the journey to Dickinson College, we started regionally. I learned about the Delco Computer Fair about a week before the entries were due. With such a short time frame, I looked at the work students had already completed in class and found two of them qualified for the competition.

After speaking with those students, I submitted their names to Delco. It seems that for both categories, my students didn't have much local competition and their names were passed on for the state level.

We spent the next few weeks using the feedback from our local judge to improve their presentations before the big day. Their technical projects were ready but we were told that displays were important as well. As a first time adviser to this level of competitions, I feel that I learned just as much, if not more, than my students. Many of the tri-folds displayed were of professional quality. One piece, largely printed displays were common compared to our hand made boards.

While we didn't take home any prizes, it was a great day and everyone enjoyed themselves. Besides the competition, there were activities set up for students while the judges where evaluating the projects. My students choose to attend "Angry Nerds" which was a Quizzo style game using Kahoot.

So here's my dilemma, and the purpose of this post's title. When did competitions become about the money spent on displays and not the process. There were projects better than my students', I'll admit that. However, the presentations that won the prizes were not, in my opinion, the best work. They were just the fanciest displays. Additionally, the grand prize was only $150 yet based on what these students had set up, they spent much more than that on the display. So how do we encourage students to compete without forcing parents to spend a fortune? How do we encourage students to compete without parents and teachers micromanaging?

For my students, I wanted it to be about the experience. They both worked hard and our school was extremely supportive of getting them to the competition. Honestly, I think I'm more disappointed than they are about the results. Perhaps it's because when the mother asked about uploading her design and ordering business cards from a website, I had replied "no, we can print them at school. No reason to spend extra money" only to get there and see everything professionally made.

Live and learn. I took pictures of the competition and next year if I encourage students to enter, I'll make sure they see what they need to beat.

The Continuing Issue Known as Bullying

Bullying has always been around. Years ago, people just ignored it or made excuses such as "boys will be boys" when something happened. So what has changed? Has bullying increased? Become more physical? No, I don't think so. I think that bullying is the same now as it was years ago in certain ways. It's unfortunate that it wasn't taken seriously years ago. For a long time, victims of bullying were told to ignore it. The people giving that advice must never have been bullied in their own youth. Tuning out bullying is like tuning out the barking dog when you're trying to sleep; you might learn to live with it but you never just ignore it.

I was trying to think of a good example to use so I decided to reference the 1999 movie, Never Been Kissed. In this film, Josie (Drew Barrymore) is a reporter that returns to high school undercover to write a story. Her original high school experience was full of bullying and taunting that culminated with the prom experience that would make anyone cringe. She eventually went to college and found people with similar interests to her own. She was able in some ways to move on from the experiences of high school, however they were always there in her mind and impacted decisions she made.

Now imagine that cell phones and YouTube had existed at the time. Not only was this poor girl tormented by her peers, now they've posted it online and it's gone viral. Suddenly, the awkward and horrible experience is everywhere. Josie can't escape it. Everywhere she goes, the video and a pre-conceived reputation follows. Although she was bright and went on to college, the video would follow. Moving on would be difficult when she would always wonder if people were being nice because they truly liked her as a person or felt bad for the girl from prom.

Cyberbullying is as old as the Internet itself. The ability to remain anonymous has allowed teens to become more viscous in their taunting. It also makes it more difficult for someone that is being bullied to find a safe place to get some peace. Where can someone go that Twitter doesn't follow? How can a victim prevent being victimized again when the video of his/her torment is posted to YouTube? While YouTube does allow you to report videos and try to remove them, this option is a slow process when it does work and the video has already been out there where it can be downloaded and re-posted.

Now more than ever, the Internet is so intertwined with life that it's impossible to just avoid it. Right now, as I write this post, I have flipped back to social media no less than ten times. I know that we can't stop bullying completely. It's a sad part of life. True or not, these posts and comments stay with us and influence the person we become.

So how can we help our students deal with the issues? Ignoring the problem won't make it go away. And "an eye for an eye" never works either. This is where digital citizenship comes into play. Instead of ignoring the problem we need to work within the system. Schools can try to block social media or claim to have zero tolerance, however it won't prevent students from getting on their phones or going home to post. School's can try but it's difficult to enforce policies outside the school building. We need to incorporate lessons on digital citizenship into the classroom.

Teachers and students need to work together to help each other. The Internet can be a weapon for bullies but it can also become a safe haven for victims. Someone might not feel accepted by their peers but that doesn't mean they deserve to be pushed aside or made an outcast. Use the Internet to search for local groups with similar interests. Do you live in a city but love agriculture? Do you live in a small town but love live theater? You can connect with other people online with similar interests. You might even find a local group of like-minded people to meet.

Let's start a discussion. Help find ways to combat the negative impact of bullying.

image source: Valentine’s Marathon: Never Been Kissed (1999)

Earning Free Supplies for Your Schools

Did you know that many companies want to give your school money and supplies? It's true. Businesses get huge tax breaks for making donations and often times it encourages people to buy their brands. Below are a few programs available to schools that will help you raise money or supplies for your campus. You can do them all. You can do none. It's really up to you and how involved your communities are in the schools.

BoxTops4Education - Probably the most famous program around. Each boxtop that is turned into the school is worth $0.10. Twice a year, your school will get a check. There are also times when products and/or stores will run promotions that double the value to $0.20 each.

Participating brands include:

• General Mills
• Ziploc
• Totino
• Betty Crocker
• Hefty
• Pillsbury
• Green Giant
• Land O'Lakes
• and more...

Labels for Education - Each UPC is worth a set number of points depending on the item. The points can be redeemed in a catalog for school supplies such as gym equipment and art supplies.

Participating brands include:

• Campbells
• Pepperidge Farm
• Spaghettos
• V8
• and more...

My Coke Rewards - Every bottle or package of Coca-Cola products has a code listed. For bottles, it is in the cap. For cases, it's on the cardboard. These points can be donated to schools and converted to quarterly cash payments. Schools can then use the funds to buy supplies.

Participating brands include:

• Coca-Cola
• Sprite
• Dasani
• Minute Maid
• Powerade
• and more...

Amazon - Amazon allows eligible non-profits, including schools, sign up for AmazonSmile. Once enrolled, any purchases made through smile.amazon.com will give your school a 0.5% cash donation of the total purchase price. The shopper just needs to designate your school as their charity and then shop as normal. Amazon sends electronic payments on a quarterly basis for any funds you have raised.

Target - If you have a Target credit or debit card, you can sign up to have Target make a donation to a school of your choice, 1% of what you spend in the store. Sadly, they announced this month that the program will be ending in May 2016, but there's still time to sign up your cards and earn some funds in the meanwhile. Schools will receive a final check after the program ends.

Additional programs may be available at a regional level. I've heard of grocery stores offering incentives and restaurants having designated "school nights" for fundraising. Good luck!

The Next Chapter In My Life

Changing jobs is never an easy decision. It's made more difficult when you work closely with an amazing group of educators that feel like a family. While I had some challenging times, I also had amazing breakthroughs as I watched my students throughout the years.

Earlier this year, my principal discussed with me the possibility of changing grade levels. He was preparing a major change-up in the school and I do have multiple certifications. In hindsight, this was the push I needed. In my heart, I knew I could teach the content but wouldn't be happy. Shortly after, I took the certification exam for computers/business and posted my resume on the state's centralized teacher application website. I'm not sure what I was expecting at the time but I couldn't be happier with the end result.

Last month, I accepted a new position in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The position is going to be an amazing opportunity. I will be teaching computers and business in the high school and working with the district's technology coordinator on the cyber school. Additionally, I have already met with other administrators and will be helping to design ongoing technology professional development.

While sitting in the administration office for a meeting, I met another new teacher for the high school. She will be teaching English and also helping with the school's television studio. We spoke for a while and she seemed just as excited as I was to join this district. While I will miss my old colleagues, this is not really goodbye. I'm sure I will stay in touch with them.