The #2PencilChat is a weekly conversation about educational technology. As we enter a more student-centered age, let's talk about using all the tools in our toolboxes to be innovative and dynamic teachers.
Welcome to the #2PencilChat!
Tonight we're talking about making things by hand in the classroom. Grab your scissors, paper, markers, and glue, and join us! Say hey, and introduce yourself!
Hello #2PencilChat Linda Edwards Toronto checking in 😀 If I suddenly disappear it's my internet, we are having quite the storm and I keep losing the internet. 🙁
A1: I just believe that the idea of making encourages them to look beyond simply what is held in your hand, but that they can build from the ground up, removing the limit. #2PencilChat
A1: Although technology is amazing, making things by hand is a dying art! It's sad how many older students I've had that cannot cut or glue properly. Plus, it's fun and integrating creative activities into any content area is super easy! 🎨 #2PencilChat
A1. It's important for them to be able to take pride in their work, no matter what it is. For my boys, I feel that it teaches them to be able to respect themselves. They know how much time & effort they put into it. #2PencilChat
A1 Here's the non-research-y, touchy feely answer for me: We are creative beings, and we need to makes stuff. If we're not doing things with our hands, we feel disconnected, and it's not a good thing! Wellbeing, good times, etc...
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A1: Peter Boland from Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, RI... Making things by hand is relaxing. It’s like playing acoustic in the middle of a huge electric concert... #2pencilchat
That is the truth. I think about things that we use to make things versus using our hands to make things. #2PencilChat Benefits to both yes but I love making with my hands too.
kids need to be building ... creating ... making stuff. I have found the kids remember almost every project that required them to make something ... often remembering what they made then followed by what it was about. #2PencilChat
I can talk with kids about their past history fair projects and they remember what the created as the project ... then content ... years later ... this is an important part to building memories as the connect to content. #2PencilChat
Q2
How can we fit some hand-made work in to subjects/classes where it may not seem to fit? Maybe your kids are "too old," or you're expected to work in a scripted program that doesn't have time for "Crafts"...
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A2: Hmmm...force it, no just kidding. For real though, I like getting messy in the classroom. For example, I have students use limited resources to reconstruct book scenes, a model billboard with their favorite message they want to get out, etc... #2PencilChat Creative.
A2: You can always build things to introduce a writing assignmentor story. Also I am a big fan of having students use visuals to explain things. #2pencilchat
My kids are middle schoolers ... we have made some cool shiznit ... they all remember the trebuchet ... making instruments ... paintings ... they love the opportunity to fire up the saws ... wait ... are you still talking paper and scissors? #2pencilchat
A2 Kids can demonstrate their learning building with LEGO to show story setting, characters, etc. You can incorporate Maker Spaces in most subject areas #2PencilChat
A2 Kids can demonstrate their learning building with LEGO to show story setting, characters, etc. You can incorporate Maker Spaces in most subject areas #2PencilChat
A2: This week I had my 5th graders create a poster answering the EQ "What Does A Scientist Do?" They had to brainstorm from what we had learned but it also allowed them to express their creativity! I have some very talented artists. #2PencilChat
A2. You're never too old for some things. I've colored with my boys before. It felt like therapy for all of us. When they saw how excited I was, they seemed to buy into it. Also, just filling out a graphic organizer is a big deal for my Ss. #2PencilChat
It is building a memory ... memories don't have to be content related to trigger the content ... I remember Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital because my teacher spit on himself when he started to laugh at his own joke about the book. #2PencilChat
A2 I feel like right now, I'm having trouble getting my schedule working, but by building maker opportunities in as extra work, I've got a better chance to keep the making going. #2PencilChat
A2. I remember working with some grade 12s as a buddy program with my grade 5s. When the sticker and stamp box came out, the big kids were more excited than my young ones! #2PencilChat
A3: I think I shared mine. Haha, although somewhere around here I have a pic or video of a model city we worked on. Let me see if I can find it. #2PencilChat
A3 We did Green Screen Animation movies to tell their own stories with StikBots. They built sets, accessories etc with LEGO and various materials. They ❤️ it 😀 #2PencilChat
A3 For me, it's having kids make 3d examples of what they're learning. We made construction paper flowers and bugs once for a display. They were so cool.
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A3: When my seniors read Beowulf they create a monster from Grendel’s Mother’s lair, write a back story for their monster, and develop cool mythological names. #2pencilchat
A3. The less parameters or boundaries imposed on the product, the more my students enjoyed creating. The more we did these activities, the more creativity became apparent in their day to day work too. #2PencilChat
A3 I've shown this b4 but I love keeping travel journals when traveling and I encourage my own kids to do it - we have such beautiful hand drawn/written memories sometimes even better than our photos #2PencilChat
A3: I'm still discovering what my class enjoys, but one of my favorite activities is having students create a song or rap about something we're learning. I made one about the water cycle in 4th grade and I still remember every word to this day! #2PencilChat
A3. When we were part of the Unjammed program last year, we did the Cardboard arcade challenge. AWESOMENESS!! Check out Cane's story on YouTube. It was the inspiration for the project. #2PencilChat
A3. When studying animals, we got each Student create an environment for them, then we joined them together to create a zoo we could walk through. There were so many connections, directions, scale, science content, planning of location of animals it covered so much! #2PencilChat
You're all helping me to refocus my energy tonight! Things didn't work out the way I'd planned today, and it was frustrating, but I'm starting to figure out a plan to get things going again!
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A3.1 when we had more freedom to do certain things, I bought building blocks for my classroom. My teenage boys loved to build random stuff. #2PencilChat
A4. Am thinking craft may be an expression of emotion while construction may be an expression of sharing knowledge? Don’t know, but you’ve got me thinking! #2PencilChat
A4 Crafts are good for following directions, sequencing and knowing what the end product is. Creation is far more open ended with unique end products, requires more thinking #2PencilChat
A4 To me, crafts always feel like a following instructions thing, and creation feels open ended, and has more choice making on the user's part.
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A4. I feel both are important because one gives you the opportunity to show what you know; while the other gives you an opportunity to self-discover. Through crafting I discovered talents I never knew I had.#2PencilChat
A4 Great Q, #2PencilChat! Crafts are projects created by hand for artistic pleasure. #creation is the act of "making your "wonderings" about a topic come to life (the authentic outgrowth of what you are studying, pursuing, a passion).
A4: Crafts - smaller things that may be handheld and mobile. Creations can be handheld or mobile but can also be so much more than small items. #2PencilChat
A4: In my mind, crafts are more imagination motivated and don't necessarily involve content. Creation opportunities have an end goal in mind and revolve around a topic being taught. Both are important, and Ss with too much screen time are losing their imagination! #2PencilChat
Maybe if they have a specific purpose, the direction is even more important...you wouldn't want an airplane you're on to be built by someone who's expressing themselves, you want it to work predictably. #2PencilChat
Q5
When your students have been working hard at making things, what are the best ways of highlighting their work? Where are your best places to share online, as well as in your school building?
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Oh so we're talking real stuff hehehe #2PencilChat Yes I would want a plane to work as it should otherwise I would not be able to make my journals haha #2PencilChat
A5 If you have a class Insta, Twitter, or FB page, those are great places to share...It's cool to have a little extra furniture if you can find/liberate/make it to use as a museum space for your students' creation. #2PencilChat
#2pencilchat A1 For the second time today I’m reminded of @heathercalvert tweet.. crafts are minds and hands at play.. the more it happens the more likely an #aha#innovation might happen. Better odds than filling out worksheets..
A5: 1) I use a showcase TV I had the school purchase in the hallway for all visitors to see. 2) genius hours in class. 3) the class and school Twitter. 4) the school Instagram.
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Here is s creativity rubric that some of you may be interested in. Higher number moves towards creativity, lower numbers are more craft like. #2PencilChat
A5 Always display every Ss work no matter what - on walls in cabinets, on shelves, on line, take photos, on screen anywhere - the important thing is that we share it! #2PencilChat
A5. Being in the detention center is interesting. I cannot share their work online. Confidentiality purposes. But, when we do big things, like the Cardboard arcade, I invited school & facility personnel to our room so that the Ss could have an audience. #2PencilChat
I pitched it as an "electronic bulletin board" I think we are heading there anyway. It works well and I manage it for the school actually. #2PencilChat
A5: I love to fill my classroom and hallway wall space with my students work. I want them to feel proud and motivated to do their best! I haven't pinpointed a way to post work online for parents to see other than Twitter... maybe a blog or Facebook page? #2PencilChat
Q5
When your students have been working hard at making things, what are the best ways of highlighting their work? Where are your best places to share online, as well as in your school building?
#2PencilChat
A5.1 I can share pictures with the facility superintendent and she can give them to the DJS webmaster to share on Facebook and other social media platforms. No faces in any of the pictures or identifying marks.#2PencilChat
Thank you so much for joining us tonight, #2PencilChat Pals! I love you SO MUCH! Go make some stuff with your students, and come back next week and tell us all about it!
