Back when I was making a podcast, I made an episode about making teaching work for you. I imagine I said something about…you know, I don’t have a clue what I would’ve said on the topic. Today, however, I’ve been reminded about the notion because I’d like to test out a few ideas in my classroom.
Finding my groove with this school year has been difficult. Either the music isn’t jiving with my rhythm or I’m tapping my toes off beat. It’s not clicking, or snapping. Everything just feels busy and noisy. Where I have found myself most motivated to work is when whatever I want to do in class somehow relates back to one of my personal interests. Enter 3D printing.
I’ve been working on some cardboard crafting tools for a while now. Soon, I hope to shop them out a bit to get some feedback before trying to make a go at selling the kits. For some reason, I’ve been reluctant to introduce them to my students. Yesterday, I was working on some stands to hold up pictures of buildings I’m having the students make for our “robot city” – the robots will travel between the buildings and structures. Tonight, I made a cardboard strip cutter.
I could simply have downloaded a model and been done with it, but going through the process of designing it was what made the project worthwhile. It gave me a problem to solve, something to focus on. At school, too often I find myself at a loss, without a solution to the problems I’m facing. Whether it’s how to appropriate manage student behaviours or plan and prepare lessons that are at the right level but still engaging, I rarely get it right. With this, I knew the criteria and, even though I got it to work the first time, I could iterate until I got it right.
Now, not only do I have a tool I can use in class to support a project I want to complete with my students, I feel some satisfaction at having made something through a process I enjoy.
Leave a Reply