Making with Legos

     This week as I'm gathering toys to make a robot for #clmooc, I'm reflecting on  my own student's experiences to "Make" with Legos.  Of course I felt totally unqualified to attempt the Senior Citizen learning based project in my own classroom, but like so many other things that happen to land in my lap- I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by.  Besides, How hard could it Be?  http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

 

     So, I signed our team "Lego Masters" up to compete in a local competion thinking that I had the entire year to figure this thing out.  I mean who else would have suspected the local competition would be a mere three months away?!? 

 

     Meanwhile a box arrives containing a large roll out floor matt decorated with meaningless symbols all over it.  Another smaller box containing thousands of tiny Legos also arrives in the mail.  How exciting!

 

     At first my bright idea was to have my club members sort all the tiny Legos.  However it soon became painfully apparent that my ten recruits had difficulty looking at a diagram and matching it to the concrete physical representation.  I quickly realized that our team needed to create names for the pieces to help with the communication process as we organized our building materials.

 

      Building the models offered the the first opportunity for our members to freely share.  Some students had great difficulty building while other students had excellent spatial skills.  It was heartwarming to observe many of my struggling learners were considered to be expert builders by their peers.  The hierarchy of the traditional classroom was turning upside down! 

 

     Once the models were constructed, we still had no idea how to program our robot.  When I heard about a local Lego team, I arranged a visit to learn from that incredibly talented teacher.  Upon my arrival, the teacher laughed when questioned about the programming.  She stated, "The students do all the programming.  Let's ask one of the kids to show you." 

 

     This was a turning point for my team.  They no longer could rely on me.  Once I showed them the video of girls programming by trial and error my team become more confident to try new methods.   It took awhile for them to embrace problem solving, and accept that they would have failures.  Lots of them!  However they began to work together to figure out what is working and asked each other for their opinions. 

 

     Every member of my team discovered new abilities about themselves.  They began to see each other in a different light as they tested ideas.  Quickly pushing buttons on the robot while perfectly positioning it to guarantee a successful mission was the rarest skill.   Of course we needed minds who could fix anything!  While both of those jobs were important we still needed a patient computer programmer.  Other team members were great problem solvers who had unique ideas for the team to attempt.  Every member became important to our discussions. 

 

     Of course the Lego competition was not just about building the robot and programming it for successful missions.  Although that seemed to be our favorite part.  Our team also practiced working as a team to solve problems and build things without an adult's direction.  Additionally they created a new communication device to help Senior Citizens with dementia which they incorporated into a skit. 

 

     Although this project seemed way over my head at the beginning of the school year, I am thankful I took the risk.   Boy, was I ever surprised when our team placed third in the local competition!

Î

Rainbow Teacher

     At the end of every school year, I cart home a stack of professional reading books.  My summer vision is to lounge on the beach while reading the latest teaching trends.  The reality is those wonderful books are carefully stacked in a crate hidden at the back of my closet.  I'm sure I'll eventually get around to reading them.  Meanwhile I'm busy connecting with a online learning community.   At the moment, I'm reflecting on my first art project as a tribute to all my favorite teachers. 

     I chose a Rainbow fish theme because in the story, the fish gathers one beautiful scale from every fish he meets.  I felt this reflected my teaching experience because I also gather "tidbits" from every wonderful educator I discover.  I am the creation of many magnificent educators who have inspired me! Thank you to all the teachers out there who I've stolen ideas from over the years. 

      With the rainbow fish theme, my first summer project was to paint a flower pot for my Mother's Day plant.  Amazingly, it is still alive!  Any plant tough enough to survive my care deserves its own hand made container. 

     The first step was to paint the areas where the sand, fish, and seaweed would be.  I used white paint and then covered it with paper that I had cut in a wavy pattern.  I also cut out a fish and sea weed plant that stuck to the white paint.  It doesn't matter that the paper doesn't match up.  You will paint over it later anyway.

     The second step would be a blast with students.  However I would take declare this an outside activity.  Mixing paint with water in a cup, I used a straw to create bubbles as high as a tower.  Next, I dipped the flower pot into the bubble froth.  Bubbles collected on the flower pot until I popped them with my fingers.  I followed this procedure until I had created a water pattern on the top part of the container.   (If I were to do this project with my class, I would cover an oatmeal cylinder with white paper.  And it wouldn't be used as flower pot!  I'm still thinking about what it hold...)

     After the water pattern was dark enough for my eyes, I peeled the paper off the areas where I planned to place the sand, fish, and seaweed.  I painted the bottom part with a tan flecked paint.  Then I painted the seaweed green.  Once I painted three coats, I outlined the seaweed with a toothpick.  This caused the white paint to show through the green creating the designs. 

     I first drew the outline of the fish on a piece of tracing paper.  Once I created a fish that actually resembled a sea creature, I held it to the side of the flower pot.  Taking a sharpie marker, I traced the design again.  This time the design bleed through the paper onto the container.  Now I had an outline to paint.

     I didn't realize it would take such a long time, but I used the end of the brush to create multi colored dots. When I was finally finished,  a local pottery shop was very happy to glaze and fire it for me. 

      Of course, I am so pleased with my first project that I'm eager to start a new project.  

     Reflecting on this experience,  I'm excited about the idea of instilling creativity in my students by having them create something of their own choosing.  It would be a great way to get to know their interests and talents.   Of course it is a meaningful oral and writing activity for them to share how they created their project.   

     Here's an interesting video about how to help students develop creativity.