My middle school students are caring, curious, creative, and yes, sometimes, comedians. We are not an affluent community. Covid has brought additional deeper financial hardships to our families, community, and as a result, our school budget. Despite the real-life challenges many are facing daily, my students will still be quite involved in school life, sports, and clubs when they return to school in the fall. They will continue to arrive to my class excited to take on the tasks/challenges, many expressing that tech is the best part of the day. I feel it is important for them to develop, not only knowledge by doing, but the following habits of mind as well: persistence, resilience, attention to details, and flexibility.
After all, my learners of today will become our innovators and future leaders of tomorrow.
They need to be developing skills that will help them to be successful in life, not just in "tech class", to see that all things inter-relate, and to be ready to take on whatever life throws their way.
My Project
This past year, pre-covid, armed with 3 new FlashForge Finders, 3D printers in my tech classroom, I was able to STEM-ify my classes by adding the design process, and 3D printing in my curriculum. Students were excited and engaged learners. They enjoyed the entire process, being able to create and personalize their own projects. As the tech integrator, it is important to seamlessly and intentionally add technology in students' learning. Tech will evolve, not go away.
After meeting with the grade level teachers and brainstorming how they could engage their students in out-of-the-box real-world ways, one element discussed and generating excitement was integrating 3D printing in their projects.
I will team up with the librarian to coach teachers and to support them as they use the 3D printing process to bring an innovative and interactive dimension into various units of study. We will put the FlashForge Finders on carts, they will be checked out to classrooms as needed/when needed. Students will 3D design new artifacts to demonstrate their learning in multiple areas of study: book reviews, character analysis, cultural studies, circulatory and digestive systems studies. New learning will take on a new dimension....a 3D world!
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