ISTE (Round 3)

So once again I made the trip across the Pacific to the US of A to ISTE. After the first time over, it was hard not to make the trek again. There simply is nothing like it (at least that I've been to) over on this side of the world. This year, I felt like a veteran, knowing the best way to get the most for my time in San Antonio. I wanted to avoid wasting time listening to people talk at me and make some real connections with real people doing amazing things. I also had a long list of ISTE friends to reconnect with. A lot of people go to conferences to hear the latest new thing (and I definitely like learning about that stuff), but connections are more valuable to me, with some really innovative, off the wall ideas thrown in there.

There were some clear themes throughout the conference this year.  The most obvious thing that (it seems) everyone is doing is VR. So many different presentations and poster sessions included it. In particular, I did visit the CoSpaces booth and was quite impressed with the ability to create your own 3D environments. I'll definitely be watching their website for the educator and school accounts (I could be a bit off on the names, though). There's also some really cool new AR stuff coming from Google

I also had a lot of good conversations and got some good ideas from a lot of the big robotics companies: SpheroEdu, Wonder Workshop, Ozobots and a few others. They all have some pretty helpful STEAM activities and other lesson plan ideas that can be used. 

The same goes for some other companies that produce other technology things: OSMO, Little Bits and Bloxels stood out, as well as Microduino. There was a company that made some neat little robots called SAM robots, though I can't seem to find a website or pictures of those. As always, a visit to the Lego Education booth was one of the highlights (if I had a million dollars, I'd get two of everything!)

Though it was not as prevalent as years past, there were still lots of ideas for using Makey Makeys, both with the good people at the booth and with presenters. I did learn that you can have an output (eg, make a light flash), so that was kind of cool. Plus seeing what some learners have done with it was helpful to see how it could be used.

All of the above are definitely on my wishlist and would be super helpful in creating a fun and STEAMy classroom that engages my learners. Over the next few weeks/months, I'm going to look at how I can use what I've got to do these things, but also at ways of obtaining some more of these things.

But by far the most important thing from ISTE, as I mentioned above, was the people. Last year I met Shannon while we were each making our own binary bracelets on the first day. We then ran into each other multiple times over the course of the conference. Last year we said we would collaborate on something, but then never did. This year, if you can believe it, we ran into each other once again on the first day, and once again making binary bracelets (why both of us needed another one this year, I'm not sure). We caught up briefly and visited each others' presentations. Now, we've been talking about doing some sort of global collaboration project with each other this year and co-presenting at ISTE next year. So that's kind of cool. And hopefully putting it up here will also help me not forget to do it this year!

I've also made another handful of contacts of educators in the US who want penpals (have actually made contact with one, and planning on one or two more right after this blog post).  Furthermore, saw my friends from Kiva again and will be wanting to perhaps get some more things going on with them.

One of the big things that has come up in EdTech in recent years is the idea of ambassadors for certain companies. I'm definitely looking into a few as many companies do not have educators from New Zealand working with them that closely yet. Hopefully within the next few months I'll be on here writing about all the new connections I have (as well as my global collaborations).

To anyone who has never been to ISTE, my advice to you is GO! Chicago next year is a wonderful city and ISTE is an amazing experience. The incredibly inventive things you'll see and the inspiring people you'll meet (and in turn inspire yourself) is definitely worth the cost of getting there (and as an added bonus for NZ educators, you get a week of summer in the middle of winter). If you're interested in coming along next year, let me know and we can meet there! The site for Chicago is here. Calls for presenters open in less than a month!

A Little Bit of Cross Campus Collaboration

Over the last few weeks, I have been privileged to have the opportunity to do some collaborative learning with our local Secondary School - Ormiston Senior College (OSC). One of the teachers there, Mr Chandar K, has been using the Sphero robot in his teaching and had heard that we were using them as well in the primary school. He contacted us and offered to take a small group of our learners and do some activities with them, to teach them how to code the Sphero Robots.

I've had a couple of Spheros (and two Ollies) and have been letting our learners use these all year, but I wanted to learn how I could use these a bit more. We were a bit limited by our small numbers, so the opportunity to use 8-10 of them in another setting was very enticing. We asked the 90 learners in our habitat which were interested and got 18 who were keen to make the once weekly trek through the Junior College to go learn about how to code a robot.

For the past month or so, we've been learning and developing our coding capabilities and I've been getting lots of ideas as to how you can manage a robotics curriculum in a school.

On the teaching side of things, Mr Chandar K started by letting the learners free drive with the sphero. This was the last time he let them do this. We had a couple of races to get them used to how the sphero moves and what it is capable of doing.

From there we did some simple coding - making the Sphero roll for a short amount of time, at a specific speed in a specific direction.

That was the end of week one. When we came back the next week, we tried another challenge: to make the robots go in a square (and then back again). This proved difficult for some learners as they had to change the directions (so we learned a bit about angles), and adjust the speed or time so that the sphero would go the correct distance. Some were able to complete the task AND make the robot retrace its steps.

The third session involved our learners trying to program the sphero around three objects inside a square - so essentially they had to program a triangle. This was also difficult, but many managed to do it.

Our most recent session involved the learners coding the sphero to go in an L Shape on the carpet. We had some difficulties today and discussed concepts like friction (the carpet was pretty bumpy itself, but the little markers used for the shape were slowing the sphero down a bit and knocking it off course) and fractions, ratios & proportions (when trying to adjust the distance the sphero would go). As a learning coach, I am starting to see a lot of the mathematical applications with using a sphero.

As you can also find out in the video, we learned about putting a delay between roll blocks so that the sphero goes in straight lines, instead of curved.

So why was this helpful? Well, just on the surface this was great for my learners because they got to experience these robots and learn in ways that we cannot yet provide (with only my two personal sphero at our school) and I was given a great starting point for what I can do with them and lots of ideas as to where we can take this.  But there are deeper implications from this experience. At Ormiston (and I mean the three schools combined) we have a great opportunity for some great collaboration between all people (leadership, learning coaches and learners) and this was a great example of what could be done. I know Mr Chandar K is also working with the Junior College. This will hopefully provide future opportunities for the adults at the three schools to sit down and figure out what we want to teach when it comes to robotics and to start to share knowledge and resources.

As for next steps in the coding, I'd like to start introducing some looping functions and then eventually if statements. There is a lot that can be explored in this coding and the doors are starting to get a bit wider for me.

If anyone out there has any other innovative ways to use these robots, please share in the comments!

Google Summits - Times Two!

This year I was fortunate enough to be accepted to present at both the Auckland AND the Wellington Google Summits put on by the Ed Tech Team.

Since the beginning of the year, as can be evidenced by my lack of posting regularly on here, I have been very busy and overwhelmed with the implementation of new ideas at Ormiston School where I was put into a habitat for the first time. So a lot of the drive that had previously been in me had slowly disappeared.

But these two Google Summits gave me my drive back. It's funny how you don't realize what's missing until you get it back, but I had mostly disconnected myself from my core online PLN and was suffering because of it. Coming back to these summits and spending four days with my tribe was extremely helpful in sparking my drive to make innovative change.

My four sessions went fairly well. Two were on how to use Mystery Hangouts (or Skype) in the classroom to connect with other classrooms globally and to promote critical thinking skills and problem solving, while the other two were on how to use Google Forms to make Choose Your Own Adventure stories. After some sessions last year that were more of me talking than of the participants actually, you know, participating, I made some changes and made sure that the majority of each session was a chance for my colleagues to try something new. For the Mystery Hangout session we ran a mock Mystery Hangout. For the Choose Your Own Adventure session we actually made our own Choose Your Own Adventures. Further to this, it gave me more ideas of what I could share in the future (and I'm going to keep some of that on the down low for now).

One tangent that these sessions sent me on was to create some sort of resource for teachers to connect with each other so that they can do a Mystery Hangout. I had used a padlet in my presentation to collect details of classrooms that might be interested, but on my long drive home from Wellington and after a suggestion from one of the attendees there, I am currently working on a small website for NZ teachers to find each other for these Mystery Chats (not trying to favour one over the other). So hopefully I'll find some time to complete that task soon and then share it with my PLN to get a global group of people who want to connect with NZ schools.

I also had the opportunity to attend several sessions at the summit which have led to some new thinking and tools for me to use in the classroom. Over the four days, I attended three (yes, 3) sessions related to Breakout EDU. Two which let me experience the game play (I've done it a few times before, admittedly) and once where we got the chance to brainstorm and look at the process of designing games. I'm actually quite interested in using this in the classroom (and we actually trialled it this week - but that's another blog post) so it was good to get my brain thinking about what we could do and how we could do it.

Another session I attended included using the G Suite Apps on iPads. This has long been an issue for me in the classroom/habitat. Often we say we have 40 some odd devices (for 90 learners, mind you) and 10 of those are iPads, which don't have the same functionality as chromebooks. However, we were given some tasks to try on the iPads and I managed to figure out how to do a variety of things on it that I had previously thought would be difficult to do.

There were also a few sessions on Computer Science and coding. One was a reiteration of the CS First session I attended last year, and this helped reaffirm the need for coding in the classroom. They have a variety of modules that learners can go through to practice coding. This got me thinking about the ways in which we can add coding to the curriculum and embed it through other subjects. I've made some tentative plans to work towards some practical, hands on coding in all areas. A second session I attended shared lots of resources for higher level coding. One resource that stood out in particular was the Khan Academy and Pixar joint venture: Pixar in a Box. Mainly geared towards older learners, there are certainly some aspects that can be used at the primary level. And don't think I haven't contemplated learning how to digitally animate and change careers! Probably not though...

I also finally attended a session put on by Angela Lee on Virtual Reality. Having worked with her for ages and ages, I've never actually gone to see her present. It was very helpful in that I now know how to use both Google Expeditions as well as another application that allows learners to make their own 3D virtual world: CoSpaces. These are two things that we're examining to add to our curriculum throughout as many areas as possible.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the four days at the summits - and I quite liked the drive as well (it's always nice to see the green of New Zealand). It's given me a new focus going forward and sparked that fire in me that has recently been in hiding.

Hosting a #digitaledchat for #MakerEdNZ

Recently, I was give the opportunity from Stuart Kelly to host a #digitaledchat on #MakerEdNZ. I was very nervous about this proposition, but was also excited about the chance to not only run a major, international chat, but also to learn from others and start the conversation.

It was very difficult to set the questions as I wanted to encourage lots of rich discussion, but I also wanted to make sure that the talk was accessible. I initially made a few too many questions, so that I could whittle them down to the best ones.

In the end, I settled with the following 6 questions. None were earth shattering, but I felt that they would direct the discussion and help bridge the gap between the early adopters and those who were just learning about maker spaces for the first time.

1. What is your experience with makerspaces?
2. How would you define a makerspace?
3. What barriers have you had or do you have in getting a makerspace in your school?
4. What are the benefits or disadvantages to letting learners make or create whatever they want?
5. How much direction do you think should be given in a makerspace?
6. What are you going to do to either add to your makerspace or start one?

I wanted to focus on building the base and getting people motivated to start trying these things, which is one of the main reasons I started #MakerEdNZ

The chat went fairly well, and we had some good discussion. A transcript of the whole thing can be found here.

One of the first things that came out of the discussion was actually what a maker space is. Many schools probably have such a space and do maker activities, but they wouldn't necessarily call it that. Perhaps this is one of the realizations that we need to encourage in NZ schools so that educators can start thinking in terms of building on what they already have, rather than having to start a new thing that they've not heard of before.

We even came up with a new word: Thinkering, which given the mix of thinking and tinkering gives a great description of what learners would do in a makerspace - both expanding their mind and using the materials they have to create something.

Many of the barriers to makerspaces starting up were ones that we have heard before: time, money, space, a dedicated staff member, leadership buy-in. These are all things that need to be addressed, though one of them was seemingly discussed as an easily solvable problem. Maker spaces do not need to be full of expensive equipment. Many schools get by with using completely recyclable things, which are very easy to get within the community. Other barriers will need to be given a bit more time, but another purpose of MakerEdNZ is to help get through these.

Many teachers saw providing maker spaces as a positive way to encourage creativity, problem solving and to provide open ended problems. Some worried about wasted time and wasted resources. I've certainly cringed when I've seen my students spending hours on something, using a whole roll of tape in something that won't likely turn out to be useful, but the process of this does hold some value in my opinion. Thought it is tough to see all that wasted tape. Some other teachers echoed this sentiment during the chat as well.

Most teachers agreed that as little direction as possible would be best, though there is a need for some up front direction so as to keep children safe and to provide them with a starting off point. This has shown to be key for me and my learners and after some initial difficulty with the freedom of choice, they were able to become independent and self-directed quite quickly and easily. It's that getting lost or stuck that promotes real, authentic learning.

The actions that teachers are going to take are varied. Some were going to start using the term maker space, while others were very specific in their ideas going forward. Several wanted to get donations of materials for their spaces and find ways for learners to start making.

All in all it was a great conversation, and one that I hope to help continue. It definitely clarified what a maker space is for some and it got others starting to share with each other - an activity that will be key to growing the movement here in NZ.

I look forward to the next chat that I'll be able to host, whether it takes the same format or it pushes a bit beyond. Either way, this was a valuable experience and an important step forward in the #MakerEdNZ journey.

Science Unleashed, Day 1: Rocket Launching

Last night I went to the first of four Science Unleashed workshops with Chris Clay and Ally Bull. I was quite excited because since I met him at the MindLab I've enjoyed everything that Chris has shared with me PLUS I have a science background and enjoy doing fun sciencey stuff with children.

After getting lost not once, not twice, but three times on my way there, I finally found the room at AUT North Shore and settled in. We had a brief introduction but it was straight into a fun, exploratory, playing activity. We were given rocket powder (not actually rocket powder), and rocket liquid fuel (also, not actually rocket liquid fuel, as well as a variety of other materials to make our rockets. Chris did a "shoddy demonstration" (his words, not mine, and on purpose) to give us some basic idea of what we needed to do, with the simple task of seeing if we could make our rocket go high.

All of the partnerships worked, trying different mixtures of the liquid (there were 3), different shapes for our fuel delivery system, as well as different amounts of liquid and powder. When we first started, the rockets didn't work really well (our first one didn't even explode!). But over time, it was clear that more and more of everyone's rockets were getting higher. It was at this point that Chris stopped us and brought us inside to conference. He had us discuss what we found out. Could we make any claims that were supported by evidence. We wrote our claims down and discussed what had happened. There was some consensus on what was certain (one of the fuels was useless) but there was also some disagreement.

Then we went back outside and had another go at it. This time a few groups spoke with each other and discussed which variables we would test. Angela and I decided on changing the amount of liquid. We found that a little bit of liquid worked better than a lot. Have a look at one of our tests. Unfortunately it shot up so quickly we couldn't see the whole thing. But you can tell that there was a lot of upward force propelling it.

The last step of our investigation was another debrief back in the classroom. We discussed ways in which we could improve our investigation. A few of us thought that it would be better if we decided as a group which variables we would test. Others discussed how we would make our measurements more accurate and what things we should measure (we thought that timing hang time would help determine which rockets when highest).

So what was the point of this? Well, there were a lot. The first one is that science and other fun, hands-on activities can be done on the cheap. Not all schools can afford lots of equipment, and Chris even said early on that having less materials and resources can actually be a good thing as it forces you to be innovative.

The whole process was one that was meant to promote the Nature of Science (NoS). Compared to a 'typical' science lesson, one like what we did pretty much gives opportunities to develop all four strands of NoS. For Understanding About Science, learners are given the chance to make their own explanations and understand how science works. They are clearly learning what Investigating in Science means because they are carrying out their own investigations. The whole time, learners are Communicating with their partners and with each other. The conferencing was a fantastic way of communicating this idea. There are also loads of possibilities to share their learning with others or digitally. Every single one of us was participating in actual science and we were all contributing the the scientific community that we had created amongst ourselves.

Though this is not the first time I've participated in Science PD that was similar to this, I have continued to get loads of ideas. As Chris said, he's not about giving us a recipe for a perfect science lesson. But he did give us some great ideas to provoke scientific thinking and investigating. And that's before you consider the inspiration that this night has provided me. I'm looking forward to next week!

TAP Lab Visit #3

This Wednesday I returned to the TAP Lab to continue my education in all things Maker. Most of this involves Arduino and other types of coding, but we'll see where things take me and how much time I'll actually have in the future to come back (it is pretty far away - but definitely worth it).

Today's session started with me figuring out another sensor - a temperature sensor which is surprisingly accurate. Then the very helpful people at the lab started telling me all about all the parts I had in my Arduino kit, including some displays. Well, I was intrigued. My big thought was to get the display to show the temperature. Well, it was a massive job just to 1) figure out how to hook up the display to the Arduino board and then 2) figuring out the coding, which had a very simple, but inexplicable error.

The code we found on the Internet for the lights was giving some really strange results. We poured through it, trying to figure out what went wrong. Then we started testing things to see what changed. It became apparent, at one point, that the lights were doing the opposite of what they were meant to do in the code. So, I changed all the 'trues' (which the code said meant the lights would go off) to 'falses' and amazingly, the display lit up as it should have. It was a good lesson in debugging, though it got pretty frustrating at one point, and I was definitely in the dip (growth mindset FTW!). But this only led to a static display. I managed to change the display to my birth year and then discussed ways in which I could program the numbers to change - though due to the tediousness of the code I'd have to write, I put that off for another day.

Learned how to code a 4digit display today at @TAPLabMakers Next step: make numbers change! #MakerEdNZ #hacksterlive pic.twitter.com/KkrINLhHb2

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) August 31, 2016

Since I remembered to bring my mBot to the lab, I decided to have some fun with its display as well. It is much easier to program the lights there (it's all visual, and you just need to click on the squares), so I was able to spell out all the number words to ten and get it to count up. I bet I can modify this program to make it do addition or subtraction (or many other things). Hmmmmm.... I do love how learning one skill can get you thinking about how it can be applied. Have a look at the video of the lights changing.

Today was a fantastic lesson in what actually goes on in a makerspace. It was often quiet when I was working, but when I had a problem, many people there were willing and even eager to help me. That's the kind of atmosphere I'd like to create for makerspaces. I spent two hours there, but it felt like 10 minutes. Again, that's what I want for MakerEdNZ. 

The Case for MakerEdNZ

Since going to ISTE this year, it has become apparent that there is a gap in New Zealand education, at least from my perspective. That gap is makerspaces. Now, I know some of you will be reading this saying: "What are you going on about? I've got an awesome makerspace in my school! You don't know what you're talking about." And yes, you'd probably be right, I DON'T know what I'm talking about. Yes, there are lots of great and amazing makerspaces in New Zealand. However, when I asked the NZ Teachers (Primary) Facebook group about makerspaces, only 43% of the teachers had even HEARD of them and only 11% had one in their school. So I say to you people who have the makerspaces: "How can you help the rest of us?" (note: I'm actually in the 11%, so the question should be: "How can we help each other?")

Instead of getting worked up about it and saying that either: a) it's not fair, I want some cool stuff, or b) what's the point, someone else will fix it, I've decided to do something about it. And thus: MakerEdNZ was born. What is it, you ask? I'm not entirely sure. It's just an idea right now (ok, well actually, it's more than just an idea - but more on that later). But the idea is that we (the keen makers out there, those with makerspaces, and those who just want to bring them to NZ schools) can work together, share what is working for us and get those makerspaces into every New Zealand school. Ambitious? Check.

How this plays out is anyone's guess right now, but I believe that there is the desire to make this change, and that desire will increase as more and more teachers, schools and BOTs see what can happen in a makerspace and the real, authentic learning it can create.

I am currently in the process of applying to two separate programs to help me along in this journey. After being unsuccessful in my first application to the Google for Education Innovator Academy, I was speaking to an Innovator friend of mine about this very idea and it was suggested that this be the project I use in my application. And that's when things got real. When I started thinking about MakerEdNZ in those terms, I got a little more into it and have started work on a variety of angles of it (sneak peek: there's a website in the works, videos being planned, as well as twitter chats and many other ways of sharing) and have started thinking of it on a grander scale. I've literally just sent my application in for that. I'll know in a week (and so will you) whether or not I'll get the support of the amazing innovators at Google to help realize this vision of mine.

The second application I am working on (though mostly completed) is for the CORE education efellows. This will allow me to undertake some action research which will help me make the case for Makerspaces in New Zealand schools (something that would be amazingly helpful in convincing schools and BOTs to help find the space and resources for makerspaces). That application is due next week.

Whether or not I get into both or neither of these amazing programs, this initiative is going ahead full steam (But if you're reading this at Google or CORE right now, don't think that I don't want your help. I think being supported by both of you would really make this idea fly).  So if you're reading this thinking "I'd love to help, but I don't know how I can" leave a message on this post, follow me on twitter (@michaelteacher, @MakerEdNZ or our hashtag #MakerEdNZ), or get ahold of me in another way. We need knowledge, skills and experience, but more importantly we need people who want to make a change and be a part of something amazing. We'll work on the knowledge, skills and experience together. 

So why do this? What's the point of makerspaces. New Zealand education is fine you say. I have to disagree. Not to be disrespectful, but in my experience, way too many students have become disengaged with their education, right from the beginning. The looks on their faces when they are forced to sit still and listen is painful to me as a teacher (and yes, I know this is not the case everywhere, but it is in a lot of places). The lack of a chance for students to be creative and to make things is scary. Busy work and worksheets reign supreme in some schools and many students are left feeling like school is a prison, waiting excitedly for the end of the day and the weekends. Incidentally, as my students have been given more opportunities to make and create, the "Is it lunch yet?" questions have since been replaced with me trying to kick my students out of the classroom at playtimes. Is this not what we should all aspire to: students who actually want to be in school. 

It is absolutely imperative in 2016 that we listen to the voices of our students. What do they want to learn? What skills do they want to try? We need to provide opportunities for students to learn a variety of skills (or just learn how to learn new skills) and expose them to technologies - old and new - that they wouldn't normally get exposed to. We can do better for our students. Would we want to be a student in our own classrooms?

MakerEdNZ has the practical goal of making makerspaces available to all New Zealand students, but the aspirational goal of making every student wake up in the morning and want to go to school to work on their projects. 

In writing this, I've also come up with a great new slogan for MakerEdNZ:

MakerEdNZ. Making students want to stay in class during play time, since 2016

TAP Lab Visit #2

Once again, this past Wednesday I made my out to Te Atatu Peninsula Makerspace for their weekly meetup. I wanted to a) learn more about using Arduino (specifically sensors), b) potentially figure out what's wrong with my mBot and c) continue to build a relationship with people who actual know how to run and organize a makerspace so that I have some real-world experts to help with MakerEdNZ.

Overall it was a pretty good evening. Though the weather was bad there were a good number of people who could help me figure some things out. It was nice being in a room of problem solvers - people who will try different things to figure stuff out. With some help I set up a photoresistor sensor on the Arduino board to check for light. We had a good discussion on what the results actually meant (I was getting high numbers when it was dark and low numbers when it was light, which was confusing to me).

The subject of my non-working mBot came up as well. Another person there helped me use their mBot to try connecting it via the 2.4GHZ connection. It worked reasonably well and I was able to explore a little bit about the sensors on the mBot. It was good because while I was doing so, I was able to imagine in my head how these lessons and ideas could be put to use in a classroom or makerspace (and now I have some skills to work with as well).  The unfortunate part was that when I went to school the next day, I was unable to get the mBot working completely, so there must be some other issue. So there will be a visit #3 coming up soon (I've signed up to go next week and the week after, but we'll see if I can actually make those days). 

Anyone interested in makerspaces or joining us for #MakerEdNZ, I'd suggest visiting a community makerspace and see what they do. Everyone I've met has been very friendly and extremely willing to help. You can find lots of those on Meetup.

Building a Community Vibe with Karakia

Earlier this year, an RTLB working with one of my students suggested we start a daily Karakia to help make the student she was working with more comfortable in the classroom. I was keen but hesitant (what with the religious connotations and all). Being a foreigner in New Zealand, I do think it's important to learn about the unique cultural history and customs of my newly adopted country. I wanted to strike a balance between doing so and not having students pray in school. I waffled on this idea for a while but a few months ago I spent some time and researched some karakia that are commonly used in schools that had no religious connotations. I ended up finding a few good ones, so I actually made a morning version and an end of day version. We've been doing this for so long now that we've memorized both of them.

I cannot claim that one thing caused the other, but since we've been doing this, I have sensed a feeling of community within my classroom. I do feel that this has made my students more comfortable in class and it has added some structure to our day. A way to start and end it. All in all, it's a small effort that can potentially have very positive outcomes. I recommend that every New Zealand teacher try this (you can even use the ones I've borrowed off of the Internet).

Educamp Auckland

This past Saturday, I attended Educamp Auckland at Aorere College. I was quite nervous because, though I had attended two Educamps previously, this was the first I was going to stand up and share (though, I guess I did share at Sparkshop, but that was slightly different).

The nervousness turned out to be unnecessary, as everyone was amazingly supportive of me and what I was sharing. I guess I have become accustomed to people shooting me down and trying to get me to stop sharing.

I ended up having two sessions out of the three, which was good, but it also meant that I missed out on what a lot of other people were sharing. Though, the conversations are the best part (for me, at least) and I had lots of those.

It was also the first time where I publicly talked about my pet project: #MakerEdNZ. No doubt I will be sharing more of this along the journey, but suffice it to say, I was also overwhelmed by the support I got from many of my twitter friends (I guess they are real-life friends now). If anyone is interested in what this might be (i.e. if you know or want to know about makerspaces) please follow @MakerEdNZ on twitter (or me) and information will be coming out soonish (and probably another post on here as well - when I get caught up).

I did get a number of takeaways from the unconference. The first is (and I can't say it's the first time I've realized this) that I can easily go a bit too fast when sharing what I know. This is something for me to work on (but hey, I'll likely get a chance each of the next three weekends, so there's that).

I also have a few twitter chats planned with other people. It's amazing how quickly things can happen when you're in the right company. I'm excited and a bit nervous for this, but looking forward to both of those opportunities.

It was also a really great experience (going back to #MakerEdNZ) to give others a chance to spend some time doing some STEAM activities. I brought some copper tape, LEDs and batteries to make paper circuits. This is part of what I want Maker Ed NZ to be doing, so it was a good first step (though I wish I would have gotten some more pictures for the twitter account.

Steaming ahead with #STEAM #educampAKL @mrs_hyde @DianaWilkes @michaelteacher pic.twitter.com/4j0oNmST0E

— Caroline Bush (@CaroBush) July 30, 2016

If anyone reading this has never heard of an educamp, I strongly urge you to go to one (educampBOP is this weekend). Thanks to Jackie Allen and Stuart Kelly for all their organization of the day. Was definitely a positive way to spend my Saturday!

TAP Lab Visit

Last night I went to the Te Atatu Penisula Community Center where they have an awesome makerspace to learn about Arduino. I heard about this through meetup. The idea was that anyone interested in Arduino could get a crash course in the basics, even if they didn't know anything about it.

Some of this may be too technical for some, but keep on reading for my thoughts on makerspaces in general.

I figured that since I want to get students making robots (at some point), I'd better learn myself. There were a good number of people there and I was given help in a small group of 4 people. We were taught how to just use the Arduino to light up an LED using both parallel and series circuits. Then we got the chance to experiment with coding some LEDs to blink and to fade. While not completely earth shattering stuff, it was a good first step with not only the physical setup of the Arduino and breadboards, but also with the coding for Arduino.

As I have been slowly sharing with people, one of the things I'm attempting to do at the moment is to actually organize the maker educators in New Zealand, so this visit was also a good way of networking with other people, outside of schools, who have knowledge. In an long discussion with some of the regulars afterwards I was able to get a good idea of what is out there in New Zealand at the moment (a growing number of makerspaces for adults, along with a network connecting them - but still a lack of organized network for school, something which I'm prepared to start - Maker Ed NZ, which is quickly or slowly becoming my pet project).

I'll be writing more about makerspaces and why I think they are important and necessary in schools later, but I did want to share what I did and what I learned. Here's a short video of the LED lights I was able to get to blink in an alternating manner.

CS4PS (Or My First Trip to the South Island)

I recently made the trip down to Christchurch (which incidentally was my first time on the South Island after living in New Zealand for 4+ years) for a Computer Science for Primary School course put on by some amazing educators from the University of Canterbury.

A major focus of the course was using Scratch to code. We talked about learning both coding and about using coding to teach other subjects. The things I learned in two days absolutely have blown my mind with respect to coding in the classroom, as well as the possible uses of Scratch.

We started off the two-day event by discussing (and completing) several unplugged activities to teach computational thinking (because that's what coding is about, NOT the computers). We learned about binary and how to represent numbers with only ones and zeroes. We did a massive activity which pretty much led us to writing codes with musical notes. We also discussed ways in which computers verify data (through ideas such as parity - see the Error Correction activity in the below link) and how data can be transferred through the Internet securely (hint: it travels through the web three times, instead of once). A lot of these activities can be found on http://csunplugged.org/.

Then came the chance to actually get programming with Scratch. Up until now, I've always looked at Scratch as a way to 1) make games and 2) tell stories. Though I have had some coding experience (FORTRAN in my first year of University, some JavaScript course on Khan Academy and lots of HTML coding), I never put 1 and 1 together. Well, I finally figured out what the 2 is. The following are some programs I made for activities we did this week as well as some programs that I might use in the near future (i.e. next week when I go back to class). Some of these came from direct problems - i.e. can you make a program that takes such and such info and tells you this and that result. Some of the challenges involved using only a small number of blocks. The programs are down in the order I made them, so you can see the evolution of what I've learned (keep in mind, this was over two days!).

Debugging is also an important skill that we discussed. The idea here is that no code will be perfect when first written, so we need to be able to go through our code in various ways to check that it does what we want it to do. There are many different ways to check. When using variables you can show them or you can have them said at certain parts of the way. All cases should be tested for to see if all cases work (boundary cases are specifically important). We got to do a quiz on this and I ended up winning some parity magnets for the efforts of my team.

These ideas will likely be the basis of the upcoming digital technologies curriculum in New Zealand, so this is a great way to get started. Computer Science doesn't need to be an add-on to our current curriculum, it can fit in nicely with everything we are already doing.

A side note: This was apparently the first Google-sponsored CS4PS in the world! It's definitely a great idea and should be repeated over and over for as many teachers as possible.

GEGNZ Sparkshop!

This past Saturday, I attended the first (I think) ever GEGNZ Sparkshop at Ormiston Primary School. Over the last few weeks and months, I've slowly started becoming someone who shares a lot, and it seemed like a good idea to come to this prepared to share.

Smorgasbord
The conference (or rather, unconference) started with a smorgasbord of ideas that people voted on. I put two ideas in. The first was sharing mystery hangouts (or skypes, depending on where your loyalty lies) by myself. The second was a collaboration with Angela Lee on makerspaces and robots.

I was pretty much the first person to share and it was quite nerve-racking to go up first, especially since I was trying to sell what I was sharing. I spoke quickly and tried not to be too imposing. I think I do give off a very nervous air, but that's ok.  It was then a lot of sitting and listening to other people share their ideas before we voted.

When all was said and done, both of my ideas were booked into places to share. I figured they might be. I'm not being full of myself, but they were interesting things. Luckily I was in the last two sessions, so I had a chance to go check out another session while I fretted away.

Forms (Sarah Allen, from Riverhills)

My one and only session that I participated in the audience was based around using Google Forms. This is something that I've done a lot lately, so I figured I might get some new pointers (there's always something new to learn) or at the very minimum be able to contribute something.

Among other new ideas, we were introduced to Poll Everywhere, a very quick way to get feedback from students and to get them to share. Like other tools (padlet comes to mind) it has some specific uses, but it was also extremely useful in that it can embed into slides (unlike so many other things).

We discussed reasons for gathering student voice (none of which were really earth shattering, but it's important to note that I do think it's important for a variety of reasons - I wouldn't be focusing changing my practice towards increasing this if I didn't), and also wondered whether or not Kahoot! can do similar things (I'm going to try this at some point in the near future).

We discussed various other uses of forms and some add-ons to use. I particularly liked the add-ons Choice Eliminator and Email Confirmation (it may be called something else).

A random idea that came up in the discussion (I actually brought it up) was to use a form to make a choose your own adventure story. I actually got so excited about this that on Sunday I went home and started making an example so we can do it as a class in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to write about that.

MakerSpaces

Next up was my joint presentation with Angela. We shared a few makerspace ideas, but in the end, it was the robots that were the most popular. Several other attendees loved playing with my Dash and Dot (I may, in fact, be one of the only - if not the only - classrooms in New Zealand that have these robots). I think Wonder Workshop may owe me a bit because I'm pretty sure I've convinced some people to buy them. I'd like some more myself.

We did have a lot more out - Squishy Circuits and Makey Makeys. The circuits got some attention, but I was naturally drawn to the robots and I think a lot of people followed me. I guess people can easily get overwhelmed.

Mystery Hangouts

The crowd for my second presentation was much smaller (6 people) but it was nice to have an intimate setting. I briefly talked about how a mystery hangout works and then we practiced it. I quite enjoyed watching adults have a go at figuring out different strategies for guessing. I think I sold the idea to them though as at least one had already booked a call for the week coming up!

Here's the slideshow I shared during that presentation (in case anyone else wants to try it).

All in all it was a good day. I had lots of interesting conversations about coding and got to know some more people (though to be honest, it's getting to the point where a lot of people know and remember me, but I can't remember them - at least I'm pretty good with faces, but it could make for an awkward meeting in the future. If you're reading this, I have't forgotten you on purpose, I'm sorry).

I do enjoy this presenting thing, though I do sometimes feel like I don't actually know what I'm talking about (ok, I don't actually know) but I think that's part of it. I don't ever want to feel like the expert, but rather I want to constantly be learning an improving.

That being said, apparently I've been included on a proposal for part of the pre-conference things (I think?) at ULearn this year. Should be fun.

Teachers: We can be Introverts as Well!

Most people who have known me for a while will probably think that I'm an extrovert. But that's not the truth. I'm definitely an introvert and exhibit all the signs that one would expect: shy in new situations, I don't like crowds (or small talk) and I enjoy (and need to) spend time by myself to recharge and decompress.

Every now and then, I see another article about introverted people and how others can understand us more. The one thing that has always stuck in my mind was that while extroverts get their energy from interactions with others, introverts spend a lot of energy when interacting with others. This is definitely something that happens with me. As a teacher, this can present a lot of challenges (I have 26 students who take LOADS of energy out of me on a daily basis).

I recently found this article, by John Spencer, Re-imagining School for Introverted Teachers. The articles shares several ways in which schools can support those of us who are introverts. I do find it hard when school leaders or managers ask me to go to the staff room. Often, my dislike for that trip is misunderstood. I need lots of time to recharge and spending time with adults in my 10 or 20 minutes of break. That recharge time makes me a better teacher.

My introvertedness also affects how I can best deal with students. There is tons of talk about finding the best way that students learn, but rarely do people talk about the best way for teachers to teach. We are all different and should be allowed to show our strengths in the classroom. I'm personally trying to find that balance between what's best for everyone (a lot of MLE/ILE spaces can help with this, though unfortunately, we are in a limited space for a few more weeks).

There are also a lot of issues around nervousness (I've been called a worry wart several times, but different principals) and a lot of times my motives are questioned. I often feel that I'm put on the spot and not allowed to explore things. This creates a lot of stress and makes it harder for me to be effective.

So what do I do with all this knowledge (that I'm not alone). Well, it gives me a way to start discussing the issues with leadership and to explain what works best for me. I'm hopeful that given this perspective, it might help others support me in a way that allows me to grow.

Educamp Science

Introduction
This Saturday morning, I woke up early to run so that I could go to the first Educamp Science unconference. Luckily for me, it was local, so I was able to enjoy the sunshine before the conference. Having been a chemistry major before I went into education, science has always been something I enjoy. I got to meet several of my twitter friends early in the day and there were lots of choices for breakout sessions.

Data Logging with Stuart Hale
The first breakout session I went to was about Data Logging. The first bit of the talk was about using pictures, since they are a large part of collecting data in science. Stuart showed us how to share between devices when no wifi is available (through airplay on the iPads) as well as showing us how you can use a loupe (a magnifying glass for jewellers, if I'm not mistaken) to make a really cheap digital microscope. In fact, I was able to find loupes online for even less than what he shared. All you need beyond that is some blue tack.

Another neat thing he showed us with the iPads is to use the built in Time Lapse feature on the camera app. You can put it on things, such as leaves, construction sites (I'm trying that now in class, with the builders behind our room), tides, etc to see how things change over time.  He suggested putting a sticker in the corner of the iPad where the camera is, to help children who might put their finger in front of the lens.

Digital Microscope with Wooden Blocks as a Stand

He then went on to show us some really cool things that iPads can do. Most iPads have the ability to measure things such as vibrations (a seisometer), magnetism (telsameter) and acceleration (accelerometer). These things can be use to make graphs and conduct scientific investigations (he used an iPad to test what makes a bike ride smoother as well as to see how to make sturdy buildings).

On top of that, there are loads of sensors that can be purchased (temperature, movement, etc) that can be used to make graphs. PASCO was the company he suggested, though I imagine, a quick internet search will provide other, cheaper options.

Fischertechnik Makerspace with Jacqui Kao

The next session I went to showed us about some makerspace tools that you could use. The company that makes them is called Fischertechnik. They have reusable parts, which can be really useful in a classroom or for companies that don't want to spend money on something that might fail and be very expensive.

During the presentation, there was an interesting discussion on buying kits vs. buying parts to make things with. Both have things that can make using them prohibitive. Kits can be quite expensive, BUT buying parts can be a very daunting task for someone who is just learning how to use these things in a classroom. It was a good discussion, but I think the answer is a lot more grey than it is black or white.

An interesting website was shared during this presentation, that I hope to look at later: Thingiverse. The site contains a lot of pre-designed things (for lack of a better word) that can be printed out using a 3D printer.


Maker Spaces with Chris Clay & Mark Mack

The last session I went to was a discussion about maker spaces and maker clubs.  One of the teachers from Elim shared with us a project one of his students completed: a word clock. The student came and they discussed the process and challenges they faced in making it. The one student alone put about 60 or 70 hours into the project (which was quite impressive, as shown below). One thing that did come out of this discussion was that the original club had a lot of members and they all were working on the same project. Over time, the numbers dwindled until it was just the one boy who ended up finishing it. The teacher spoke that perhaps it was too difficult of a project to START with (not that it was too hard, there is a difference). So, big ideas are great, but aim for them one small step at a time.

Then Chris Clay (of Mind Lab fame, when I was in their course) spoke about making robots out of recycled materials which could cost less than $25. He uses Arduino boards and imports most of his parts from China (like I've started doing recently). He showed us several models he had made and discussed the challenges. He is one to keep following for tips about this as he has spent the last few months, testing and prototyping lots of different things and is in the process of helping schools along their journey. He spoke of a new way to program Arduino (I haven't learned the original way yet!) which is much like Scratch.  It's called Snap.

Another thing that Chris (briefly) showed was Lilypad Arduino. I have heard of this before and was considering it. It's a small arduino board that can be sewn into clothing to make wearable technology. I've ordered some of these parts to have a play with so hopefully that will be another post on this blog in the near future.

 Overall, it was an interesting day. Most of the things we talked about I had some knowledge of, but each session helped me build on that knowledge and has pushed me even further on my journey. I've got some more confidence to try some new things.

Also, I find that spending time in the real world (as opposed to the virtual world of twitter and blogs) is quite beneficial for my thinking process. People share ideas, ask questions and challenge me. I'll definitely keep attending more of these unconferences!

GAFE Summit 2016: First Presentation, Eek!

During the first two days of the school holidays (well, 3rd and 4th) I went with 4 Pak Heights Colleagues to the GAFE Summit at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. It was a very busy two days for me: not only was I going there to learn some new things, but I was also going there to present - twice!

It had been a year since I first went to a summit like this, and it was very different this year. It felt like I was on the other side. Since I went last year I've attended ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia, completed my Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Level 2 course and have tried so many new things I can't even remember all of them. Though I definitely don't consider myself an expert, I do feel like I've moved closer to the cutting edge of what is happening in schools. I'm not quite on the tip, but definitely getting there.

So most of the things being presented were not new things to me. I chose the presentations I did not because I wanted to learn fresh things, but because I wanted more detail on them. The first presentation was all about Genius Hour (20% time, Passion Projects). I heard this idea last year and got some good tips at ISTE and absolutely fell in love with the idea. In practice, it kind of fizzled and there was no end to projects (probably the result of me trying to do too much, too soon). But I was able to get some good ideas through this presentation and will be bringing it back to my students for next term. It's absolutely imperative that my students get to try this in term 2. That way when we fail, we can do it the right way in terms 3 and 4 :D

I later went to a presentation on Google Cardboard and using Street View in the classroom to see different things. At this point, I'm storing this info in the back of my brain. It has potential, but at the moment I'll let it go. I do have two cardboards and my phone, so no doubt it will make an appearance in my classroom this term (I'm thinking I can show them my house back in Canada).

During the last session of the first day all of the PHS teachers went to a workshop on using stop motion on chromebooks. It was fantastic. I've always been a fan of stop motion and have used it as a learning tool previously. Now that I know how to do this without the iPads, I'm sure I'll be using this for a few different things. I just need to make some playdough (or get the students to do it!) so that we have some more things we can use.

The next day started with a talk about using CS First to do coding. I've already started setting that up. I went to a Code Club Aotearoa meeting last term, so this is something of a priority. I'm going to start in week 2, to give me some time to sort the details out and get students interested (which also helps me earn my money as eLearning Leader). There's not much else to say here, but the lessons are super easy to follow - you don't need to be a coding expert. There will definitely be more on my blog about this.

The next session I went to was all about the things you could do with Google Drawings. There were several of these at the conference. Funny enough, I have started using these a bit more recently. So the timing is good. We were given a lot of examples of ways to use Google Drawings. Very impressive list, though a bit fast. I'll definitely be trying to use some of these ideas in class (I've been having some fun with my own lately - see my last post).

The final session I went to was about BreakoutEDU (LINK!!!). Having done some escape rooms in the past, I really like this concept. The actual session was difficult because we had too many people, but I would be interested to see it in class. And guess what? A friend of mine has bought and put some kits together (It's all open source) and has offered to come to my class next week to give it a go - so exciting!

The biggest change for me this year, though, was actually presenting. I was very nervous about this. I guess it's hard for me to think that anyone actually wants to listen to what I've got to say or try my ideas in their own classrooms (hmmm, I wonder where I got that idea from?). The first presentation I did was on spreadsheets. I may have gone a bit fast through some things, but the audience was very polite to me. I got some good questions and some good feedback. I tried pretty hard to give attendees something to do and it wasn't a complete disaster, so that's good.

The next day I was presenting on my Math Problem Solving with Google Slides. Wow! There were probably about 80 people there. I definitely improved my delivery, but I get nervous easily still. I got a bit muddled in the order I shared stuff (forgot to talk about the context of how I do the lessons), but for the most part this went well. No one wanted to share when they did their problem solving, but I was alright. I was smarter this time and prepared a form for feedback, some of which was helpful (never thought I'd be told I was too quiet!), so I can improve next time.

I think the biggest thing I got out of presenting was that I need to keep the participants active. My favourite presentations were the ones where I got to do something (Coding, Stop Motion, BreakoutEDU). It made me think of what I would do for next year. Not sure who is reading this so I'm not going to spill the beans, but I've got a fantastic idea. Will have a go at practicing that at some other events in the near future.

Another, subtle thing that happened here was that, as a presenter, I got to go to the presenters dinner. It was very good to get out there and meet some people who are the ones shaking things up at a bigger level. I think I hope to be among them one day - maybe not doing exactly what they do, but being on their level. Again, big plans, but keeping some of those to myself.

Introduction

Welcome to my professional learning blog.

Introduction

My name is Michael Davidson. I'm a child of the (early) 80s who grew up in Canada. Besides being a teacher, I was and am still trying to be an above average runner. I've now lived in New Zealand for just over 4 years.

Education & Experience

After graduating from High School (Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) I spent 3 years at York University in Toronto. After spending that third year in the Faculty of Education, I transferred to the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia where I completed a B.Ed.

Over the next few years I taught in both Seoul, Korea and London, England, teaching students from Kindergarten to Year 6. After my visa ran out in England, I moved to New Zealand and found work here. While in New Zealand, I was part of the inaugural Mind Lab Postdegree Certificate program (Digital and Collaborative Learning). I have also recently completed online courses with Google and am a Google Certified Teacher (Level 2).

Past

This is not my first professional blog, but the last one was not very good and wasn't really for me - it was for my old school. For the purposes of sharing the whole journey, you can find that site here.

Purpose of Blog

The purpose of this blog will be threefold: 1) to share what I've done with interested parties, 2) to reflect on things that I've tried (when I've got time to actually do those reflections) and 3) to tick some boxes so that I can renew my registration when it comes up. Hopefully I can focus on the first two more than the 3rd, but let's be honest, that 3rd one makes sure I can keep on eating and sleeping under a roof :)

Watch this space for some entries in the next few days to get me going...