Finding A Teacher/Maker Balance #MakerEd #EdChat

Feeling pretty good today. Another moment to sit and think about stuff. I know, super specific right? I've been thinking about my Maker journey lately. I've been so busy with teaching, grading, and travel, I have not had time to dive into some Maker projects that have been sitting in my workspace for a few weeks. It can be a bit frustrating not working on things you are excited to Make, but that is part of the full-time teacher deal.

I'm still getting tons of great feedback from people all over the world who have purchased my book. It is very humbling to hear from someone from the UK that has loved my book and it has inspired them to create a space for their students. However, I feel like a bit of a fraud when I have not had much time to support more own making our the Makerspace because of papers to grade, projects to assess, etc. I get stressed when I do not have the time I want to commit to helping every student that wants help. I'm not sure if this is a normal feeling for others, but I also do not know how many other educators are full time HS teachers trying to balance an awesome learning environment in the classroom for 150 students and an environment for Making in a high school of over 1600.

I feel the obligation for the students that sit in my class, but I also built a Makerspace for students to connect and pursue things that matter to them. Have I failed because I can't do both at the level I feel is needed? Is this just a normal part of being a teacher that does as much as they can to support learning? It's frustrating.

Life is about balance and I'm committed to finding the balance that will allow me to support the Making culture in the school and the learning environment in my classroom. It's a lofty goal, but I feel like it is a worthy one because of the positive impact it can have on students.

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick

GIF Camera Fun #MakerEd

For those who have been harrassed on my Twitter feed with tons of random GIFs, here is the post that explains what I was doing for the past couple of weeks.

In a recent edition of MAKE:, I saw this really cool project for a GIF Camera using a Raspberry Pi Zero. You can find all of the details for that project here. It took me a few hours to wire everything up, but it was pretty easy to do with the soldering skills I've picked up over the past few projects.

A photo posted by Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) on Jan 15, 2017 at 8:43pm PST

I used my Dremel 3D40 to make the case for the camera. I have a spool of glow in the dark filament that I thought would be fun to use for this project.

A photo posted by Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) on Jan 15, 2017 at 7:00am PST

I had fun with my camera and posted a few GIFs of students being silly.

Taken with a Nerdy Pi GIF Camera #MakerEd pic.twitter.com/ubYHMBZjMs

— Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) January 17, 2017

I started to tinker with the idea that it might be cool to add different lenses to the camera, but I could not find anything that would just clip over the camera lens the way I needed. So, I started designing.

A photo posted by Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) on Jan 21, 2017 at 11:36am PST

I designed over and over again and used the Dremel 3D40 to print many different prototypes until I finally found the right size for everything.

A video posted by Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) on Jan 22, 2017 at 8:55am PST

Here is a link to my Tinkercad file and here is the lens kit I bought from Amazon.

This was just another fun project that would be great to bring into your Makerspace. Total cost without the lens kit is around $50. The most expensive piece was the Pi Camera. You can tons of fun with the design of the case and hack that as needed and possibly add other features for more advanced makers. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll reach out.

Hack The Book Contest! #MakerEd #EdChat

So many amazing people have reached out and shared how much they love "Your Starter Guide to Makerspaces" over the past week. It has really blown my mind. I love hearing how people have connected to the pop culture nerdiness of the book. My favorite part of the book is where I ask people to Make. This is what I really want to see from people that have bought my book. I thought a fun way to encourage people to share their Maker awesomeness is to create a little contest. The winner will receive a brand new autographed copy of "Your Starter Guide to Makerspaces" and a Raspberry Pi 3*! Here are the guidelines for the contest.

On page 90 of the book I wrote,

"Hack this book! I want you to think of a way to use this book in a way that I never conceived. This can be something crazy or something tiny and simple, but I want you to stretch your hacking muscles in fun and creative ways."

Once you have hacked your book, you need to do 4 things:

1. Take a picture and share it on Twitter and/or Instagram.

2. Tag me in the picture (@TheNerdyTeacher on Twitter and TheNerdyTeacher on Instagram).

3. Add the hashtag #ImAMaker and #MakerEd

4. Share a link to my book on Amazon.

For those who bought the Kindle version, you can show me a cool hack using your device and that would count as well.

You can enter more than once if you have come up with multiple ways to Hack The Book! The best Hack will win the Raspberry Pi 3 and the signed copy of my book.

The contest will end on Sunday October 30th, so get hacking!

Thanks for everyone that has shared their Making stories with me so far and I can't wait to see the great things all of you are going to do over the next few weeks.

Happy Making!

Nick

*Raspeberry Pi does not endorse this contest, I just thought it would be a cool prize to give to a budding Maker. 

Making with @littleBits Arduino Kit #MakerEd

I've been having some fun with the littleBits Arduino Kit the past couple of days. I've had some experience using Arduino for smaller projects, but I had never used it with littleBits before. I wasn't sure how this would all go together, but I'm pretty pumped with what I was able to come up with after I got the hang of the code.

The first project I wanted to create was a random number generator to select students in class. The concept was pretty straightforward, but I could not get the code working.

With this setup, I wanted to click the button and have the code run and give me a random number. It makes sense in my head, but it did not make sense to the bits. The button placed here controlled the power. A quick push only gave a quick dose of power. My project was never going to work. I had to make one simple switch to solve this problem. 

It was not my code, it was the button. Ugh. Now I can press the button and have a random number appear on the number bit. The number bit is not part of the standard Arduino Kit from littlebits, so you would need to get this bit from another kit or purchase it separate. You can find the entire project on the littleBits site.

My next project uses only the bits in the Arduino Kit and I think it is a fun way to show whether or not you are in the office or if a kid has left the room with a pass.

The code for this one was very simple. It was just using the Button Code found on littleBits. The servo turned on its own and the light is powered by the button. You can find the entire project here. 

It has been nice to sit down and start making with something fun. It has been a crazy few weeks where I have travelled and talked to other educators about the importance of Making, but I have not had much time to make. Sitting down and working on these two projects caused a little stress, but I was filled with such happiness when I figured them out and could share them with others. 

I hope others will get out there and make some fun things with littleBits or anything you can get your hands on. 

Hugs and High Fives!

Nick

My New Book: Your Guide to Makerspaces #MakerEd

I am so very excited to announce my new book to the world today.

The Nerdy Teacher Presents: Your Guide to Makerspaces. 

I've spent a few months putting together everything I have learned during my Maker adventures and wanted to share all of it with anyone looking to start their own Makerspace escapades at their school.

I was originally going to self publish this on Kindle and see where it goes, but two amazing people, AJ Juliani and John Spencer, reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be the first author to sign up with their new publishing company BLEND Education. After talking about my vision of the book and how they could support me, I signed up and they have helped me make an awesome book a little more awesomer. :-)

We are currently working on the formatting, layout, design, etc. of the book and we should have it all done by the start of September. This will be a physical copy of the book I've been thinking about doing for a year and am excited to go through the process of bringing it to life. As a small appetizer, I'm releasing the first chapter of the book to those that might be interested to see where I'm going with this book. By signing up below, you will be sent an email with the PDF of Chapter 1. You will receive updates, Maker tips and tricks, and other Makerspace goodies leading up to the launch of the book.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted this book to look and feel. I thought about the fancy art that I could get people to make for me on the cover and in the book. However, I wanted to make every aspect I could in this Makerspace book. I might not be considered the best artist in the world, but I do not care. I knew what I wanted to do and and I did it. So, I created all of the art and I will be encouraging every Maker that picks up my book to mark it up and make it their own. I want you to draw on the cover and doodle in the margins. I will give you space to share your ideas and reflect on Making in your life. This is truly going to be your book as you go on your Makerspace journey.

The book is bursting with nerdy pop culture references from start to finish. You do not have to be the biggest nerd in the world to get my connection to Star Wars, Battletoads, McGyver, or Buffy Summers, but you will get an extra giggle or three out of the book when you see them. Since I do not have money to license images, my artistic interpretations of some of the references are simply beautiful.

Nerd or not, the book is filled with everything you need to know about Makerspaces and bringing them to your school no matter what grade level or content area you might teach.

Feel free to share this with your friends and look for the rest of the book in physical form in early September.