We Are Demon Slayers #EdChat

It's hard not to write that title and not think of my favorite Demon Slayer, Buffy. However, as a teacher, I've come to realize that I've been slaying demons for years.

After 15 years of teaching, I've had students come to me with their demons. These could be minor issues of fights with friends, but they have included more serious issues of self harm and sexual assault. No matter what the issue, I have to be ready to slay those demons.

As teachers, we all do.

When you fight demons long enough, you do end up with scars and you remember the faces of those students you lose. It breaks the heart to think about them, but it gives me to motivation to fight even harder for those that need help now. The demons are frightened of me and they should be. I will continue to fight them and for my students for as long as I'm there.

As the end of the school year approaches, students are going to be stressed over exams or just being at home, away from the safe place teachers have created for them at school. This is when demons can show their ugly faces and teachers need to be armed and ready to fight.

Students count on us when they are lost and when they feel they do not have anyone else. We need to keep reminding students that they can come to us and get the support they need.

Stay vigilant my friends. The students are counting on you and the demons are scared.

Hugs and High Fives,

NP

PS:

Here is a link to MentalHealth.gov if you want some resources to help you slay. 

Having Heart: A Quick Book Recommendation

I have been reading over this interesting book by Timothy K. Kanold called 

Heart!: Fully Forming Your Professional Life As a Teacher and Leader and I wanted to share a couple of things that stood out to me. 

The first chapter is all about happiness. What role does happiness play in our daily lives, what can we do to see the happiness around us, what happens when happiness is gone, and other ideas that we, as teachers, do not stop and think about as much as we should. Sometimes we are so focused on the happiness of our students, we forget to take a look at how we are feeling. 

As you read through the book, there are questions you are asked to consider and they write your thoughts down in the book. I like this because it is asking the reader to fully engage in the book and become part of the process. Each chapter has these spaces and it is wonderful to dive deep into a book and dive deep into your own psyche. 

Another interesting aspect of the book is the piece on Engagement. It asks people to be fully engaged in the moment, not engaged ahead. It was interesting to think about when I reflected on my engagement. Am I truly engaged in the moment or living in the next moment? Are the students fully engaged or are they preparing for something else? 

The book also touches on the energy aspect of engagement. A fully engaged person will be very tired in my experience. I had an amazing class the other day where kids were designing and students were discussing the novel and I was with them every step of the way and I was exhausted by the end of class. My full engagement leaves me a shell of human emotionally and physically. The reflection pieces in this chapter are perfect at getting to the core of your tiredness. 

There is so much more in the book and I would highly recommend picking it up. I'm very happy my friend shared a copy with me and I hope you will read it as well. You will not regret it. 

Hugs and High Fives!

Technology Does Not Magically Make Teaching/Learning Better

There is a myth out there that integrating technology in your classroom makes you a better teacher.

It is important to be clear that there is so much more to technology integration than having students stare at a screen. There are too many people out there that think that teachers want the newest technology because it will automatically make test scores soar and make all students smarter. That is not how it works.

Having access to technology offers opportunity. That is the most important thing that technology brings to a classroom.

It is up to teachers to take the opportunity and see what they can do to transform their classroom. Just having it is the first step, not the only step. The tool is only as useful as the skills of the person using it.

A brand new circular saw could help a craftsman build a house, but a person who has never held one before could loose a digit. While technology integration is less perilous, the concept still applies here. A skilled teacher craftsman is needed to get the most out of the tools they are given to craft the best lessons for the students. Teachers are craftsman and they just want access to the best tools to make their job a little bit easier for everyone involved.

From the student perspective, technology also offers them opportunity. One of the biggest opportunities is great access to information. Digital copies of materials are now readily available for almost everything read in class. Now, just because the story is accessible online, does not mean that they are going to understand it more, but they will have easier access which could allow them to read it more than once or listen to it while they read with text to speech software. It gives students the opportunity to access the information it different ways which can lead to better understanding. Great teachers show students how to get the most out of these opportunities.

Another opportunity for students is demonstrating knowledge. I remember when there were students who had a family video camera and they were able to create the coolest projects with access to this new technology. Students who had the passion for visual storytelling were able to demonstrate understanding using video. There are plenty of new tools released every week that allow students to express their ideas and thoughts on anything they are covering in class. Again, the opportunity to use them is not enough. It is the understanding of how to use these tools effectively that matters most.

What makes a teacher, any teacher, better is using any tool to get the most out of their curriculum and their students. Just having access to the tools is not enough. It is how an educator leverages the tools to create a learning environment where everyone can excel.

- Hugs and High Fives

Raspberry Pi Lunchbox Computer #MakerEd #Make52

I woke up Sunday and thought it would be cool to put a computer inside my lunchbox. I'm not sure the exact reason why I wanted to, but I wanted to. I'm sure I saw something on the Internet about doing this months ago and it worked its way through my subconscious and out of my brain on Sunday morning. 

So, I went downstairs to my basement and my Makerspace and got to work. I grabbed pieces from around my workshop area and realized I had everything I needed. Within a 90 minutes, I had a working Pi powered Lunchbox Computer. It is perfect for my #Make52 Challenge this year. Check out other posts I've made on Instagram for each week of #Make52.

Nerdy Guide:

Parts:

Lunchbox

Raspberry Pi 3

Raspberry Pi Monitor

Rechargeable Battery Pack

Wireless Keyboard

USB Extender

Small Speaker 

Tweezers

Prop

Rope

EXTRA:

Raspberry Pi Camera

Advanced:

Wires

Button

Soldering Iron

Solder

1.You need to find the right size lunchbox that can hold the screen you are going to use. The official Raspberry Pi touch screen is 7 inches. Your lunch box needs to be able to hold a screen that size. The Raspberry Pi is mounted to the back of the monitor and the Pi will be mounted to the inside of the lunchbox door. You need to make sure your screen and Pi connection are not too thick or you will not be able to close the lunchbox. 

2. Plug in the USB extender and mount on the back wall of the lunchbox. This gives you access to USB ports without having to reach into the back of the screen. You can use glue or double sided tape to mount the USB block.

3. Depending on the size of your portable battery, you can mount it just below the USB extender. Mine is long and then and was given to me at a conference. I mounted this with velcro so I can take it out for recharging as needed. Plug the Raspberry Pi directly into the battery and make sure your on button is accessible so you can turn on the Pi. 

4. The speaker is a small portable one I had around the house. It is short enough to give the screen the room it needs and it is charged using the battery. Plug it in to the Pi. I use velcro to keep it in place in the lunchbox. The velcro also allows me to take it out for charging as needed. 

5. The wireless keyboard using a small USB dongle that I plug into the USB extender. I use velcro on the keyboard. 

6. The rope is to keep the lid from falling backwards and the prop is something that can fold up and keep the lid from closing. It needs to be long and thing and have a hinge in the middle. I used Tinkercad to design one for the specific dimensions of my lunchbox. 

7. The tweezers are for loading and unloading the micro sd card. If you do not plan to change out the card, you are fine and can skip the tweezers. I like to swap out the card with a Gaming card to play retro games. 

After that, you now have a Pi powered lunchbox computer. 

Extra:

Before you attach the screen and Pi to the lunchbox, you can add a Raspberry Pi camera and mount it to the top of the screen. This will give you your own selfie station. 

Advanced:

The two wires that I added to the Pi are connected to small button. I ran some code that allows for the button to shutdown the entire system. I tucked it behind the handle of the Raspberry Pi preventing any accidental pushes while working. You need to solder the two wires to the button to the lunchbox, I used glue, and then run the wires along the bottom and then up to the top of the Pi and attach them to the GPIO and GRN pins on the Raspberry Pi. 

If you have any questions, please send me a tweet at @TheNerdyTeacher. If you create your own, please share them on Social and tag me so I can see your cool lunchbox too!

Hugs and High Fives, 

@TheNerdyTeacher