WOW!! I am not sure
where to begin. When I saw the
assignments and things in week 1, I wasn’t sure what I had really gotten myself
into. And how was I going to be able to
make it through this class while being a first-year classroom teacher, a mom,
and a student all at the same time? Somehow, I have done it and that is
exciting. I knew very little about circuit
building and absolutely nothing about the coding and programming part of a
circuit. I was worried about the code
part to make the circuit work; I knew that the actual building might have
challenges but that I would be able to put it together. I love puzzles and to me, the building of the
circuits was a puzzle.
As I went back through my blog posts I can see I was
someone who each week was able to put the circuit together faster and more
accurately and have less need to move or change parts. I can also see that I learned more about
coding and what it means than I thought, even though I know I can still learn
so much and that would allow me to be able to do better, more creative
circuits. I also saw that I was able to
explain in more detail what was happening in the circuits, which is still
surprising to me. I learned that I
started to doubt myself less and less and the weeks went on. The build that I am most proud of is the
Electronic Die one since I was able to figure out how to get the pieces in and
what all the pieces I needed were, and then I was able to put a code together
that would make the build show numbers 1 through 6 likes on a die.
There is a lot that I learned from this class that I didn’t
know before since I came in with very little knowledge of circuits and
coding. I learned how to put circuits
together, why resistors are needed, more about positive and negative, about
different pieces that can be added to the breadboard to help control the
circuit, and I learned that the breadboard is called the breadboard. I learned about the Arduino and its
importance in the circuit. All of these
things were learned through reading and understanding the code parts and the
builds, as well as tinkering with the builds and codes. Hands-on with visuals is what helps me to
really understand what it is I am supposed to be learning. I will also say that my classmates were a
huge part of my learning from them helping to explain why my circuit wasn’t
working to the way they wrote their blogs.
I found reading my classmates blogs helped expand my knowledge as did
reading all the discussion posts and comments.
What did I learn about myself? Well, first I learned that tinkering with a
build and then trying to change codes really made everything come together
better. Next, I learned or relearned
that I am not a person who likes to give up on something because it doesn’t
work. But that there are times that I
just need to walk away for a little while and come back to it to allow myself
to process what was going on. Most of
the time when I did this, I was able to figure out my problem and things
working. Finally, learned that I need to
be less stubborn and ask for help when I am struggling and that it is okay to
ask for help. As I read back through my
words, I saw myself telling myself that failing is okay and that it is all a
part of the makers' mindset. I also
noticed that I was telling myself to take the time to really understand things and that researching to really understand was going to help my knowledge be
stronger and better.
My challenges in this class were not fully understanding
what I was doing or what the codes meant at the beginning. I started out just following the builds that
were given to me and not trying to understand what was happening. Once I realized I needed to do this then
things started to make more sense and I was able to slowly understand what was
happening. I wouldn’t say the challenges
completely changed over time but that as new coding words were brought in, I
would again struggle to understand what they meant, sometimes even after
researching and trying to understand them.
As I move forward as a maker, I look forward to tinkering
with the Arduino some more and exploring coding options that I can use in my
classroom. I will also be reaching out
to my campus instructional technologist to see what ideas she has for coding
with the class and how I can integrate that into my classroom. I would also like to talk to her about being
some We Do Kits and use them to see if this is something that could be used as
an after-school club next year. I would also
like to explore 3D printing and see how I can use that with my class to
have them show me their learning. We
have 3 or 4 3D printers at my school and I would love to have my class use them
if possible, this year.
I would have to say that is class has reminded me what my
own students feel like when they don’t understand directions or the content and
I expect them to go off and work. It has
opened my eyes and made me remember it is all a learning process. And it has reminded me that nothing is beyond
my ability to understand, if there is enough research, determination, and will
power to gain knowledge.
