[Notes from a session at the National Writing Project Annual Meeting]
[Presented by Rachel Bear, Joe Dillon, Peter Kittle, Kylie Peppler, K-Fai Steele]
How might hanging out, socializing, and creating lead to more interest-driven composition?
Theory of action for #clmooc:
If we..
- foreground making and playing
- welcome (and keep welcoming) all corners
- encourage a range of makes
- affirm all participation, even lurking
- distribute leadership and "authority"
- emphasize reflection through writing
- decentralize where activities take place across platforms
- use Connected Learning principles as a lens or framework for reflection
Then we..
- model open-networked professional learning
- facilitate emergent learning
- facilitate conniptions across networks and digital spaces
- learn about CL principles by enacting and embodying them
- support educators in using digital tools to explore making (including writing) as learning
Table options:
1. Writing how-to guides
2. Meme-making
3. Spark-fun: DIY flashlight to do shadow puppetry play (an to understand how electronics work)
4. Recycling/repurposing electronics to create electronic creatures
5. Remix games: Take the parts and make something new/New rules
Short Circuits: Crafting e-Puppets with DIY Electronics (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning) by Kylie Peppler et al.
Link: http://amzn.com/0262027836
Make, Write, Compose, Create!
http://bit.ly/1Bqvp3K
Underlying purpose is systems thinking:
-Seeing the world as interconnected components and interconnected systems
-Small changes in a system can make it work or not work
Big ideas in systems thinking:
1. Identify systems
2. Use language that reveals a system's characteristics and function
3. Make systems visible
4. Seek out common system patterns
Part 1:
Step 1: Can you make you LED light up? Can you add another LED? Another yet?
[Apparently polarity matters for LED lights. + side of battery must connect to the + side of the
Step 2: Can you add a switch into your system? Partner with someone to try to figure out how to make it work.
Step 3: Can you add a potentiometer to your circuit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer
What does it do?
[It acts as a dimmer]
Step 4: Can you add BOTH a switch AND a potentiometer to your circuit?
Step 5: Poke holes in cardstock, keeping all of the + sides together. Check: Do your lights still light up? Add your potentiometer and switch to another piece of card stock. Cut 4 pieces of wire to replace the alligator clips.
Step 6: Finish your flashlight
[It was supposed to look like this:]
Part 2:
Draw the diagram of your flashlight. Be sure to label your diagram with all of the components and note the behaviors of each component.
Part 3:
Use your DIY flashlight along with previously learned storytelling techniques to create a collaborative performance employing play and shadow puppetry techniques.
1. Research how you can use shadows to tell a story
2. Design your shadow story (script, make lists, etc.)
3. Make simple shadow puppets
4. Perform the shadow play
5. Reflect:
-What are the important components needed to tell a story with shadows?
-How could a change to any of the components make a change to the story?
-What systems did you notice within the shadow plays?
