For this post, I am going to go from the end to the beginning of how this happened. I wanted to start out with the interviews that the mentors recorded of the young designers with their completed bubble wands. Please click below to be able to hear different young designers sharing what they learned. Today was the culmination of several weeks of collaborative learning where both 7th and 8th grade designers helped their kinder partners create both their first 3D printed bubble wand as well as an Infusible Ink Bag for each young designer. It was an adventure of learning together.
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These last few weeks have been a serious struggle for me. At times I feel like what I could do and what I am doing are so far misaligned that I become frustrated and question what I do. I am not always able to see what is working when it feels like everything is not working.
In 2021, I started reaching out to my colleagues from my former elementary school because I wanted to continue to build on the technology experiences that I had been doing in my previous role as an Educational Technology Coach at K-5. I wanted to continue to collaborate and learn with educators who had trusted me to work with their students when sometimes I didn't know what I was doing. Our first mentoring with 7th or 8th grade and kindergartners started in the spring of 2021 when we still needed to sit 6 feet apart. Using yoga rugs and meeting outside, the kindergarten team was willing to work with me and provide my 7th and 8th graders the opportunity to mentor. This was the start of the mentoring program that our 7th and 8th grade technology students do for our K-5 school. In the past year, the Infysys Maker grant helped immensely to provide more technology like the Glowforge. While our local Verona Area Educational Foundation provided two different grants to help cover the cost of 3D printing, Infusible Ink, and more. This year we have been continuing to work through both the highs and the lows because when older learners and younger learners connect magic can happen. Sometimes I've had to slow down and just watch what is happening instead of what I think should be happening. Today was one of those days.... a 7th grade group that has been struggling transformed into the most amazing group of thoughtful and caring mentors. To be able to see the connections and the impact that both the older and younger learner are having on each other's life is truly the "why" of mentoring. Thank you to Jessica Reed for capturing these moments today and always being willing to navigate this crazy path of collaboration! Using Cricut Design Space to create an infusible ink bag designed for their kinder buddy to hold their 3D printed bubble wands, designers shared the first Morphi designed bubble wands that have been printed. They also created together using the Micro:Bit. Fridays rock with mentoring!
Next Week's Plan
Flip MixtapeComing Next Week
In this mentoring, mentors were paired together and then worked as a team with 2-3 kindergartners. This has helped with the anxiety that many of my mentors experience at first when starting to work with a younger buddy. Coming next week.....As I read the mentor reflections from our bubble wand project of mentoring in 3D Design and Printing, it reminds me of the value of mentoring for our middle school designers. Next year I hope to find even more powerful ways to have my designers collaborate with our younger learners.
Recap of Reed MentorshipRecap of Roetker MentorshipRecap of Klingbeil MentorshipRecap of Moll Mentorship
Designers also explained how the 3D printer worked as it printed a bubble wand in each of the classes while we worked together on Makers Empire.
Student ReflectionsThe second bubble fest was just as fun as the first. It was fantastic to see so many different designs that did amazing bubbles. Thanks to Makers Empire and Morphi for designing such a fantastic app for our designers.
Today was the day that 7A shared their bubble wands that they printed with their buddies from Ms. Reed's class. What a fantastic day and way to end this year! Our 7th graders were amazing leaders and mentors. At the end of the quarter, designers chose between creating their own STEM story or a recap slideshow. I wanted to publish this slideshow because it makes my heart full. I am thankful for the opportunity to get to do what I do but also it means so much to be able to share these experiences with new designers. |
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