In the fall my school was fully remote, but we had the opportunity to send supplies home before class started. I was ambitious, and I put together two different sets of making supplies as well as some printed materials for my 8th grade US history class. The two making kits were embroidery and… Read more »
Author: Heather Pang
Castilleja School,
United States -
8th grade history teacher at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, CA
Maker Teacher in the Classroom: What should I do for students (and what should I not do)?
As a maker, one of the things I like is spending a great deal of time on something, going deep, and feeling that the result is really due to my hard work. I have taken up quilting recently, because it is that kind of project. I need to learn new things, and then do them…. Read more »
Middle School Sewing Elective Version 2
I co-teach a sewing elective for middle school students. This is the second version, the first ended in some frustration, so we stopped offering it for a while, and I went on to be part of other electives. This year we resurrected the idea, and I am co teaching with a colleague (great fun, and… Read more »
Challenges, Constraints, Competition?
Stick with me, this is a bit of a long story to get to some things I am thinking about in terms of making in the classroom. I can now check one thing off that bucket list, I won a blue ribbon at the San Mateo County Fair. (What, that is not on your bucket… Read more »
Thinking about 3d Geographical Representations
As a history teacher, I work with maps. I work with students to see how maps can help them understand events. I work with students to read maps. And I work with students to help them make maps. As we look toward one of the big projects of the 8th grade year, National History Day,… Read more »
Not the End of year reflections: A year of history and making
I started this post in May. I worked on it a bit in June. Then I abandoned it, lonely on my computer, until I stumbled on it this morning. So I finished it off (just a little proofreading) and I share it now, even though we are far from the end of the year, and… Read more »
Silhouettes – Old and New Technology of Portraits
In August, while I was thinking about for a simpler laser cut project to teach Inkscape and the laser cutter in my 8th grade history class this year, I happened upon two things at about the same time. One was a blog post by Sylvia Martinez about starting the year with making (http://sylviamartinez.com/back-to-school-start/) and the… Read more »
What does making in the classroom look like?
The 2014/2015 FabLearn Fellows cohort is a diverse group of 18 educators and makers. They represent eight states and five countries, and work with a wide range of ages at schools, museums, universities and non-profits. Throughout the course of the year, they will develop curriculum and resources, as well as contribute to current research projects. Their… Read more »
Telegraph Project in History
I posted a while ago about the line between instructions and letting students figure it all out, and I said I would report back after I taught the telegraph lesson. I started with a design meeting with our lab director and our tinkerer in residence (yes, I know, it is so cool that I work… Read more »
Making and National History Day
In some ways, National History Day (NHD) is rather “old school,” a science fair style research competition for history. I started requiring my students to participate in NHD because I saw the potential for deep research and thought, a good match with our department history “habits of mind” and a great opportunity for students to… Read more »