Final Network Learning Project Post

The quilt is finally done!!!!!!!

This summer I began classes in order to get my 6th year certificate in Instructional Technology and Digital Media Literacy (IT&DML). For our EDU 7714, Media/Tech/Learning in the curriculum we had to select something that has always interested us and learn how to do it. After much deliberation I chose to make a t-shirt quilt. It was always something that I wanted to do, and I actually had all of the shirts set aside already (some were even cut!).

Follow Meredith's board T-shirt quilt on Pinterest.

Now I am not an expert sewer; I am not even a novice sewer so I knew that this process was going to be difficult and time-consuming. I started the process by collecting all of my shirts and looking for a pattern online. Pinterest turned out to be my best friend and I found a great pattern that I felt was relativity easy to make (I was very wrong). Then I began the process of creating templates, cutting shirts, laying out the design, and finally sewing the pieces together.

As I moved through the steps, I found that every deadline I set for myself was very far off. I didn't realize the length of time it took to complete the different steps. Something that seemed pretty easy, cutting the template pieces, actually took me about 4 hours to get done and it was very frustrating. As a learner, I found that I have limited patience when I cannot complete something on the first try. Even though I did not meet every assigned deadline, I was able to complete each task successfully and created a complete final project.

Some of the lessons I learned about learning I feel that I can apply within my classroom. Every student learns at a different pace, and making sure that each one feels equipped and ready for the next step is important for both their learning and their confidence. I also plan to look at the way I set deadlines. Something that seems easy to me as an adult is not going to be easy or quick for an 11 year old. Making sure that I always take that into consideration will be very important for me this year .

In addition to learning about my task, creating a t-shirt quilt, I learned a lot about technology. I used many different resources for both research and to show understanding of the assignment. I learned about blogging, creating a digital presence, video production (imovie, animoto) and much more. Overall, I feel that this project was successful on many fronts, and I look forward to sharing my learning, as well as my final product, with colleagues and students.

Below you will find my final movie which covers the evolution of my learning. Although I have yet to back my quilt, or add the batting and officially quilt it, I feel as though this summer was a major success.

Final NLP Update.....Get ready for the finale

This will be the final update before the project is complete. As I think about finishing this project I look back on all of the experiences I have had so far.  I started this project wanting to have a completed t-shirt quilt, and although I conducted research about the different aspects of putting one together, I did not realize how time consuming it could all be. In my excitement, I would plan a certain deadline but would most often fail to meet it. For example, I did not realize how long it would take to cut the templates and the t-shirts. What seemed like a quick activity took me almost 12 hours total. That did not even include the planning phase or designing the final layout.

I am at the point where I need to begin sewing the quilt, but I have to be honest, I am burnt out. I am glad that I chose to do this for my project, because I do feel as though I have learned a lot, but I did not realize the time and effort that would be devoted to creating this quilt. I will definitely cherish it when it is complete.

This week I took a step back. It has been so nice out that it was hard to justify sitting inside and sewing all day. Instead, I chose to use some scrap pieces of fabric to practice my technique and I also created the bobbin. The thread on the bobbin creates the bottom part of the seam when sewing. If the incorrect tension is used, the main thread and bottom thread can be out of sync and will not be as neat or strong of a seam between the two pieces of fabric.

This week my mom, grandma, and myself plan to knock out most of the sewing. Because the front of the quilt is not yet complete, I have yet to pick out the backing fabric. I am not sure that I will be able to select that before the end of this class, but I will definitely be finishing this project before the school year begins.

NLP UPDATE!

Last weeks learning project work was very time consuming for me. Cutting the shirts perfectly and laying them out in the pattern I want took a lot of time and effort. This week I chose to step back and do some more research rather than a lot of hands on work. This week I needed to focus on the different stitching available on my sewing machine, as well as learning the basics such as tension and how to thread the needle.

After reading the instruction manual for the Baby-lock Anna sewing machine I found out that there are 15 different types of stitches for me to choose from. I will most likely use a simple stitch (“A”) because all of the stitching will be hidden within the body of the quilt. In addition, I plan to use black thread because that is what we have most of in the sewing box. My mom (it’s her sewing machine) is worried that some of the pieces I need to sew together might be too thick for the machine, so it will be a bit of trial and error.

One of the biggest challenges I think I will face is getting the tension right on the jersey material of the t-shirts. Because they are more stretchy than typical fabric. I am going to have to be careful because I don’t want have the pattern tilted as a result of certain t-shirts stretching more than others. I found this really helpful video, but she suggested using some special interfacing to minimize the stretch. I am choosing to go forward without using that interface.

By my next post I intend to have the front of the quilt almost completely put together. I am hoping for a rainy day or two so I can justify being inside and working on it!

Until next time…..

NLP Update- Shirts are FINALLY cut!

After a long day of cutting and laying out shirts and editing videos I finally have my NLP #4 post complete. I have all the shirts trimmed, I have approved my final layout, and plan to being pinning and sewing in the next week. Another difficult week but I am very pleased with my progress.

Personal Learning Networks- Staying Connected

Created with Padlet

NLP- Harder week than I expected.....

This week for my NLP project (T-Shirt Quilt) I had wanted to get all of the T-Shirts cut to the right size and laid out so that I could see what the pattern was going to look like. This did not happen. I worked this week on making my final decisions of what shirts would go in the quilt as well as the size piece that they would be. My pattern calls for 9 different size block pieces, and based on the size of the shirts logo, I put them into the right categories. As I was separating them into piles I realized that I was going to run out of shirts, so the pieces I picked for the 4x4 blocks I might not use in the final product. Instead, I may try to incorporate some of the fabric I intend to use for the back of the quilt.

                                             (Pattern)                               (T-shirts in size piles)

The place that I ran into trouble this week was in cutting the templates for the pattern. I found some old cardstock paper in my basement and decided that would be the best to use because it was pretty heavy. I started by cutting the largest size (16 ½ x 16 ½) making sure to take into account the seam allowance (¼ on each side, ½ total). While I was measuring I became extremely frustrated. Because the paper was old, and had a little water damage, it was not completely square. So I would measure out one side but when I went to measure the opposite the line was not straight.  My mom gave me a tutorial on how to hold the ruler and the straight edge, but it was still very slow going. Even as I was holding the ruler straight and cutting, the straight edge would nudge the ruler over and the line would not be perfectly straight. It took me over an hour just to get all of the templates cut, and because of my frustration, I decided that the templates would be the end for me today.  
                       
                                (Tools for quilt)                              (Template paper and ruler)

For my next post I plan to have most, if not all, of the shirts cut. I know it will be difficult, but because the templates are already made, I think it will go a bit quicker than having to create the templates from scratch. I do have to make sure to take my time because I do not have any scrap shirts that I can use.

(Finished Templates....Finally!!)

Cooking with TPACK

This week I completed the Cooking with TPACK challenge for my EDU 7714 class. The assignment called for someone to pick a utensil, plate, and bowl, as well as a task for me to complete. I asked my dad for help and he picked a regular bowl, plate, and a chopping knife. He also selected #5 out of the bowl which corresponded to chopping veggies for a veggie tray. Based on my tasked, I was extremely pleased with his choice of a chopping knife because it made cutting through the hard veggies very easy. Had he selected a different utensil it would have made for a much more difficult task. The plate ended up working better than I had expected, but I still would have preferred to have cutting board. The bowl also worked, but it would have been too small had I been planning to cut a larger amount of veggies. The only tool I would have added would have been a peeler, because I feel that I lost a lot of the cucumber when I was trying to peel it with the large chopping knife.

Overall, I felt pretty successful with the process and I felt it definitely connected to what we do as teachers in the classroom. It became pretty clear to me that I could repurpose some of the technology (knife to peeler) but it did not come out as well as if I had been prepared with the right stuff. In the classroom, especially when using more advanced technology, we need to make sure that we as educators are prepared with the right materials and the students are also prepared with the correct materials. This video shows that a task can be completed without being fully prepared with the right tools, but it is definitely much harder and can get frustrating. Allowing students to try new things, but also being prepared with the right tools, technology, and materials, will allow them the best chance for success.

NLP #2- The t-shirt quilt begins...

After much deliberation I finally settled on the pattern for my t-shirt quilt. While doing research this past week I came across many patterns that I liked and it was very hard to decide. I knew that I did not want to have all of the squares equal size, but there were still so many options to choose from. Below is an image of the pattern I will be using with the measurements. I may add another row to the bottom so that it is not a perfect square (right now the quilt would measure 60in x 60 in). After doing some research I found that a full/queen size quilt should be 60in x 80in and that is the size I am shooting for (or close to it). I also intend to add a border with a fun pattern.

(I may try to add an extra row at the bottom, we'll see how my sewing skills progress)

The other step I took this week was to begin sorting the t-shirts. I put them in piles based on the size of the square they would be cut into. This was extremely helpful because it gave me an idea of what the finished pattern will look like. I intend to have all of the t-shirts cut and laid out in a finalized pattern by the end of the week so that next week I can focus on sewing them together. I am also going to have to start looking for a fabric for the backing and for my border.

                        

                                (#t-shirts for days.....)        (Chart of the blocks I need for the pattern above)

This week I viewed endless youtube videos, but pinterest was my biggest help. Someone had uploaded the pattern I intend to use and they also had pictures of the final product uploaded so that I could look and make sure that is what I wanted to use. I also took some time to look at the user manual for the sewing machine I will be using. I am worried because my mom (it’s her machine) has experienced some problems in the past, mainly having difficulty sewing through a large volume of fabric. In preparation for this I contacted my neighbor who does a lot of quilting and she told me that if my machine does not work, I can go to her house once everything is cut and laid out to use the machine to attach the different blocks.

This will be a busy week for me with this project, but I hope to have all pieces cut by my post on Sunday and laid out with a particular pattern so I can upload a picture!

Unpacking TPACK

As education continues to transform and technology becomes more integrated into the classroom, we as educators need to make sure that we are using the technology to enhance our teaching and content rather than replacing it.

Koehler and Mishra (2009) developed the TPACK framework. This framework describes how teachers integrate technology into their teaching. Content knowledge consists of knowledge about a certain subject area that is taught, such as social studies. Pedagogical knowledge consists of the understanding about educational processes and operations or methods of teaching and learning. Technological knowledge refers to the understanding of what types of technologies are available, understand how they work and how they can be implemented in the classroom to make teaching more effective.

Although using technology in the classroom can be tricky, it is wholly beneficial to the students. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity for each student in my middle school social studies class to have access to their own computer. This allowed me to use the technology almost on a daily basis. Admittedly, it is a hard balance to strike, figuring out when the technology enhances a lesson vs having little to no impact, and it is something that I know I will continue to deal with as my teaching career progresses.

Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org

I am drawn to the TPACK model because it simplifies the process of integrating technology. I also like that it can be broken down into its many parts:

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge- Understanding how to support your teaching style with technology

Pedagogical Content Knowledge- Understanding how to effectively teach your specific content

Technological Content Knowledge- Understanding how to support your content with the use of classroom technology.

I have worked hard to integrate technology into my classroom and set an example to other teachers that it is not scary. Yes it takes some extra work to integrate the technology into the lessons or come up with a way to use the technology to enhance the lesson. Yes, it may be a little scary the first time you look out at 25 faces and they have the blue light glowing as they boot up the computer. But most importantly, you must be confident with your knowledge of your teaching ability and content.

The students we teach are extremely adaptable and are willing to try new things all the time. As educators, we should take a page out of their book and try to integrate these new technologies into lessons that will allow the students more creativity and the ability to grow in ways previously not known. As the prices of these technologies drop and teachers become more familiar with the concept of students having devices in class, more and more teachers will see the benefits, both to their teaching style and the students learning abilities.

NLP- T-shirt Quilt

As a high school student I was very involved in school athletics. I played on both my high school's girls soccer and lacrosse teams. As a result of four years of two sports I have a TON of t-shirts that are collecting dust in my closet. When I graduated high school my mom told me to throw out all of my t-shirts so I could start fresh in college. I couldn’t do it; the shirts held too much sentimental value. I argued with her, “... but mom, I wore this one when we went to states!” and “this one is from that summer season game where I broke my wrist!” I just could not bear to part with them, so I stuffed them in the back of my closet figuring I would do something with them later.

Well later is now. And the number of shirts has grown to include my college and post-grad events as well. I have been doing some research about what to do with them and have come across the idea of a t-shirt quilt. I will cut up the shirts and give them new life as a quilt that I can keep. This will also allow me to share my fond memories with future family members and kids.

In my research I have found that there are numerous companies to whom you can send your old shirts and they will design and create the quilt for you. Now, seeing that I have no sewing experience, this would appear to be the route to take. All I would have to do is box up the shirts and ship them off. As much as I would prefer to do that, I think that learning the skills associated with sewing and quilting will benefit me in the future. I plan to use my shirts, research, and other materials to craft an AMAZING quilt that I can enjoy for years to come.

Here are some images of different styles of t-shirt quilts. Many of these are basic, equal squares, but I am going to try and "funkify" my quilt to make it a bit more unique. I guess we’ll see how it goes...

Teaching Philosophy- Under Construction

Hello World

Never did I imagine I would catch the travel bug, but I did, and once you do, its impossible to shake.

I start here because my passion for teaching came from an initial passion for travel. At 21 years old, fresh out of college and only having travelled out of the country with my immediate family, I found myself with the opportunity to travel and study in Greece. I never imagined falling in love with the experience as I did and, little did I know, it would set me on a further path of learning in eventually becoming a teacher.

My travel in Greece taught me so much about life. I learned patience, appreciation, spontaneity, and the advantages of trying anything once. (More on what travel teaches you later..) These are the things I try to instill in my students each day I spend with them.

In this blog you will find personal information relating to traveling, teaching, and my students continuous learning. These three things are very close to my heart as I am a 6th grade social studies teacher that covers Geography and Ancient Civilizations. Currently entering my 3rd year of teaching, I have had the privilege of incorporating personal stories and anecdotes I learned on this trip into my content and life lessons for my students.

Until next time...