person playing string instruments
Creative Thinking, Music

Teach Rock for National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month in the United States, and what better way is there to teach poetry than with music that was inspired by it? Teach Rock has just the lesson for you, with tons of media to accompany it.

What is Teach Rock?

Teach Rock is a website that has standards-aligned, arts-integrated lessons for students of all levels. These are all free to access, but you will need to register for free. To get an idea of the quality of this site, take a look at the Founding Board of Directors:

You can visit the Lesson Plan Collections page if you want to filter by grade level, subject, genre, activities, or topics. Since you are registered, you can “favorite” any that appeal to you and they will be saved to a Favorites page. The same can be done with Unit Plans, or the Student Edition Slide Decks.

Trace it Back

Trace it Back is a bit different than the other activities. On this page, students are encouraged to learn about what may have influenced one of their favorite musical artists. The page contains links to contemporary artists like Chance the Rapper and more classic ones like Nina Simone. Many of these are directed toward middle and high school age students, but there are a couple that could be used with elementary such as this one on the Beatles.

Where’s the Poetry?

As I mentioned at the top music is, of course, poetic. But if you want to examine some literal poems and relate them to music and history at the same time, the lesson on “Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers’ Movement.” Designed as a civics lesson for elementary students, this plan begins by showing students different photographs and a clip from a PBS where they learn about Huerta and the UFW. Then they hear a few songs related to the movement, including one performed by Alice Bag, “A Street Called Dolores Huerta,” which was based on a poem by Nikki Darling. Students are then given a handout to read that contains the poem, “Huelga” by Diana Garcia and asked to compare the message in the poem to that of Darling’s and Bag’s. They can then write their own haikus about Huerta. (Huerta, by the way, is 93 years old at the time of this writing.)

Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Else Can I Do with Teach Rock?

You can find lessons for every subject, including physical education, math, and SEL on this site. And the range of activities is anywhere from stations to performances and solving equations. We all know the significant part that music plays in the lives of our students, so Teach Rock is a wonderful resource to help you leverage that for learning.

Screen Shot from Day of AI Video of teacher with 2 young children in front of a computer
Computer Science, K-12, Teaching Tools

Learn More About AI from MIT (For Free!)

MIT has posted its free materials for the 2023 Day of AI, and I feel like anyone, from children to adults, should take advantage of it. In fact, the home page of the website invites everyone to participate with, “Open to all. No experience needed” as the top. All you need to do is register to get the password, and you don’t have to be an educator.

Even though this isn’t the first year MIT has hosted its Day of AI, I think it might be the most important, considering how discussions of AI have dominated the headlines in the last couple of months. With these resources, for grade K-12, you can step in wherever you feel comfortable and learn more about what AI is and what it isn’t — yet. And if you are an educator, you can help your students to be more informed about this technology that is rapidly growing more and more powerful whether you are interested in using it or not.

In a recent discussion that I had with Socrates, we debated the benefits and dangers of AI. (Okay, it wasn’t really Socrates, just his AI persona on Character.AI.) We both agreed that AI will be dangerous in the hands of those who prize profits above ethics. And we both agreed that there will also be some people who have compassion and greater purposes who will wield AI in the effort to change the world for the better. But the latter is not going to happen if only a small group of people understand the implications of AI. Widespread education is vital in order to apply critical thinking to decisions that may seem to have nothing to do with AI, but could be directly impacted in the future.

Many educators have been visiting my posts on Conker.AI and Curipod because these tools can increase their productivity immensely. If you can take a moment with some of the time you’ve saved using those AI tools, I hope you will consider learning more about AI and guiding your students with these lesson plans, slide presentations, and videos that MIT’s Day of AI provides. There are even tutorial videos for the teachers in case you want a walkthrough. Though MIT is planning to officially celebrate Day of AI on May 18, 2023, you can incorporate these lessons any time (maybe a great idea post-standardized testing?). Still not convinced? Watch their intro video below, and then head on over to their page!

close up of human hand
Books, Creative Thinking, K-12, Problem Solving, Writing

The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination

I love the entire concept of the newest book from Brad Montague, The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination. Montague, if you recall, was the creator of the Kid President web series, and also wrote the book, Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome, with his Kid President brother-in-law, Robby Novak. Brad and his wife, Kristi, have a creative studio called Montague Workshop, and they worked together to create The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination.

Here is the description you will find on your favorite book site:

From New York Times bestselling author Brad Montague comes a top-secret, behind-the-scenes peek at the official agency that keeps the world’s creativity flowing.

Every day, special figment agent Sparky delivers all the mail the FBI receives to the proper department, like the Office of the Unexplainable or the Department of Dreams. It’s a big job, but Sparky keeps everything running smoothly . . . until disaster strikes when the Cave of Untold Stories overflows and threatens to topple the whole bureau. It turns out too many people have been holding in their big ideas, and now Sparky must recruit more agents to share their dreams, songs, and stories with the world. 

And now, dear reader, will you join the effort and become a special agent before it’s too late? The FBI is counting on you!

The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination, Indiebound

The recommended reading age is 4-8 years old, but as most educators know, picture books can be used with any age group — even high school. The clever story and illustrations will certainly appeal children and adults. There are also some resources for discussion and creative thinking provided here.

I don’t have to stretch my imagination one bit to picture this story coming to life on the big screen one day. But in the meantime, treat your students and/or families to this sweet book and recruit some more special agents for the cause 🙂

Computer Science, K-12

CoCo for STEAM Co-Creation

If you’re a STEAM educator who considers yourself a pioneer, early adopter, or just someone who loves to try new things, you are definitely going to want to sign up to be invited to try out CoCo by going to this page. Brought to you by a team at MIT in the Lifelong Kindergarten Research Group at the Media Lab (if you’re familiar with Scratch, Makey-Makey, or Lego Mindstorms, then you’ve had the pleasure of appreciating their projects), this new project is going to revolutionize students collaborating with each other on a global scale.

CoCo will allow students to code (block-based like Scratch or text-based like JavaScript), write stories, and create art together on its innovative platform. Children will be able to design their own projects, then publish and share them or work together as they create. The emphasis is truly on collaboration while discouraging comparison, as evidenced by the fact that there will be no individual user profiles, no way to collect likes, and no followers. In the screen shot below, you can see the distinguishing features of CoCo that set it apart from anything else students currently use in the digital realm.

It’s difficult to explain the potential of CoCo without showing it, so I encourage you to watch the video below to better understand just how ingenious it is.

For an extremely thorough explanation of the philosophy behind CoCo and its mission, you will definitely want to read this post on Medium by two of team members behind it, Manuj Dhariwal (manuj@mit.edu) & Shruti Dhariwal (shrutid@mit.edu).

I contacted Shruti to see if there is a timeline for getting invited to try out CoCo once you’ve submitted your email to the invite list. Shruti was prompt to respond, saying that invites will be sent out in phases as they want to continue to get feedback from educators before opening it up to everyone.

This is your opportunity to be part of helping to develop a game-changing educational technology tool from practically the ground up. I’ve had the pleasure of involving my students with others over the years (Osmo, Wonder Workshop Robots, Kodable, and more), and it has always been an incredible learning experience none of us will forget. Submit your e-mail now at CoCo so you and your students can take advantage of this opportunity!

Prompt that says, "Prototype a dog treat launcher using a microcomputer."
3-12, Creative Thinking

Sharpen Stem Activity and Design Generators

I learned about the Sharpen Stem Activity and Design Generators to help with the Design Thinking process during the same #AppleEDULeaderChat where I learned about Susan Maynor’s Imaginariums. The Sharpen Generator tools are web-based, and offer randomized prompts to get you thinking about creating. They are similar to the Protobot tool I wrote about a little over a year ago. Though there are two separate generators — Design and Stem Activities — you could use for Design Thinking, the Stem Activities one is probably has the most potential to be utilized effectively by the readers of this blog.

From Sharpen Stem Activity Generator

As you can see in the image above, you can click on the “New Challenge” button to generate different prompts. You can also lock the parts you like and continue hitting the button for the segment you aren’t quite satisfied with, yet. There are three categories of challenges you can choose from: Inventions, Build and Engineer, and Create and Draw. Once you choose one, you can bookmark it and even set a timer for completing it.

The Design Generator seems better suited for secondary students due to the difficulty-level of some of the terms I generated. Of course, it is actually a tool that can be used by people who design for their professions, so it has some complicated suggestions.

Something else that you might note on the site is that there are STEM Lesson Packs available to download. However, these are not free. They run between $9-$12. I have not previewed them, so can’t offer an opinion about their worth.

I love doing workshops with teachers on Design Thinking, so contact me engagetheirminds@gmail.com if you are interested! For some free downloads that encourage creative thinking, check out my S.C.A.M.P.E.R. packs on the Downloads for Teachers page!

Design creates culture.
Culture shapes values.
Values determine the future.

Robert L. Peters, Graphic Designer & Educator
serious girl in protective mask holding plush toy in mask and showing palm against steps
3-12

3d Toy Shop

I’m home sick today, and of course that leads to me mindlessly scrolling through TikTok videos. Between my interests in education and DIY projects, I supposed that it was inevitable that TikTok would eventually recommend a video from 3d Toy Shop (@3dToyShop) owner Nick Hardman. Using his 3d printers, Hardman makes customized stuffed animals for children who have medical conditions. Outfitted with the same urine bags, PEG feeding tubes and dialysis machines, or other lifesaving accessories their young owners themselves wear, these toys are each one-of-a-kind, and give the patients comfort as well as understanding about the care they are receiving.

@3dtoyshop

♬ original sound – 3dtoyshop

I had that instant adrenaline rush that I often get when I see an idea I could use in my classroom (although I no longer have a classroom) because I frequently preach about engaging students with authentic projects, and I can totally see posing this scenario to them to see if they would like to do something similar. This would be an amazing PBL unit or Genius Hour project.

You can find Nick’s website here. He also has a GoFundMe page because this incredible man is not trying to make money from his specialized toys so he formed a nonprofit instead.

image from BBC video about Nick Hardman’s 3d Toy Shop