I was able to find a Twitter account for Autodesk Revit. I will be teaching CEA this year and the class uses this program. I have not used Revit in around 4 years. I'm hoping to find a refresher class available sometime this summer.
I followed popular woodworking to find small projects to do during class. My trades 2 classes typically finish their projects at the beginning of May. I am always looking for ideas for small woodworking projects for them to complete at the end of the year.
I saved this photo from the carpenters union. I think this is a great way to introduce heavy timber construction.
Conclusion: This week I found some great project ideas and some resources that will be valuable in the future. I am holding out hope that I am able to find a refresher course for Revit during the next week. If I am not able to find one, I have plenty of resources now that I can check throughout the summer.
Find #1Valees is our local organization representing career and technical education. They offer workshops throughout the year and connect teachers in the Fox Valley area.
Find #2I am trying to connect with local union training centers in the area. These have been great resources for finding ideas to incorporate in the classroom, finding guest speakers, and field trip opportunities. This has also been a great way to help students make connections upon graduation.
Find #3I think this is a great example of using real-world problems in the classroom. I think this is a great example to show students. They are using Onshape and 3D printers, both are tools that are accessible to my students.
Find #4This year I was new to Onshape. I am trying to learn as much as possible about this tool so that I can guide students to utilize it to its absolute potential. I am looking for workshops to participate in later this summer. I did see that I missed a recent opportunity. I will be following to stay up to date for any additional offerings.
Find #5I added the Onshape program Twitter feed to my PLN. This will help me to stay up to date with any program updates/changes in the future.
ConclusionI feel that this week I was able to make some significant additions to my PLN. I was also able to find a Tweet that is relevant to my classroom content. I am hoping that in the future I will be able to find a Twitter chat or workshop that is relevant to the content I teach.
This is the first time I have ever used a personal Twitter. All of my previous work on Twitter has been through my class or cross country team twitter. I tried to focus on new, relevant people and organizations to follow. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I was able to find quite a few.
Beyond following people on Twitter, I was also able to find a few relevant hashtags to follow- #CTE and #PBL. These hashtags connected me to various career and technical education classes throughout Twitter. One of the more valuable connections I made was with other engineering instructors. I have been out of the engineering classroom for a few years and will need some guidance from my PLN as I return next year.
Next week I hope to explore some of the different trade schools and union training centers in Illinois. I hope to gain some resources to use in my trades classes and make connections to organize training center tours for my students.
As I was looking through the Autodesk Twitter feed I found an article they retweeted. The article is about a pedestrian bridge in LA that was designed by college students and assembled by robots. The bridge was designed for minimal waste, all of which would be recycled. I thought this was an awesome example of project base learning with real world application.
I am continuing to try and expand my PLN for resources as I move back to the engineering classroom. I added a PLTW instructor from a local school, St. Charles East. @STCEPLTW is a master teacher for PLTW and trains new PLTW instructors during the summer. I feel he will be a great resource if I need help troubleshooting throughout the semester.
After a 4 year hiatus, I will be teaching 1 class of civil engineering this year. I followed PLTW- @PLTWorg, to try to get an idea of what curriculum updates will be occurring for the upcoming school year. The PLTW network will also help with connecting to other CEA instructors throughout the state and country.
I have had a difficult time finding much information on Twitter that is really relevant in a Building Trades classroom. One area that I am able to find an abundance of information is for coaching. A coach that I began following was Steve Magness- @stevemagness. Steve is a track coach at the University of Houston. I have been using his books and website as a resource for a number of years. I felt that this Tweet he recently posted has relevance not only in coaching, but in the classroom. We often try to fill all of our students/athletes time with us. Some of the best creative moments/ team building moments occur when students/athletes are allowed to fill a little technology free downtime.
A resource that I found by using #PBL, was the PBL Works Twitter page and site. All of the classes I teach involve some sort of project-based learning. I feel the site has some valuable articles and information that could be useful in my classroom.
Meeks Week 3 F5F
Find #1
I was able to find a Twitter account for Autodesk Revit. I will be teaching CEA this year and the class uses this program. I have not used Revit in around 4 years. I'm hoping to find a refresher class available sometime this summer.
Find #2
I followed popular woodworking to find small projects to do during class. My trades 2 classes typically finish their projects at the beginning of May. I am always looking for ideas for small woodworking projects for them to complete at the end of the year.
Find #3
I followed popular mechanics to again find ideas for my classes at the end of the year.
Find #4
I was able to find a simple outdoor chair that would be great for my classes to complete when they have finished their projects.
Find #5
I saved this photo from the carpenters union. I think this is a great way to introduce heavy timber construction.
Conclusion: This week I found some great project ideas and some resources that will be valuable in the future. I am holding out hope that I am able to find a refresher course for Revit during the next week. If I am not able to find one, I have plenty of resources now that I can check throughout the summer.
Meeks Week 2 F5F
Find #1 Valees is our local organization representing career and technical education. They offer workshops throughout the year and connect teachers in the Fox Valley area.
Find #2 I am trying to connect with local union training centers in the area. These have been great resources for finding ideas to incorporate in the classroom, finding guest speakers, and field trip opportunities. This has also been a great way to help students make connections upon graduation.
Find #3 I think this is a great example of using real-world problems in the classroom. I think this is a great example to show students. They are using Onshape and 3D printers, both are tools that are accessible to my students.
Find #4 This year I was new to Onshape. I am trying to learn as much as possible about this tool so that I can guide students to utilize it to its absolute potential. I am looking for workshops to participate in later this summer. I did see that I missed a recent opportunity. I will be following to stay up to date for any additional offerings.
Find #5 I added the Onshape program Twitter feed to my PLN. This will help me to stay up to date with any program updates/changes in the future.
Conclusion I feel that this week I was able to make some significant additions to my PLN. I was also able to find a Tweet that is relevant to my classroom content. I am hoping that in the future I will be able to find a Twitter chat or workshop that is relevant to the content I teach.
Week 1 Summary
This is the first time I have ever used a personal Twitter. All of my previous work on Twitter has been through my class or cross country team twitter. I tried to focus on new, relevant people and organizations to follow. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I was able to find quite a few.
Beyond following people on Twitter, I was also able to find a few relevant hashtags to follow- #CTE and #PBL. These hashtags connected me to various career and technical education classes throughout Twitter. One of the more valuable connections I made was with other engineering instructors. I have been out of the engineering classroom for a few years and will need some guidance from my PLN as I return next year.
Next week I hope to explore some of the different trade schools and union training centers in Illinois. I hope to gain some resources to use in my trades classes and make connections to organize training center tours for my students.
F#5
As I was looking through the Autodesk Twitter feed I found an article they retweeted. The article is about a pedestrian bridge in LA that was designed by college students and assembled by robots. The bridge was designed for minimal waste, all of which would be recycled. I thought this was an awesome example of project base learning with real world application.
F#4
I am continuing to try and expand my PLN for resources as I move back to the engineering classroom. I added a PLTW instructor from a local school, St. Charles East. @STCEPLTW is a master teacher for PLTW and trains new PLTW instructors during the summer. I feel he will be a great resource if I need help troubleshooting throughout the semester.
F#3
After a 4 year hiatus, I will be teaching 1 class of civil engineering this year. I followed PLTW- @PLTWorg, to try to get an idea of what curriculum updates will be occurring for the upcoming school year. The PLTW network will also help with connecting to other CEA instructors throughout the state and country.
F#2
I have had a difficult time finding much information on Twitter that is really relevant in a Building Trades classroom. One area that I am able to find an abundance of information is for coaching. A coach that I began following was Steve Magness- @stevemagness. Steve is a track coach at the University of Houston. I have been using his books and website as a resource for a number of years. I felt that this Tweet he recently posted has relevance not only in coaching, but in the classroom. We often try to fill all of our students/athletes time with us. Some of the best creative moments/ team building moments occur when students/athletes are allowed to fill a little technology free downtime.
F#1
A resource that I found by using #PBL, was the PBL Works Twitter page and site. All of the classes I teach involve some sort of project-based learning. I feel the site has some valuable articles and information that could be useful in my classroom.