Mary L's Teacher Ed Portfolio

History of felting

November 29, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Making a felt robe for Bakhtiari shepherds. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninara/5869184572/in/set-72157624401124997, via Wikipedia

Why look into the history?

Place-based learning and action is important to me. In some ways, felting already offers up a lot of natural connections to place. For example, when I went to the store in Victoria to buy materials, the owner could tell me which farm on which Gulf Island different animal fibres came from. Pretty cool. But what about the history of felting? Have Indigenous people in this region felted?

Indigenous felting on the west coast

The short answer is… no. Some of the most technically challenging weaving techniques originate here (see Chilkat weaving), but as for simply rubbing animal fibres together… I could find no examples. Note: Researchers do acknowledge the challenge of preserving historical items made of animal fibre, especially in places that are not famous for being dry. I wonder if the absence of a felting history is because there weren’t huge herds of domesticated animals in the Pacific Northwest, which my reading indicates is important. Only animal fibres can be wet felted, whereas plant fibres (like cedar roots, commonly used here), can be woven. Perhaps when animal hairs were available, it made sense to apply the same or similar weaving techniques that were already in place for plant materials.

Chilkat blanket
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_arts_of_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas#/media/File:Chilkat_blanket_univ_alaska_museum.jpg

The fur connection

Nevertheless, felting does touch Indigenous history and ongoing presence on the west coast of B.C., in the form of the fur trade. Fur traders ventured further and further into what is now called Canada to find furs to send back to Europe, particularly for felted hats. There is a lot of history and ecological consequence to delve into there, along with the historic trading networks among First Nations, including for items such as mountain goat hair.

All the places you could go with felting

In seeking an answer, I went down a bunch of Wikipedia rabbit roles (a favourite activity). There was a ton to look at connected to felting. Here is an outline with a bunch of topics and ideas that could be fleshed out in a cross-curricular way, with potential subject areas indicated.

Felt in Maymand, Kerman Province, Iran
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felt#/media/File:Felting_in_Maymand.jpg

  • oldest known textile! (socials)
  • fibres matted together – can be natural (animal hair) or synthetic (biology)
  • still made for tents, clothing, and rugs by nomadic people, particularly in Central Asia (socials)
  • appreciated for art making for its ecological consideration (art / science)
  • Scottish women stomping on the felt with their feet, to a song that sets the pace (socials)
    • The origin of ” to be on tenterhooks” (ELL)
    • Later, by water mills (physics)
  • Roman slaves worked the felt ankle deep in tubs of human urine (socials)
    • Urine was taxed by a Roman emperor! (socials)
  • Two theories on how wet felting works: scales on the hair fibres open and latch, OR fibres wind around each other (how do we not know this?) (physics)
  • Needle felting uses a notched needle (not barbed) (textiles)
    • Kawaii style from Japan – cute, basically (art)
  • Felted hats from the 17th century on used mercury compound that made people sick (socials)
    • “mad as a hatter”; see Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (English)
  • Felt used for cars, guns, casinos, and instruments (socials)
  • Landscape and movable figures make for great storytelling tool for kids (elementary)
  • Puppets! Muppets! (elementary)
  • Joseph Beuys – famous contemporary artist who used felt (art)
  • Top hats from beaver brings it home – fur trappers in Canada (socials)
    • Felt drove a lot of the “exploration” of North America
    • Underground felting and textile work, because early colonists were supposed to send raw products back to Europe, and import finished textiles. “One of the early acts of independence was to have the entire graduating class of Harvard appear in handspun, handwoven garments for their ceremony, instead of using imported English fabric for them!”
  • Russian valenki boots (textiles)
  • 2500 year old felt swan found in now northern Russia (socials – geography)
  • “International Felt Conference” to work around Soviet-North America issues (socials)
  • Interesting differences among places with domesticated animals (socials)
    • Egypt, with sheep, didn’t felt
    • Peru, with llamas and alpacas, didn’t felt
  • Differences in the role of felt (socials)
    • “Eliminate felt from Chinese, Greek, and Roman civilizations, and they would still remain what they are, not being in the least affected by this minus. Eliminate the same element from the life of the nomadic populations, and they would cease to exist, they would never have come into existence.”
    • Places that rely on agriculture (raising crops) versus herds = Chinese frontier history
    • Felt considered foreign and barbaric
    • Religious and spiritual uses (e.g. cut out a figure of felt and keep it in a special box)
  • Carpet weaving came from/after felting?
  • Deterrent to snakes and scorpions? (biology?)
  • Passing of ideas throughout history – so fascinating! (socials)
    • “It is therefore probable that the Romanic nations received the knowledge of felt not from the ancient Romans, but from Germanic tribes early in the middle ages. The latter may have acquired the art from their eastern neighbors, the Slavs; and the Slavs derived their knowledge from Scytho-Siberian-Turkish peoples. The Russian word for felt, woilok, is a loan-word based on Turkish oilik (“that which serves as a cover”); the same word appears in Polish as wojlok.”

Sources

 

Group Presentation Round-Up: VR, cell phones, and more

November 26, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Digital Storytelling

Photo by Howard Lawrence B on Unsplash

Meg shared benefits of creating and sharing stories digitally, including relevance to students and the fact that digital content may last longer and be easier for students to share. When she asked us about the usefulness in our subject areas, I reflected that it could be a good option for students in Art with disabilities around fine motor skills.

She focused on digital storytelling options for poetry that I would like to keep in mind for English Language Arts. They look fantastic.

Digital poetry ideas:

Virtual Reality

Photo by Giu Vicente on Unsplash

Jake showed us what’s coming up from Google Earth virtual reality – increasingly high quality visualizations of places we might want to explore on the planet. He explained a couple of headset options (headsets being required), and acknowledged that our likeliness of using this feature with students rests with the resources in our particular high school.

David focused on language learning with virtual reality. He shared that research and application is taking off in Asia, including in high schools in places like Hong Kong. My favourite part was his personal experience of having a classroom of students in Japan build a world though Second Life with another high school cohort in another country – all in the medium of the English language. Based on how much fun I had playing Minecraft, I can imagine that being really engaging as a learner.

Eric focused on the why of virtual reality – the fact that we are truly convinced by it, so that we react physiologically, become incredibly present, and change our attitudes. These effects can be mobilized in lots of neat ways, including developing empathy for vulnerable or marginalized populations. Eric notes the benefits also to people with mobility issues.

Cell phone bans in the classroom

Photo by Oleg Magni on Unsplash

The “ban them” argument, by Graham

  • “Bans bring results” – One study in the UK shows test scores increase with bans
  • “Presence is a menace” – One study showed some loss of cognitive capacity when university students had cell phones just present on a desk or in a big

The “let there be phones” argument, by Sasha

  • Accessibility – for students with autism, for English language learners, for students with reading impairments, and more.
  • Broad student engagement – students already use phones for self-expression, collaboration, and joy; teachers can use this authentic, existing engagement to bridge to class work.
  • Situated practice – classrooms are places to practice and exemplify best practices around phone use. If we don’t take this on, we are missing an opportunity.
  • Bonus: they can be used for “audience response models” such as Kahoot, which research shows can make class more fun and engaging.

Geoff wrapped up by sharing observations and teacher attitudes from Belmont, where there is an ostensible cell phone ban. He also asked us for our own reflections.

My own reflection: I hope we can earn students’ attention. If what I am doing is meaningful and relevant for students, then I would expect their attention, except for the same level of distraction I experience myself. And I would hope to have real conversations about cellphone addiction and our options for practicing self-efficacy around choosing our engagement.

Making safer spaces for students online

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Nat led a presentation on creating safer spaces. I think the most interesting part was the discussion at the end, which turned toward the question of when we create community rules/guidelines. There was general consensus that we need to build rapport with and among the students before opening up that activity, which involves values and vulnerability. I would also note to myself to consider using an anonymous (at least to other students), digitized portion in the creation of those guidelines, to capture the voices of people who might not feel comfortable speaking up.

Podcasts in the Classroom Presentation

November 26, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Photo by Siddharth Bhogra on Unsplash

Presentation day

It was nice to bring together our ideas for a short classroom presentation last week. What had we learned about podcasts in the classroom? I focused on the social aspects of podcasts – the fact that we share them with friends and acquaintances based on our own experiences.  We reviewed some ways to use podcasts in the classroom.

Purposes for podcasts in teaching

  1. Connect with students
  2. Share content
  3. Create our own podcasts
  4. Focus on oral storytelling form
  5. Develop ourselves professionally as teachers

Co-Creation

We used our presentation to have the class participate in two activities:

Compilation of favourite podcasts

Screenshot of the Google Doc where classmates listed their favourite podcasts and reasons they like them.

Compilation of podcasts series or activity ideas using podcasts, by subject area

Reflections on the inquiry

As I mentioned, a major realization is that people like to share podcasts in a socialized way. Relatedly, we enjoy sharing what we love (or like, or are curious about). Dave wrote a blog post after our presentation about the realization that we could use podcasts to connect with students. I’m glad that that idea came home (which we modelled with the first activity above). In Multiliteracies, we have recently been focusing on the importance of knowing our students in order to be able to assess them (or work with them in any meaningful way). In my first year of teaching, if I use podcasts in only one way, I hope I choose this one – as a way to know my students better.

I felted a baby!

November 20, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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On the ferry over to Vancouver, I pulled out the last of my felt scraps, and felted this baby. Is it a little weird? Yes! Did it have the desired effect on my friend, who has a three month old baby named George? Yes! It was nice to make a gift with my newfound skills.

Method-wise, I didn’t even Google search how to do this. I had enough in fundamentals under my belt to start right away. First, I needled some core forms with the grey core felt – torso, head, arms, and legs. Then I attached them, and settled on the seated position with arms up. I shaped the whole body a bit, then moved on to “dressing” the kid with the soft merino coloured felt. Start to finish, it took about an hour.

I can see how I could really keep going with needle felting. Christmas ornaments, little gifts, hanging mini sculptures… it’s all doable. I haven’t done anything abstract yet. It feels like that is the arbitrary line between art and craft when it comes to materials like felt.

Games in the classroom & some happy memories

November 19, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Screenshot from https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/bonsai-biomes

Intro to Minecraft

Two weeks ago, students from Colquitz Middle School helped our cohort explore the world of Minecraft, a new world for most of us. A friend recently described it as “legos, but digital”, and I think that captures the aesthetic. My favourite times playing were when everyone shouted out to each other, to ask questions, or joke with each other, or to express our excitement or alarm about something happening. The room had never been so happily noisy. The experience made me think about my own experience with games.

I actually love games

Although I don’t think of myself as a gamer, I have actually loved video and computer games. During my undergrad, I fell hard for the Sims, and spent blissful early mornings playing, before I had to walk to class. With my brothers, I played Age of Empires on the family desktop, and of course the classic console games of Mario Kart and Duck Hunt. My dad bought me King’s Quest, which I adored, and together we explored the world of Myst.  I remember going to friends’ houses to play computer games that I now can’t remember… there was one where you landed planes on different coloured runways in space.

Benefits to games

Weeks ago, I watched this TED talk by Jane McGonigal – The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life.

She describes a specific mental health app called Super Better, but she also talks about the incredible benefits of games, and in particular their unique abilities to light us up with happiness – the very thing I felt in our class when we played Minecraft together.

Games in the Classroom

I don’t plan to make Minecraft a part of my classrooms right now – the required infrastructure alone is more than I am willing to take on. But I am definitely intrigued to include games in some form in my classroom. Again, I am sent down memory lane, now recalling my own positive experiences with games.

In fourth grade, my teacher Mr. Chin incorporated games in a way that he truly seemed to enjoy, and it was infectious. We played  the classic game Frogger on bulky computers (during breaks? as a reward? I can’t remember), laughing at each other’s efforts to cross the river. We also played Oregon Trail, using one computer. Mr. Chin created teams in which each member was given a specific role. As a team, we had to roll the dice and make decisions to survive. Would we use our money to buy a space wagon wheel, or to stock up on medicine? Again, the effect was noisy, happy, collaborative fun. We were valued both for our individual contributions, and for our ability to make decisions as a team.

As an English language teacher, I definitely saw the class energy zoom up when we played games of any kind, and people’s concerns about being wrong go down.

Going forward, I would like to look for opportunities to insert games, or to gamify activities.

Working with images

November 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Playing around with digital images

In class we reviewed a couple of things. First of all:

  • Pixel-based software vs. vector-based software

My main takeaway was that pixel-based software means that you may end up with big, grainy pixels, whereas with vector-based software, images can be expanded without that side effect. *This knowledge came in handy, as I’ll explain in a minute.

Second, we looked at some

  • Recommendations for accessible image editing software
    • Pixlr (use online through an app)
    • GIMP (free and open-software)
    • Prisma
    • Mirror App
    • And…. PowerPoint! / Google Slides

Google Slides experimentation

I have to admit that I am a bit slow on the technology uptake. Rather, I won’t learn something until I need to. Playing around with possibilities just for the sake of it doesn’t appeal to me. Since I already use Google Slides a lot, and I know that students do, too, I figured I would play around with Google Slides for image editing, much thanks to Michael’s demonstration and own enthusiasm for this hack.

Here are some screenshots of Google Slides that I put together and edited, also using the Explore tool (the tool in the bottom right, which handily offers slide compositions).

I wanted to use Google Slides to make a website header image for this blog.

It took several attempts and playing around to land on this (which may or may not stay as the header image):

Trickiness explained:

  • You can download individual slides as JPEGs or PNGs, but these, when uploaded, get grainy (pixel-based! boo)
  • You can download individual slides as Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) (vector-based!), but you can’t upload those to WordPress (boo)
  • In the end, I downloaded the slide as an .svg, opened it, took a screenshot, and uploaded that screenshot
  • The result is a little grainy, but not as grainy as the original JPEG or PNG
  • Is this the best approach? Probably not, but it does work.

Felt art on the Bridge Studio Crawl

November 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments

An Art Crawl

Friday evening I enticed my partner to come along to Victoria’s Bridge Studio Crawl. There were five art studios on the map, and we managed to get to three before the time ran out. Side note: It was very lovely! People offered us wine and snacks! I wasn’t thinking about possible connections to my inquiry into felting, but lo and behold, there was felt amidst the art.

Connectivity Cloak, by Kim Leslie

This first piece really caught my attention.

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The artist, Kim Leslie, talked to me about the wet felting technique she used to make each small piece (I haven’t tried wet felting yet). They looked like little octopus arms to me. “Dendritic,” we agreed. Kim talked about the vulnerability when it came time to follow through on her vision of wearing the sculpture without anything else.

The artist statement does a good job of speaking to the meaning of the piece.

My reflection was that felting could definitely be used in an art classroom as part of a sculpture course. Students could make their own pieces or contribute to a collaborative one.

Kim Leslie’s website, for more on her.

Multiple works, by Connie Michele Morey

     

I only took photos of a couple of Connie’s felt sculptures. After exploring her website, I can see that felt has been a significant medium. She mentioned at the studio that she is now working primarily with reclaimed materials, such as reclaimed wood and wool blankets from thrift stores.

I took a photo of this artist statement about her piece Cushion, because I was startled to see the language of the art section of BC Curriculum. At first I wondered if this was a piece created by a class. But no, it’s her own piece, to which she’s brought a “Curriculum Big Idea”. Connie mentioned that she also teaches, at UVic and elsewhere. I have always imagined that teachers’ art practices influence their teaching, but I hadn’t thought about teaching influencing one’s art practice.

Again, my reflection is that felting (and other soft, fabric-related materials) can be used in a secondary art classroom.

In terms of reflecting on this inquiry project, it’s neat to see how even without going out to look for answers, I can find them, because I am attending to something.

Review of 3 Podcasts on Teaching & Learning

November 3, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I wanted to take the time to review the collection of Podcasts on Teaching and Learning posted on our course website. In my experience with podcasts, I only listen to new ones based on references from friends and acquaintances. Since I haven’t gotten podcast references from teachers yet, I have to go outside my habits and look for something new. Here we go! Read on for my hot takes on three teaching and learning podcasts:

10 Minute Teacher Podcast

https://www.coolcatteacher.com/podcast/

Pros: Topics range all K-12 subjects, though there’s a tilt towards tech and innovation. A new 10-minute podcast goes up every day Monday-Friday, so the ideas are definitely current. The episodes are stand-alone, so you can skip or choose depending on interest.

Cons: American focus. Host Vicky Davis has a strong southern accent – it might grate on some people.

K-12 Greatest Hits

http://www.bamradionetwork.com/k-12-greatest-hits/

Pros: Curated content. New episodes every 2 weeks, so not so overwhelming. Issues are quite contemporary, e.g. the most current today is “Knowing when to say yes and when to say no to education technology.”

Cons: Again, American focus.

The Five Moore Minutes’ Podcast

https://fivemooreminutes.podbean.com

Pros: Shelley Moore is a British Columbian local celebrity, so yay for local content, with a focus on inclusive education! She keeps it quite real on the podcast. If nothing else, the podcast might prompt you to keep exploring the resources on her excellent blog.

Cons: It is a chatty podcast, so you have to settle in to enjoy.

Reflection

Podcasts are so social! It’s weird to listen to a podcast without someone recommending it. I don’t really know what I’m listening for. I don’t have a sense of faith that I will “get into it”. I feel like it’s unlikely people will listen to these just because I reviewed them. This blog post has really just reinforced for me the importance of having a “professional learning network” or a “community of practice” –  a bunch of professionals interested in the same things – to access new resources and ideas.

Felting project #2

November 2, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Hello, fellow felting enthusiasts. I’m happy to share my second completed project of this inquiry.

As for titles… Fall feelings? Autumnal arrangement?

It’s a simple series of small felted sculptures (that word does sound a bit elevated for what these are) – a pumpkin, a pear, an apple, a leaf, a heart, and a few globes – bound with a piece of embroidery thread.

After mastering the flattened heart for my last project, I felt ready to venture into new felting forms. I did consult this Youtube video to get some useful tips on making the pumpkin.

Many thanks to the video creator, who also, as it happens, has done a cool school project with mixed felting methods.

For the other shapes, I just applied what I knew and made it up. I usually work with collected leaves in the fall, in some crafting form, so it was fun to extend that ritual into a new medium, making the felted leaf.

All of the felt was leftover bits from my last project. Being forced to use colours based on what I had was actually a nice constraint. I’m pleased with the final project, which is now warming up the vibe in my bedroom, which has felt a bit sparse for my taste. Happy autumn to all!

Edcamp in the classroom

October 29, 2019 / / 0 Comments

What is Edcamp?

Based on my understand, Edcamp is both an organization based in the States, and an approach. The idea is that users/attendees/participants can flesh out a conference, rather than receive teachings from experts or consultants.

I think it’s interesting to note that (according to the map on the website, anyway) there are official Edcamps in Tunisia, Bahrain, and Armenia, and of course a ton in the States, but only a couple in Canada – in the grand cities of Winnipeg and Quebec City.

Map of Edtech conferences coming up. Screenshot from https://www.edcamp.org/

Experiential learning in class

We demo’d this in class today.

What went well:

  • Talked to people I don’t usually talk to
  • Got to discuss an idea (potential benefits of hands-on activities for students to keep their hands busy while they listen in class) in a casual, but valuable way
  • Was nice not to feel overly managed by a teacher

What I would do differently:

  • Let people “pitch” their workshops to make the subject more clear

Could you do this in a high school classroom?

Yes!

Make your own Edtech conference

Here are the steps for making your own Edtech conference happen in a classroom (with some elaboration from my own facilitation brain):

  1. Introduce the concept. Explain scope, timing, expectations, how this will go.
  2. Invite ideas for workshops. Have folks write ideas on large stickies or bright coloured pieces of paper. These should be workshops that people can either lead or start a conversation around. *This might be good to let people think about in advance.
  3. Sort ideas into time blocks. Will you have two workshops per time block? Three? Four?
  4. Let folks “pitch” their workshops. This way, attendees will know what to expect.
  5. Go! People facilitate and attend workshops according to the schedule.

Optional add-ons:

  • Include a requirement for when the group comes back. e.g. 3 main takeaways, a sentence that summarizes the conversation, a new question, etc.
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