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Tinker Tuesdays at Denton Public Libraries

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I’m excited to host Tinker Tuesday tomorrow to support Explorium Denton at the Denton North Branch Library!  Anyah Martinez is diligently working to create a Science museum for Denton kids so that children in our community can “experience the wonder and excitement of science, math, and technology through hands-on exhibits, multimedia, and content-rich programs that engage the learner, stimulate curiosity, encourage exploration, and foster lifelong learning.” (Quote from Explorium About Page)

My session for Explorium Denton tomorrow is full, and I can’t wait to see what our Denton kids create with Makey Makey! However there is a lot of stuff to do in Denton in this week.  Check out  WDDI (We Denton Do It) it for more family fun!

Plus, I’ll be at the leading a Makey Makey session at North Branch library on July 7th and an E-Textiles Wearable session July 14th!

Register to attend at Denton Public Libraries webpage!

Visualizing Poetry

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One of my English teacher’s was excited about using a poetry lesson from Dr. Vardell’s Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, but she wanted to take it to the next level with technology.  We collaborated together and came up with this extension utilizing the “Thing Link” app.
Here I’ve visualized the poem “The Deaf Boy” by Marilyn Singer.  We taught the lesson as suggested by Dr. Vardell, and then showed the students how to visualize the poem with this example I created in Thinglink. Once students finished their assignment they scanned a QR code from my computer which directed them to a Google Form for turn in.  This allowed my teacher to have all student project links in one Google Sheet!
Here are the student instructions:
Choose one of these poems and then create a Thinglink to visualize your poem.

  • You’ll need to Find a background image that gives your poem context.  Save it to your camera roll and then open it in Thinglink.
  • Add at least 6 interactive “thing links”  to help us visualize the poem (see example)
  • Put 6 “text bullets” as references next to your interactive link (see example.)
  • Include two examples of alliteration.
  • You must take at least one picture and one video yourself!