3D Printing with Anakin

Well, we're one week into this adventure, and we've learned quite a bit (although we don't have tech support on speed dial. Yet.)

The printer has been named Anakin. After Anakin Skywalker. (Warning, this is a spoiler alert if you are one of the approximately, um, three people I know reading this blog who have never seen Star Wars...) As everyone else knows, Ani is cute, at first, and very smart. However, he becomes a rather petulant, spoiled brat at times...and that is as an adult....

Sounds a lot like our printer.

It does well on prints it likes, like the Captain's wheel which it has printed numerous times already. Or the cloud spinner for the fundraiser. The elliptical gears are another story.

However, when printing multiple piece prints, or those with small pieces, it throws little clotting temper tantrums at 67%, 84%, even 90%...and no filament comes out. This, naturally, ruins the entire print. Once, when unloading the filament to remove the clog, Anakin had the audacity to have the filament break off in an awkward place. I'm sure he thought it was funny as we had to relay messages across the media center from the circulation desk to the computer nook as we talked to tech support. But the force was with us...we have solutions if he tries that trick again.

Now that we are finally understanding 3D vocabulary like brims, rafts, infill and so forth, we are getting ready to move into the next realm of Anakin's talents: 3D scanning.

May the force be with us.

The infamous clots

Some of the "almost dones"

They look done, until you look at the thickness

(lack thereof)

An attempt at a gyroscope...two layers thick before Ani quit.

FREE BOOKS

For the last few years, James Patterson has been extremely generous in creating grants for books. He has helped numerous school libraries (I applied, but was not a lucky recipient) as well as small, independent book stores. This year's grant contest is a bit different.

While I wish this opportunity was for the library, I love that James Patterson's generosity is extending this year to the classroom teacher's library. When I taught middle school, I had to build my own classroom library, including a collection of Spanish language novels for my low-level English Language Learners who otherwise found book projects difficult to complete. (By reading the novel in their native Spanish, they could concentrate on the writing project in English and, therefore, improve their written language skills on that particular assignment.)

I hope all of my classroom teacher friends and colleagues take the time to read the grant requirements and apply for this fabulous opportunity. He is giving away $1.75 million in $500 increments so you have a GREAT chance to improve (or start!) a classroom library. While only not everyone will actually receive the grants, if you don't apply, you definitely won't receive it!

James Patterson Classroom Library Grants

Let the Printing Adventures Begin

The week before the week before spring break it finally arrived! (No, not the Easter Bunny....our 3-D printer!)

We now have the Da Vinci 3-n-1 1.0 Pro 3-D Printer in our computer nook! It took a day or two to actually read through all of the directions and understand everything, as well as calibrate and level the platform. Then we had to explore the many different possibilities for printing. We are also in the final stages of writing the rules for printing for students.

Yes, students will be able to print on this fabulous new piece of technology! The rules will involve a few things like not designing things that break school rules, the size limitations (it's not going to print a car, for example), and the cost for printing. The cost will allow us to continue to replace the filament. It won't be a money-maker for the library, but we don't want it to stop us from being able to buy books with our regular funding either!

Yesterday we finally were ready to put it to the test...and started with a captain's wheel fidget spinner that will be the fundraiser item for the TSA (Technology Student Association). At first, there were issues. We couldn't get anything to print...we cancelled the print and started over. Still nothing. It was a very frustrating situation.

Finally I took apart the filament cartridge, following steps for reloading it I found on a youTube video, and discovered a kink in the filament that was preventing it from going through the cartridge! Voila! Problem solved and by the second half of the day, we had three fidget spinners printed.

It's So Tweet!

The Library Scavenger Hunt is on, and it's so tweet (-able)!

This week, in advance of our Spring Reading Marathon, teachers, staff, and students are invited to tweet pictures to enter the hunt. (#Agree2Read) Just tweet four of the five pics below to enter and register in the library!

1. Selfie with your favorite book 
2. Selfie with an award-winning book in the library (hint: use the catalog and change the search for awards from unlimited to an award...the Newbery is always a good choice, but not the only choice!)
3. Catch a teacher reading (and it doesn't have to be a book...teachers, this cannot be a selfie!)
4. Picture of a teacher with their favorite book or holding a sign with the title of their favorite book (once again teachers, not a selfie!)
5. Selfie in the library with Captain Corinth (who is not the school mascot nor a staff member...you have to figure this one out but it's worth an extra entry if you succeed in getting 4 of the 5 pics!)

Remember to use the hashtag and to tag @CHHSPirates. Happy hunting!

Friday Funnies

So today I learned a valuable lesson...never leave your phone (even if it's locked) behind the circulation desk during lunch. Usually it's in my office, which is off-limits to students. But due to a need to be accessible for a family situation, I had it with me today. While I was checking fees and fines for prom ticket purchases (before the big price increase), a student who has been hanging out a lot in the library decided to use my photo roll as her photo booth. Less than five minutes and eighty-two pictures later...

First, she showed her boredom in ten of the pictures.

Then she checked to make sure I wasn't able to see what she was about to do in six pictures.

She then started taking about 15 cute pictures. Here's one as an example:

Next she decided to recreate Van Gogh's "The Scream" (a version of which was recreated by a student in our art gallery):

 

No roll of 82 selfies would be complete without at least one (or a dozen) where you stick out your tongue, right?

 

Or do a series of extremely goofy closeups? 

All of these pictures were posted with the student's permission and approval. In fact, she thought it was hilarious to be the subject of a library blog. I, on the other hand, have kept a very close watch on my phone ever since...

Things I Like to Do

Recent happenings that make my job a definite joy:

We just started the Books Ahoy! Cart. This mobile book cart is visiting English classes upon request to allow students to check out books for reading pleasure. Because we are such a large school, not every student can make it into the the library during lunch. Therefore, only 210 students per day can access the library during lunch (often the same students), and there's not enough time between classes to come, browse, and check out a book if a student's classes are upstairs or in the CTE building. Students can email favorite authors, genres, or specific requests for nonfiction and fiction books in advance. Otherwise I have a selection of all genres of fiction books on the cart for their perusal. So far it's been fun with about one-third of each class choosing at least one book. The art teacher and I have plans for the cart's appearance with some reclaimed wood...be on the lookout!

On Thursday, the Foods classes had a guest speaker...a chef, naturally, from a culinary institute. At the end of her presentation and demonstration, one of the Pirate TV reporters challenged her to a pancake cook-off. If you're going to have a cook-off, what do you need? JUDGES! Well, I love to eat pancakes so I became a judge. So much fun. The chef made maple and cinnamon pancakes, using maple frosting in the batter as her secret ingredient. Ethan, the Pirate TV reporter, used chocolate chips as his secret ingredient. For presentation, the chef's experience showed, with her white icing drizzle. But her's was really, really sweet. I had to vote for chocolate!

I also got to share some great info with teachers as the high school DEN Ambassador. We have access to Discovery Education in our county, and there are so many resources other than the videos. It's always nice to show teachers things that will help them in their classrooms. The Spotlight on Strategies section should be in big, bold letters on the home page so teachers see it when they log in!

With my principal heralding the news, I was thrilled to learn I had been awarded an Ed Foundation grant for Live from American History and Silently Going Green Screen, a grant I wrote for expanding my green screen project in the US History and Theater Arts classes. With another iPad on the way and being able to install the Green Screen App and iMovie on all of our iPads (ours are old enough that it did not come pre-installed), greater things can happen with these projects!

The black and white photography is finally being printed as posters and framed to go above the computers just past the art gallery section. It took a year after my vision for the space for it to come to fruition, but thanks to Ethan (yes, the same Ethan who made pancakes!), we have six phenomenal and very large pieces ready to hang. These pieces show parts of student life without actually have students in them so they can be timeless. There are five more pictures to be taken (now that we have lambs in the barn and a greenhouse with plants in bloom...)

Fake News

Although teaching students how to evaluate sources is something I've always done, the fake news situation permeating social media is more difficult simply because it is EVERYWHERE. Before you have a chance to even start to evaluate a news article, it's viral. Sometimes, the mainstream media picks up on a story, adding to its "legitimacy" when, in fact, it's not real.

One story that I've used as an example of just that situation is the Twitter tale of a man on a airplane who is stuck on the tarmac and regaling his followers with the tale of a fellow passenger who is livid at the flight delay. He goes on and on about her action, complete with photos of notes he sends her and the airplane drinks he has the flight attendant deliver. The saga captures the minds of many people and the woman passenger is vilified by his followers as the story goes viral. It runs on the nightly news broadcast as an example of rage over flight delays during the holidays. Finally, the author admits he made the entire story up. All of it.

During the recent political campaign, election, and post-election events, stories abounded about things that happened only for it to be discovered that NONE of these viral stories were true. Some were made up by the "victims" and posted online. Others were "news stories" created by others to stir the controversies surrounding one of the candidates. None were vetted by police, reporters, or the people retweeting, reposting, or sharing on social media. And so the lies were spread world-wide over and over again.

How to stop this? It can't be stopped. How to fight it? Teach ways to question stories on social media with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Here are some articles and resources to help teach students about recognizing fake news:

School Library Journal Article on Fake News

Temple University Fake News Research Guide