Reflective Toy Hacking: Maybe the Toys Won't Mind

I’ll admit it. I can be a “yes” (wo)man. I often ask myself if it’s because I’m weak, if it’s my mother’s voice encouraging me to always help others when I can, if it’s because I’m optimistic by nature, if it’s the mentality that if-I-don’t-do-it-no-one-else-will. The answer is usually a mixture of all of these. But being a “yes” (wo)man has allowed me to encounter experiences I may not have found on my own, allowed me to make connections to what is inherently & closely important to me as a classroom teacher thus allowing me to evolve.

In the spring, I was asked to help with a district PD session on computational thinking (feel free to hack my Prezi if you ever need to do one & definitely check out Jeanette Wing to learn more). Knowing little (ok nothing) about the subject I immersed myself into the cybersea of information and emerged three hours later (and with weeks of subsequent exploration) I emerged with new understandings, possibilities and framings of the world around me in the world of CT and its implications in the classroom.

In true fashion, being a “yes” (wo)man in leading this PD, I began to scratch the surface of systems thinking, and in true fashion of evolution, a new environmental factor has continued the transformative process this summer. In the Rhode Island Writing Project summer institute, I’m learning that to understand systems, you may just have to hack them. Recompose. Re-imagine. Remix.

As a part of the National Writing Project’s Massive Online Collaboration and Connected Learning (#clmooc), we’ve been tinkering along with many other summer institute participants and other educators. My understanding of systems has moved beyond what I presented in the spring—thinking about hacking is making me realize everything I know and experience is just a series of intricate, connected systems, recursive, iterative, looping, evolving systems. Whoa. Mind. Blown. (Why again am I not one of those teachers who is “in it for the summer vacations”?)

This morning I started toying around with, well, toys. (Anyone interested in a Hangout sesh with some NWPers, check it out.) I scoured my apartment for old toys with which to tinker. And tinker I did. What was interesting was the process of meaning making that occured as I played. I initially did it because I wanted to just “make” and what was so amazing was how it became a sort of meditative process for me. It became a reflection on myself as teacher and propelled me to make some goals –which I’ll explain briefly after you check out this vine of my process:

Here’s a quick breakdown of how I began to re-mix myself to form goals for the fall:

1) Wonder Woman Body: Long story short, I’ve been obsessed with her lasso of truth, B.A. tiara, and invisible jet since childhood, but as a teacher I will channel her quest for peace, justice, and equality —and I’ll spare you the childhood photo of me in Wonder Woman underoos.

2) Kaleidoscope Head: I will nourish my multiple ways of seeing & problem solving in my own classroom, dept. and school that are sometimes starved by outside forces.

3) Starfish Shield: I will remember my strength to be regenerative. My teacher legs undoubtedly get injured or cutoff but they always grow back.

4) Gumby Axe: I will arm myself with my good heart & flexible attitude.

5) Eeyore “Invisible” Jet: I will remain aware of the self-directed negativity I keep hidden.

6) The Mechanized Airplane Wings: I will continue to embrace technology to help propel me in my evolution.

After hacking the toys, I’m only left with a little regret. . .

But maybe because the process helped me form important goals for next year, the toys won’t mind.