Wednesday, February 13, 2013   This school year I am having
trouble motivating my students. My robotics after school class
seemed to begin strong. There was the initial enthusiasm and
oohs and aws when I got out the supplies, described
possibilities for potential robots, showed some videos of robots
that students had made in the past, pointed to all the different
ways and places the students could look for inspiration. But by
the second month in I had more students just sitting there
waiting for me to tell them what to do next then ever before.
In the past I have relied upon the interests and enthusiasms of
the students to inspire each other. To gravitate towards other
students doing projects that looked interesting, to start up
their own project based on an idea shared in the room. This year
I seem to be drawing a blank stare when I ask the students about
what they are interested in, what ideas they have, what types of
things they might like to explore.  I enrolled in the online
seminar called "Learning Cre