Closing Statement

This project has been a great experience as I continued to work on something I was passionate about but also learned how to use various artifacts that can be useful in my teaching career. I was not aware of the majority artifacts used during this project so it was great to become familiar with them making me feel #techfab. I can now use these in the classroom to digitally provide learning material for the students. For example, YouTube would be a great medium in the classroom to use to teach students in an engaging way. I can also introduce these artifacts to students where they can create something that is related to what we are learning such as collecting descriptive words from the students to describe a specific subject and display it using Wordle.

Feel free to explore my pages on this blog to witness my creations using different artifacts as well as seeing my process and findings throughout this project.

Genius Hour Coming to an End

My Genius Hour is now complete! My question has been answered, my artifacts are completed and shared, and now it is time to reflect. This has been a great experience as I got to spend time on something I love, DIY projects. It was an enjoyable experience researching online for helpful ideas from other people's DIY project. My mess on my desk and in my closet is now gone thanks to the storage solutions I have created. I was able to successfully create two DIY projects using recycled materials for storage purposes - thus deeming my Genius Hour a success! I wanted to create two projects to really test how possible it is to use recycled materials to create a storage solution. Therefore, I have found that recycled materials can be reused to create numerous useful items.

Artifacts Galore

As I come to completing my Genius Hour, artifacts have been the main source to share my findings. We have used numerous artifacts thus far such as Google Slides and PowToon to introduce our projects. To display my process and findings I have used iMovie to edit my movie trailer and share my process in making my DIY projects by creating a "How To" video. I also used Wordle to display important and key terms that revolve around my project and caught myself saying a lot. Currently, I am working on my TED Talk. I decided to use a program called GoAnimate, which allows me to use visuals such as sketches to illustrate what I am talking about. I then will add narration on top of the visuals to further explain my Genius Hour findings and experience. All these artifacts will be useful for the classroom and I am glad I had to opportunity to explore and create projects using them to give me a better understanding of how to properly use them.

Genius Hour Creations

As week four has past, a lot has been completed towards my genius hour project.

First step was to see what possible materials I have in my own recycling bins that I could use to create some storage items. After getting dirty and searching through my bin I found great items that were recycled which I can use to make my DIY projects. The photo on the left shows the items I have chosen from my recycling bin that I thought would be helpful in creating my projects. It mainly consists of cardboard pieces and a plastic container. 

Second step for the week was to brainstorm ideas of how I can use these materials to create storage items for my closet and desk. For added motivation and idea building, I used my research from last week to get ideas of projects I could possibly create. I then envisioned a desk organizer that could store writing utensils as well as other stationary items. For this I used the plastic oatmeal container as a pencil and pen holder and parts of the ziploc cardboard box were attached to the side to provide some extra storage for miscellaneous desk items. I then visualized a project for a shoe organizer to neatly store shoes. I got this idea from a more expensive shoe organizer I saw on Pinterest which used wood panels with wood sticks to hang shoes. I used the cardboard box for the structure and glued on slots from the egg carton to act as a hanger for shoes. 

Third and final step of the week was to physically create these two projects while documenting the process which can be displayed for my final project artifact. The only challenge that came across while making these projects was with the shoe organizer. I aimed to have twelve shoe hangers all together. However, while building it, some shoe panels were shorter than others making it too tight for shoes to properly fit. Therefore, four panels had to be taken out which resulted in a total of 8 hanger for shoes. The photo on the right shows how the shoes did not fit properly with the short panels and how I had to alter the project so shoes would fit properly. 

Overall, my final products have been created which I now use daily to help store my belongings. My goal for next week is to record my TED Talk as well as prepare to share my process of creating these projects in a presentation using an artifact of choice where my two projects will be revealed!   

Saying Goodbye to Messy Closets and Desks

Throughout this third week, it has been all about research for my genius hour. I have been researching different DIY project ideas to create that only contain recycled materials. Parts have been challenging as the more upscale projects contain more expensive materials. In addition, I found many projects that were decorations rather than storage solutions which posed some difficulties as well. However, I finally had some success and found some possible DIY project contenders mainly to provide closet and desk storage. Many ideas were found on Pinterest which I found to be extremely helpful.

Closet storage projects include shoe organizers and belt hangers. These projects are made from cardboard which can be easily accessed from the recycling bin and decorated with any materials from around the house. These storage solutions will be handy as they also act as organizers for the closet.

Many desk projects were found that helped store desk items such as writing utensils and stationary items, and paper or files. Writing utensils and stationary items can be stored by using either cardboard, tin cans, or plastic bottles to act as a holder. Paper and file storage can be made from using cardboard where it can make stackable slots to store these items. Both of these storage projects are created by using recycled products which fulfils my genius hour requirements.
Here is a project that helped get my creativity flowing for possible DIY ideas for desk storage.

From this point, I have decided to attempt to create both a closet and desk storage solution. To help decide what project I will actually create, I looked at what my needs are. For example, a lot of my shoes are scattered in my closet as I have no place to put them but the floor. Therefore, I need a storage item to place my shoes in and keep organized. Furthermore, I see my desk area is in dire need of more storage for my stationary items as I have many pens and pencils on my desk as well as scissors and paper clips since I have no place to put them. The photos to the right visually explain my storage issues that I need to fix.

My task for the upcoming week is to gather as many recycled materials as I can that I think will be useful in creating these DIY projects. I will also come up with a general idea of what I would like my projects to look like based off the recycled materials I find. Time to go digging in my recycling bin!