{"id":860,"date":"2013-10-17T19:21:33","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T23:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ivyrun.com\/wordpress\/?p=860"},"modified":"2013-10-17T19:21:33","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T23:21:33","slug":"unstructured-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/?p=860","title":{"rendered":"Unstructured Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was just thinking about getting ready to head to the after school program when I got a text indicating they were going to have to cancel. I was a little disappointed as I had pulled together some digital cameras and was hoping to work on some digital storytelling using Scratch as the production tool&#8230;get the girls interested in programming by building on their interest in digital media. I had spent an hour or so today creating two ideas for using digital photos in Scratch:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Farming Friends:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"485\" height=\"402\" src=\"http:\/\/scratch.mit.edu\/projects\/embed\/13337290\/\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Farm Slide Show:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"485\" height=\"402\" src=\"http:\/\/scratch.mit.edu\/projects\/embed\/13335462\/\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So, I kept working on them a bit, adding code to make sure they reset themselves when the green flag was pressed. I figured the girls could remix my work, thus learning both about the Scratch community and getting to see some code they can work with. <\/p>\n<p>I finished tinkering and realized I had unstructured time. The last time it happened, I had to listen to <a href=\"http:\/\/ivyrun.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/19\/coursera-drop-out\/\">a Coursera lecture<\/a>. Today, I really could take a break from responsibilities. What to do? The dogs benefited as they got an extra walk before their supper. And my kitchen floor got a much needed cleaning.<\/p>\n<p>But I was also able to escape upstairs to my makeshift sewing room where I&#8217;ve been working on my first quilting project. I had bought a kit for a small wall hanging several years ago and decided this would be the year I finished it, intending to give it to my mother for a Christmas gift. I had cut squares and done some sewing over the weekend but today&#8217;s job was to start creating the whole piece. I pretty quickly discovered just how badly I had done with the initial cutting. Some squares were more like rectangles, points didn&#8217;t match and after sewing two rows together, I found that one of the blocks was positioned incorrectly, a mistake that pretty much doomed the project. I could have taken it all apart but that wasn&#8217;t going to solve the poor cutting. I used a rotary cutter but just wasn&#8217;t as careful as I should have been. I&#8217;ll finish it as it is good enough for me but I&#8217;m going to try another one to give as a gift. This time, I&#8217;ll be better focused on the cutting, first taking some time to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sewmamasew.com\/2010\/04\/quilting-basics-preparing-cutting\/\">read<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/voices.yahoo.com\/how-square-fabric-cut-accurate-quilt-squares-1439107.html?cat=24\">tips<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sew4home.com\/tips-resources\/sewing-tips-tricks\/quilting-basics-part-1-tools-cutting-piecing\">experienced quilters<\/a> who are willing to share their secrets online. <\/p>\n<p>A well-made quilt has a clean, neat look that results from clean, neat cutting. I knew that and yet it took failure to bring the lesson home. It&#8217;s tempting to give it up and go back to crocheting, a craft I do well, but I&#8217;m determined to master this new craft. Thank goodness I&#8217;m not being judged on my first effort.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of lessons for educators here&#8230;first, the unstructured time and the chance to choose my activity, and then the chance to fail. We don&#8217;t allow much of this in schools since we are so focused on measurable results. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was just thinking about getting ready to head to the after school program when I got a text indicating they were going to have to cancel. I was a little disappointed as I had pulled together some digital cameras and was hoping to work on some digital storytelling using Scratch as the production tool&#8230;get &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/?p=860\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Unstructured Time<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[115,2,161],"tags":[282,205],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity","category-education","category-programming","tag-quilting","tag-scratch"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4X3L0-dS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivyrun.com\/inanotherplace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}