June 10th Teaching

Today we planned to teach them how to make a chair using the addition and subtraction method.  Some of the new tools we would be using are construction lines and move/copy.

The addition method is where you make the seat of the chair then draw lines for where the back and legs will be.  Then using the push pull tool you pull the parts into 3d making the look of the chair.

The Subtraction method is where you make a large block and using the push pull tool you subtract out the parts to leave the image of a chair.

This did not work very well and the kids were bad.

June 9th Teaching

Today I was able to get the mice for all the students.  This made life a lot easier for both the students and for us.  They are now able to use the middle mouse button to zoom in/out and pan/orbit around in 3D.  This allowed them to begin to learn the concept of 3D.  This is a conceptual thing that will take a long time for them to learn, if they ever are able to learn it.

We mostly worked on making a 3D cube with holes in all 6 sides.  This was intended to teach them absolute lengths.  They all struggled with this concept and very few of them had anything that looked like mine.  We are planning to use the construction line tool tomorrow to build a chair but I do not feel this will happen.

This was not the best day

June 8th Teaching

I realized the students were struggling with 3D for two reason.  One they were having trouble visualizing in 3D and two they were using a touch pad on a laptop instead of a proper 3 button mouse.  The 3D visualization skills would come with using the software over time so that was something that just needed to be enforced using repetition.  The 3 button mouse problem is something I need to use my networking and resources to rectify.

Instead of jumping right back into 3D without the proper mice for the kids to use I decided to focus on 2D features of the software to teach them the core tools needed to edit lines and objects.  I also began to work with them on layers and objects. 

June 7th Teaching

This is my first time teaching students of this age range, or doing any formal teaching for that matter.  I was not nervous about teaching which I thought was strange b/c I sometimes struggle with public speaking.  It seems that teaching in a classroom environment is a much different situation than trying to stand in front of a crowed and say a rehearsed speech.

I was not here for orientations on Monday so I had to jump right in with the teaching and had no time to coast into it.  The lesson plan was not at all a feasable thing and was written by someone who clearly has no experience with SketchUp.  I had to wing it from the beginning.

I began by showing the students how to draw planes in 2D then use the push pull tool to raise them into 3D.  We worked with using the orbit tool and the zoom in/out tool.  We went over that again and again all day.


It was not a bad day.

Behind Schedule

I have been teaching for the past 4 weeks and fell way behind in doing my blogs.  I have however been with the students 4 days a week for the past 4 weeks so I have plenty of stories to tell in the blogs to follow this one.

Hello World

This is it.  The start of a new class and with it one step closer to graduation.