Professional Learning for Busy Educators

In a thriving makerspace, there is a balance.  Design challenges allow students to work together on a similar theme coming from a design prompt.  The challenge creates constraints, but not necessarily structure. Workshops are focused more on learning a specific skill.  Usually everyone makes a similar project. There is more guidance and structure to these activities, much like guided projects.  Open Exploration, on the other hand, is a time with little structure.  Students can express their voice in choosing what tools and materials they use, what they want their projects to be.  What they make could be practical or whimsical. It could be for a class or it could be a way to express their fandoms.  Ideally, a makerspace should have a balance of open exploration, workshops and design challenges, although the proportions of each can and should vary depending on school culture and programs.

"The gingerbread man sure is popular this time of year. Kids will love this simple gingerbread STEAM challenge!

 Are you up for the challenge? Can you build a house for a gingerbread man?"

"Makerspace is a rapidly growing trend in schools across the country, but to be honest, I’ve never implemented one myself, and I can’t quite picture the logistics of orchestrating a Makerspace. How do kids know what to do? How can you find out what they’re learning? How do you make time for that with all the other tasks crammed into the school day? And how do you keep the Makerspace from turning into a chaotic mess?

I wanted to get answers to these questions from teachers who have extensive Makerspace experience, and not just at the secondary level. So, I invited Cheryl Nelson and Wendy Goldfein of Get Caught Engineering to share how they’ve managed Makerspaces in their own classrooms and helped other elementary and middle school teachers get started, too. Thank you, Cheryl and Wendy, for sharing your experiences below!"

I work part-time with elementary learners – with gifted learners during the school year and teaching maker education camps during the summer. The one thing almost all of them have in common is yelling out, “I can’t do this” when the tasks aren’t completed upon first attempts or get a little too difficult for them. I partially blame this on the way most school curriculum is structured. Too much school curriculum is based on paper for quick and one shot learning experiences (or the comparable online worksheets). Students are asked to do worksheets on paper, answer end-of-chapter questions on paper, write essays on paper, do math problems on paper, fill in the blanks on paper, and pick the correct answer out of a multiple choice set of answers on paper. These tasks are then graded as to the percentage correct and then the teacher moves onto the next task.

So it is no wonder that when learners are given hands-on tasks such as those common to maker education, STEM, and STEAM, they sometimes struggle with their completion. Struggles are good. Struggles with authentic tasks mimics real life so much more than completing those types of tasks and assessments done at most schools.

Problems like yelling out, “I can’t do this” arise when the tasks get a little too difficult, but ultimately are manageable. I used to work with delinquent kids within Outward Bound-type programs. Most at-risk kids have some self-defeating behaviors including those that result in personal failure. The model for these types of programs is that helping participants push past their self-perceived limitations results in the beginnings of a success rather than a failure orientation. This leads into a success building upon success behavioral cycle.

I’ve spent a good part of my time in the classroom before Spring Break making videos with my students using MySimpleShow, a new way to creatively craft content into brief, engaging videos.

I must admit… now that I’m on Spring Break, much of my time has still been devoted to putting together videos sharing parts of our vacation and watching my own children’s videos.  Once you start, you’ll see how quick and easy it is to do.  Oh… I almost forgot one of the best parts.  Not only is MySimpleShow easy to use, it’s free too!

"This is the perfect STEAM Challenge for the chilly weather we are having! It will teach students all about why we put salt on icy roads during winter.

Are you up for the challenge? Can you determine what makes ice melt faster?

This challenge will take around an hour to complete. "

Three years ago I shared my Makerspace Starter Kit with you or what I was buying to boost our Makerspace area using four empty Library study carrels that no longer held desktop Macs.  That post has been consistently one of the most viewed posts every week for years and years and with more than 83 THOUSAND views I thought maybe it was time to update it. * 

Since then, I've had some Makerspace successes and a couple dismal (and expensive) Makerspace failures!  So, it's time I updated this post for ya'll giving you the good, the bad, and the bloody awful!

It’s an age-old saying, “Give a man a fish, and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and feed him for a lifetime.”

What separates good teachers from the excellent ones? The excellent ones are handing out fishing poles; creating a culture in the classroom of independence and self-reliance. These students don’t just recite facts or regurgitate information- they have learned how to learn. They know that if the answer isn’t in front of them, they have the tools to do the investigation and research.

So how do you cultivate a culture of “I can…” in your classroom?

I've been thinking about Makerspaces lately and the role they have been playing  in my educational adventures. I have been advocating for schools to look into Makerspaces as a way to promote this creative spirit. I believe that a space can help support ideas that students have and can draw reluctant learners in to try new things, but the mentality needs to be the focus. I started to think really hard about what makes up the Maker mentality to me. I'm sure there are people that have come up with a list of things that define the mentality, but that does not apply to everyone. Making is about creating your world and I think that includes what the Mentality is for you and your learning community. Here are some things that I think make up my Maker Mentality: