by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 23, 2015 | Make, Maker Spaces, Tinkering
I’ve gotten several emails after my last post and they all ended with the same line, “Where do I start?” It can be overwhelming to start by Googling “makerspace.” What do you most often see? That stark modern space with expensive 3d printers. But that? It’s not the reality of what making in the classroom can be. I know the constraints faced by many of us in education, and I’ve lived them before. You make do with what you have, get creative, and repurpose existing materials to MAKE making happen in your classroom. You gotta start somewhere, right?
1.) Make Space: Dedicate an area. Do you have a corner you can spare? A table that’s available? A carpeted spot that you can put an old coffee table on with a colorful coat of paint? That’s all you need.
2.) Organize The Area: Create some bins, boxes, or storage containers with materials. Yard sales and thrift stores are perfect for finding old puzzles, Legos, blocks, fabric scraps, and more. Cardboard is free! Those bins? They could be shoeboxes covered in colorful paper with a label on the end. The idea is to inspire kids to dream, invent, and explore. The materials available are important, and starting with simple materials will allow you to get your feet wet, while students dive in. Labels can be simple printouts on white paper, taped to the boxes with packaging tape.
3.) Go Digital: Start a digital maker space. A blog on your classroom website, an Edmodo group, or even a simple Smore page that you update each month. Post a monthly maker challenge and ask kids to bring their creations in and share them. Making is far more powerful when sharing with others and inspiring your kids to make outside the classroom is a great way to get them excited about learning around the clock. It’s not for a grade, or for a test. It’s just pure fun with creating and problem solving along the way. One idea for the Monthly Maker Challenge might be: Design an item of clothing that solves a problem that you have. Build a prototype. Students could even share on your digital maker space – providing them a chance to share their voice with the world.
4.) Ask for Help: Invite students to share their ideas and materials for making. Kids can bring in recycleable materials, boxes, scraps, and newspaper. Let parents in your classroom know you are dedicating a space to creativity and would love some extra materials that they no longer need.
5.) Reverse Engineering: Add some old tech that can be tinkered with and taken apart. Art created with an old keyboard? Circuit boards turned into a robot? Kids will love exploring the insides of tech.
6.) Integrate the Space: As students get into the space, you’ll find standards are being delved into left and right. When a student builds a light up contraption, she can create a how to tutorial for others to follow. Measurement, collboration, and presentation skills are just the tip of the ice berg to the real learning that can occur. That book you are reading this week? Ask students to design a house for the character and then use LED lights, batteries, and copper tape to make the house light up. Better yet, leave it open ended and ask students to create something that represents the book. You provide the space and materials, students can provide the imagination.
That’s a tiny start that’s manageable and can allow you to provide students the space to freely explore. What might happen over time? New materials can be introduced. Kids will be motivated to create more. The area will flow into the larger classroom throughout the day. And that? It’s the very best thing that could happen. Because the learning that occurs when students are making, designing, exploring, problem solving, and creating? It’s authentic and it’s the stuff great learning is made of.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 17, 2015 | Reflect
Don’t try to put making in a box. Don’t make it a kit, standardize it, and water it down. Don’t develop a canned-for-sale-program out of it. Don’t make it a packet to sell on website. Don’t reduce it to a moment in a day, a day in a week, or a kit from the shelves. Don’t make it into a program that a school has to pay billions to be a part of. Don’t reduce making to that “thing” that happens in a certain room or a certain space or once a month. Please just don’t reserve making for gadgety electronics or robotics. Don’t just call it STEAM.
Making is connecting, interpreting, and building a relationship with the world.
Let’s make school more about making. The mathematics and patterns in sewing, the joy in colorful art, the visual beauty in cooking, painting, the science of mixing colors, the music of sculpture in the wind, the flow in writing from the imagination, the collaboration in developing something together, the spark in sharing cardboard creations via Skype, the motivation in sharing with the world, the engagement in raw discovery, the fun in tinkering with a pile of junk, the passion in an idea grown from a seed, and the excitement in untouched exploration.
I could go on. I won’t. Just please be careful that when you are looking for places to add “making” in your school, and be sure that what you are doing is actually making school more for kids, and not just a place to label or check a box. Because only then will the opportunities unleash the true power of making in the souls of the learners who walk our halls.
And that is exactly what the world needs more of.
At least that’s what my soul is telling me these days.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 14, 2015 | Reflect
I have always loved a great sunrise. Something about it is so full of hope. As the darkness falls away and the rays light up the sky, dancing in the clouds, it’s like the world’s details start smiling as they grow brighter. But, I’ll never look at sunrises the same again. I love them even more now.
The words I heard were loud. But I was also pretty sure they were totally wrong.
I’d been so busy living my life, I hadn’t realized it at all. But I’m not a person who lets things stop me – not this – and this stuff? I wasn’t letting it stop me either. I had decided all of that the second I acknowledged what I heard: “You may be depressed.” I didn’t truly understand what these words meant.
I also refused to believe it.
How could I be depressed? I live in a world of bright colors and I love life. This was wrong. I wasn’t even sad. If I was sad, I would be crying. Wouldn’t I be crying? Sure that lists of “things” describes me, but lists can be wrong. As creative as I can get with a Sharpie, it turns out I can get just as creative as making reasons for things I don’t want to believe.
I wanted it to be wrong. I needed it to be wrong. After so much, I needed my life to resume it’s “regularly scheduled program” where I work hard and play even harder. But, I was stuck. And I was so stuck I didn’t even know how stuck I was. And that? It’s the worst kind of stuck there is. Because you often can’t see the sun when the clouds are in the way.
My family needs me. My daughter needs me to be there for her as she navigates life. My husband needs me. Um, I needed me. I love being there for others. And now? I couldn’t even be there for myself, much less anyone else. I have dreams that wake me up in the morning, thinking of what school can be and what I believe in. The dreams were lost in a cloud of darkness. A cloud way bigger and different than just sadness. Depression is not sadness. And the sun? It wasn’t even in sight. And I hadn’t even realized it until I heard those words.
So, I worked on it. I kept going. I relied on others. I asked for help and I let people help me. And I’m sharing more. Even if it’s uncomfortable. Especially because it’s uncomfortable. And because I want’ people to understand that you never truly know the silent battles others face.
And now?
The sun is back out. It’s brighter and more beautiful than anything I’ve even seen before. That’s the thing about real joy. You might take it for granted, until it’s stolen from you. As the darkness falls away, those dreams I have are all still there, and even clearer than before. I’ve missed them.
The fear that the darkness will come back is there, but the courage to share my journey is bigger than that fear. I share because courage is louder than fear and because somewhere, someone will read this and hear the exact words I once needed to believe. You are going to be okay. The darkness will go away. Time will pass, distance will provide clarity. And when you see the light around you again, you will feel it. And somehow, it will be brighter, sweeter, and even more full of joy than before. And this struggle you are in the midst of? It’s worth it.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 13, 2015 | Integrate, Make
Making is not just about STEAM, reserved for science class, or even meant to be just an activity for after school. Making across the curriculum can change the way students are thinking, interacting, collaborating, and engaged. Gather some simple materials, offer students the chance to design, create, and dream up a new way to engage and connect with the world. For example, integrating making into reflecting on a favorite book, creating to demonstrate a concept visually, investigating and interpreting the use of materials to show thinking? It takes learning to a whole new level, allows students to drive, and best of all? It can be FUN! It can be overwhelming to look at the products and projects floating around the internet and people often ask, “Where do I even begin?” Here are a few simple ways to get started with making in your classroom – no matter what subject you teach!
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Chibitronics Circuit Stickers: These little LED stickers, when paired with adhesive copper tape can make a super fun way to create light up art. It’s a great idea to sketch out the design first to help determine where to place the tape.
Project possibilities: Add lighting to a map, design and build a cardboard house and wire it yourself with paper circuits to add lighting – you could even find the area and perimeter of rooms in that house and determine how much it might cost to wall paper it! Create a poem and light up the rhyming words. Write a book, create the pages, and add lights. Create a light up graph with your data for a presentation.
Little Bits: Snap together magnetic modules for instant connection and cause and effect exploration. Power + Input + Wire + Output. Make adjustments and choices in the module you use, and the possibilities for creative fun and design are endless. Bits are reusable, easy to tinker with, and ready to go when you open the box upon delivery.
Project possibilities: Create a monument for a famous person you are studying and add a part that spins or lights up. Choose a favorite book character and incorporate a sensor, Mp3 recording of the character talking, and a speaker. Instead of just filling in a diagram of the life cycle of a butterfly, create a working, spinning model to show a scientific concept. Develop a weather detector by using the CloudBit, IFTTT.com, and the number output.
Pop Up Circuit Cards: This isn’t a kit, but there are lots of ideas around the web for getting started with creating pop ups. Add a few pop up books to spark the imagination, and some plain paper to practice folding, and get started. Add in some basic LED lights, copper tape, and simple batteries and light up designs make for even more fun. The Chibitronics shared above could work great for this, too.
Project Ideas: If one character gave a pop up card to another character, what would it look like? Create a pop-up Haiku or other poetry. Instead of a presentation with keynote, design a pop up to tell the story. Experiment with 3d shapes and take math to another level. Since pop-ups have an outside of the card and an inside, design a cause and effect story, a before and after tale, or an abstract to demonstrate a concept like water cycle or plant growth.
ArtBot: Using basic parts and some markers, design a robot that moves his way around to create art. There are tons of project ideas all around the web, and be sure to let kids experiment with different parts, markers, and designs.
Project Ideas: Experiment by timing the art bot for a designated amount of time, measure the circumference of his design. Analyze the data and create a graph to compare with a friend’s design. Learn more about friction by experimenting with different surfaces or writing materials. Write a story about the adventures of Art Bot.
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These ideas will help get your students (and you!) started, but don’t stop there. As the comfort level increases, open things up even more. The next time a student asks, “What if I….?” be open to saying, “Find out!” or if someone asks, “Can I…?” Ask yourself “Why not?” The most frightening thing as a teacher can be that relinquish of “control,” but the reward for opening the door to student driven learning is waiting – and worth it. All you have to do is get started.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 11, 2015 | Reflect
Where have I been? Living under a rock? Or just complaining about standardized testing? It’s like I just woke up today and felt my purpose. This past week at #CMK15, while I can’t even fully explain it just yet, I was reminded or perhaps even taken to a new level of understanding of everything I believe about teaching and learning. Because I became a learner again. It was hard, it was fun. It made me think….
The world IS our makerspace. Can we stop arguing about adding letters to STEM, STEAM, STREAM, or even STCVLGSTESMFAWQZ. Okay, I made that last one up, but seriously, let’s just connect kids with EACH OTHER and THE WORLD and stop trying to name it.
Never alone. At all.
You can’t. You know, you can try, but then you aren’t really thinking about thinking. I love this.
Um. Yes. The role is NOT to print out things from the internet and to give kids ipads filled with apps that only ask for regurgitation. The role is way bigger than that. To give kids anything less that the chance to invent is to terribly underestimate ourselves as educators and our kids as learners.
Probably the number one thing I couldn’t stand about teaching in public school… follow this guide, do this book, this way, at this time. It squelched learning and to be honest, it squelched my soul. And this quote, um, yes.
More play.
If we aren’t helping our students get involved in work they can care about, we aren’t helping our students.
Making. Living. Sharing. This video (link goes to the trailer, the full movie is available, too.) inspired me beyond words. It is why I will continue to share, forever.
Everytime a [LARGE COMPANY SELLING ASSESSMENT PRODUCTS WITH MUNDANE LEARNING EXPERIENCES] sells something, a learning moment dies.
This. Yes. Here.
Mess. Always. [Hang THIS or THIS in your classroom, free, shared because we need more sharing.]
And because of the great week, I will continue to share, grow, and learn. If you teach primary or elementary, please join the conversation that’s been started at #elemaker. It’s all #makered, authentic learning, and targeted to our youngest kids. None of can change it all alone. But we aren’t alone, are we? And that? It’s the hope that keeps us going.
