by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
After a great couple of weeks immersed in different learning experiences and conversations, I’m taking a step back. I’m left with thoughts and remnants of moments rolling around in my head. People who are asking for help. They’re leading a charge at their schools for a makerspace, and some of them got that role without asking. It’s clear, schools are clambering to get a space in their school where creativity is the focus.
A space where kids can go do stuff.
A space where they put a 3d printer.
A space that looks fun and different.
A space where this “thing” called making can happen.
But how is this space going to change learning across curriculums? A colorful room stocked with stuff is just that… stuff. We’d never expect a smoother ride from a car that was freshly painted. Internally, inside that car, we’d need to open it up and make improvements.
Are we willing to open up what we’re doing in our schools? Are we willing to push back against the test score monster that pushes down on us with stifling pressure to earn points? Are we willing to make creating, designing, and making possible throughout our schools? We have to be. The alternative? I’m not willing to accept a future like that. We can’t be.
Our kids, every last kid in our country, deserves the very best. A colorful room that looks like a children’s museum and more importantly, a curriculum that IS the real world and gets them fired up for learning. And more importantly, fired up for life.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jun 23, 2016 | Uncategorized
Did you ever watch a kid figure something out? It’s magic. Engagement is obvious. Mentally and physically the kid is “all in.” There is something so great about a kid creating with a pile of raw materials, solving a problem in his or her own way, or inventing something that doesn’t yet exist.
All of these thoughts have sent me back to reading the work of Seymour Papert. His legacy is well defined in this article. It amazes me to think that before I was born, Logo was invented to be used by children. The vision of knowing that the benefits of having children program the computers, rather than having computer teach them was alive in the group creating Logo before schools were even filled with computers.
And here were are. Fast forward years and schools are embracing the idea of the makerspace. But are they embracing the ideas of Seymour Papert and Constructionism?
- Are these spaces becoming places where kids can construct their own meaning, or places where they can use kits to put things together?
- Are kids coming up with their own ideas, solving real problems, and connecting with problems in their world?
- Is the makerspace a place where kids are exploring, dreaming, and doing or is it a place where kids are following prescribed recipes to jump through “standards”?
- Are we reserving open exploration, discovery, and creativity for one room in the school?
- Is the goal to order tons of gadgets and deploy instruction or is the goal to provide resources and let kids decide how they are used?
- Is the idea of ‘making” about making connections and creating understanding, or just making stuff that doesn’t have underlying meaning?
I feel like the whole idea of a makerspace is a real chance to bypass the crazy stringent limiting curriculums poured on our schools and get to the heart of real, true, authentic learning experiences. Flashy kits are exciting and who doesn’t get caught up in gadgets? But, the real magic in making is in Papert’s Constructionism and his words:
“The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.”
It is those very thoughts that can allow any space in your classroom, hallway, or school to become a makerspace. And I think the best thing we can do is continue to be thoughtful about what that means. What real learning is. What kids need. That’s when the magic will happen.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jun 19, 2016 | Uncategorized
At the airport ready to board. Beyond words grateful for this amazing opportunity. Happy to be in a school where the very work I love to do is exactly what I get to do. These adventures are not about me. I’m not chasing a title or a keynote contract, I’m chasing the chance to make learning right for the kids in classrooms all over who are waiting to be rescued. “They’ll be fine,” you may think to yourself. But being fine is not okay. They contain dreams, hopes, and ideas that need to be released because THAT is the very thing that is going to benefit us all, especially that kid. So maybe the daily grind of separate subjects and assessments and all of it works for some kids. But that’s a big risky maybe to play with. But maybe there is something better for many kids. Something that will help ALL kids feel a part of school, a part of community, a part of the world we need them to be ready to change. These people I met this week, inventing the future right before our eyes? We need them. Education and industry, teachers and inventors, we need each other. Teachers in private schools, teachers in public schools, teachers who homeschool. We all need each other. Our country was built on the freedom and the idea that everyone brings their talents to the table and we build, together.
I often wonder what path will help me make the most change, the fastest. And maybe that’s been the wrong question all along. Should I take that book offer? Should I sign on for that keynote? Should I go to that conference? I’ve been asking the wrong questions.
What can I do today to make learning better for the kids and teachers right in front of me and how can I share it so that, just maybe, I’ll help others who lack the resources, who dream of more, and who need help? Today. Not next week, not next year. Because being IN it? That’s the most important thing. Whether I’m in the White House (pinch me, right?) or in my classroom, blogging to clear my head, or in a waiting room answering an email for a teacher asking for help. In it.
And all I can say is I’m all in. Not for me, but for the 8 year old staring at worksheets trying hard to be “fine” but screaming on the inside. And I don’t even know exactly what tomorrow looks like. But that’s okay. Today I’m asking the right question.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jun 18, 2016 | Uncategorized
You might be reading this thinking, I don’t know how to program an Arduino. Maybe you are thinking, I don’t even know WHAT an Arduino is. But, do you know kids? Do you know your students, like on a level of building a strong relationship with them? Listening to them. Understanding their passions. Connecting with them through tiny conversations day in and day out. You do. That’s what we do as teachers. We KNOW our kids.
Our kids have stories inside them. Making will help them release it.
You don’t need a degree in engineering, an expensive set of 3d printers, or even a certificate declaring you a maker. You ARE one. Connect with your kids and share your stories. Because in those stories, created with tools, and shared with the world? That is the very thing that connects us all to who we are and brings learning alive.
Pick one lesson to get started. Exchange a worksheet for a pile of cardboard to create with. Instead of asking kids to “do a worksheet” about a reading story, ask kids to design an invention to change the character’s life. Encourage them to work in teams, think deeply about the story, and invent. Let them share their inventions with the class via a presentation, or even better, let them blog about it and share with the world. Start with this one small thing. Because that’s how stories begin… they just get started.
Start your story. Make school more.
Happy National #WeekOfMaking: Day 1. Join the conversation on Twitter. Use the hashtag #WeekOfMaking. I’m committed to generating a culture of sharing for elementary and primary teachers using the hashtag #elemaker. I started this hashtag because I believe that we are better together. Join in and share. Making is NOT just for middle school or high schoolers. Making is about the very fiber of what our young learners need. Bringing their dreams to reality by creating them with their own two hands. That.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jun 18, 2016 | Uncategorized
Today I sat in the White House listening to the President’s Proclamation of the National Week of Making being read. Yeah, I’m still asking myself if it all really happened. I heard from inspiring makers from around our country doing the daily work. Work that is changing lives. Work made of their passions and poured from their souls.
We sat within the walls of buildings that were made. Created. Built brick by brick, hand by hand. Just as our country was so many years ago. As it was said today, “This country was built by makers.”
But our schools… In a system that sometimes feels like a speeding train going downhill, we’ve got to find a way to reverse it, to let making in. Every school. Public. Private. Charter. Opportunity for ALL of our nation’s kids. Not because it’s trendy or because it’s a buzz word. Because there are kids RIGHT NOW waiting to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Kids searching for community. Kids desiring the chance to create. Kids who need an adult who believes in them to look them in the eye and invite them to change the world.
Read the full text of the Proclamation here. For the next week, to celebrate the Week of Making, I’ll be sharing something each day. Let’s make school more. We’re in this together.
