I experienced first hand that students really enjoy the Making process when I made Jitterbot videos with two of my classes. The feedback was that they really enjoyed the process and they liked doing something hands-on. I've reached out to the teachers in my school and several of them have asked how they can have their classes access the Makerspace. In particular I am very excited to have the Band teacher have his music composition class in to use the space to create their own musical instruments, he is equally excited as well!! I have touched base with some of my former students and they would like to access the space as well. I'm really hoping to work on the sense of community in the Makerspace and students teaching each other new things as well as teaching adults!
My first week of school involved a lot of STEM activities in small groups with my classes. Including the paper tower challenge that we participated in on the first day of the Institute as well as designing a container to catch and hold a golf ball made out of straws and tape only. I love these problem solving activities and watching groups of students come up with different designs!!
I really want our school's Makerspace to be a place that is fun but where students are held accountable for their actions. My administration has been wonderful in pretty much letting me do what I want with the rules and requirements for students accessing the Makerspace. Developing the Makerspace Agreement was definitely a challenge but I found that once I sat down and wrote it out it wasn't so bad. I have a very clear vision of what I would like the Makerspace to be and I'm not sure if that is helping me or hurting me at this point. It took a lot of time to set up, organize and the roll out has been equally time consuming. I did not plan to have everything set up for the beginning of this school year but I am doing fairly well.
The Makerspace Hook Video that I showed to the entire school this past Friday left some students a little confused. I think that I should have included some examples of what they can make in the Makerspace. I have not gotten any responses on my Google form, which is disappointing but part of me thought that might happen. So, my plan of action now is to reach out to the faculty and see if they can show a different video that shows more about Making to their AT's this week. I'm hoping this might generate some more interest.
Overall, I think that I accomplished a lot this summer (way more than I was expecting to), but I think that my journey is just beginning. There is a lot more work that needs to be done and I want to make certain that all of my hard work does not go to waste! I know for sure that I will have some of my students Making this year, it might just be a little harder to find those Makers than I thought it would be. I am optimistic that once I get some students into the space and Making that they will be sharing their experience with their friends and hopefully this will help bring more students into the space!!
Here is the video that I created because I will not be able to attend the Hangout this evening!!
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