This week I have the fortunate opportunity to attend the Juneau Basic and Beyond institute for for K-12 educators. This institute is heavily geared towards integrating the arts and culture into our curriculum. Pursuing my Master’s in Education Technology has created an interesting perspective that I am constantly thinking about while talking about education. I am listening to the arts theories and strategies while simultaneously brainstorming ways to integrate technology.
The other interesting component to being in an arts institute is that I over hear talk about technology. Questions and thoughts come up such as, “I am worried that technology is creating an issue with communication skills.” or “how do we meet our students needs when technology is constantly around them?” My initial reaction is to say that we are doing a disservice to our students by not teaching healthy/responsible technology usage. We are hindering our student’s potential by not letting them be creative with technology. It is in their best interest for us to learn technology and find a healthy balance. However, it is ultimately up to each teacher to consciously decide to embrace the (beneficial) power of technology-- and that is slightly nerve wracking. So what will I do on my end to learn 21st century skills and use them in my classroom? A few ideas gained from Teachhub.com are:
I am in awe of technology and what it can do to enhance current content. The key word is ENHANCE, and not replace. I think this is a common mistake made by some people who are apprehensive with using technology in their classroom. An easy way for any educator to learn simple ways to incorporate 21st century skills in their classroom is a simple Google search. Even when I did this just now I found many new ideas to do in my classroom from the infographic by educatorstechnology.com: Why does “YOUR SCHOOL NAME HERE” need a makerspace?My district acknowledges the importance of a progressive and nurturing school in our world today. The vision statement is as follows:
“Foster each child’s maximum growth in academics, social-emotional and physical wellbeing. Prepare children for their chosen careers, and inspire them to become active, informed community members by providing:
Relevant, innovative, and engaging learning opportunities are the foundation of a Makers Space. Students get choice, which makes the learning relevant to them. They are creating and using their reasoning skills with innovation at the forefront. Lastly, the learning opportunities are endless and inspire continuous learning. During a Makers Space, there is an end goal in sight. Students are expected to use mature and responsible decisions to accomplish the goal of the project. While students may only internalize this as far as the project goes, they are gaining valuable life skills through a Makers Space. We want students to become active innovators and creators rather than passive listeners, and this is exactly what we see come from a Makers Space (Davis, 2017). The third vision of my district hopes for collaboration and outreach from parents and the community. Makerspace is a genuine and authentic way to bring in the outside community. From asking for donations, to bringing in a relevant spokesperson, the community can be directly involved in a Maker movement. Say, for example, students are making robots or learning about circuits. To supplement their making, a computer scientist in the community could come in and talk about how they apply the learning in their daily life. It is a truly authentic learning experience (Fritz-Palao, 2016). The last vision is creating a culture of respect for self and others. When students are pushed to try, fail, and succeed, it deepens the learning and also pushes out the notion of perfection. Students embrace the possibility of trial and error and learn to encourage themselves and others. Although respect, integrity, and honesty are not outright encouraged throughout an entire Makerspace session, they are built within. When students ask for help, they gain the skills of asking for help. As students see other peers move through frustration, hopefulness, and success, they learn to relate and see each other as one and the same. These underlying characteristics of a Makerspace guide students towards unconsciously gaining life teamwork skills. This week was more of a struggle to write about than previous posts. I believe this is because it was genuinely hard for me to imagine and picture a huge Makers Day event that went beyond my classroom.
Perhaps it was our texts explanation of the event that seemed overwhelming. Douglas confirmed my feelings by saying that he thought the text was overzealous with how to make a successful Makers Day event. This made me rethink how I can apply it to my school with more personal and realistic ideas. The text is a good foundation of how extravagant it can be, but each school or community will ultimately dictate the event and the possibilities. Sarah did a nice job of synthesizing her Makers Day and all the details that would make it possible to happen. Her idea of doing it in the summer was interesting and perhaps something that I would now consider doing. The main takeaway from this week is that you can do a Makers Day beyond your classroom. However, to make it successful you need to reach out to your community and parents to find resources and donations. Now that this seed has been placed in my mind, I will be looking for areas, space, or rooms, to hold such an event. For now, I will experiment in my classroom on a smaller scale and look for future opportunities to hold a Makers Day event. What would you need to coordinate a “Maker Day” for your school?With helping hands and some resources, planning a Maker Day can go from daunting to exciting. A few great tips I read from this week’s chapter in Invent to Learn outlined these key ideas:
Yet, a big question after reading all these fabulous guidelines is, “Where do I get the money to do this?” For my Maker Day, in particular, I would start with asking for as many donations around town (and parents) as possible. Since we are in a rainforest here, I’d bank on the side of possible rain so I would take my Maker Day inside. I’d probably give some ideas to the students and let them vote on where to do it. Once we have a place established, a great way for my students to get more involved would be a fundraiser. We do a school-wide fundraiser and I would put those funds towards the Maker Day. I would like my Maker Day to have an intention. This time around I may focus on a real world problem and pose that question the day of for students to create a solution. Pollution, climate change, alternative energies, etc. are some ideas that could create more purpose for the day (Crichton, 2014). Crichton, S. 2014. Maker Day 2014. Retrieved from http://www.itabc.ca/sites/default/files/docs/discover/Final%20MakerDayToolKit.pdf Martinez, S. & Stager, G. (2013). Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, And Engineering In The Classroom. Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press. Kindle Edition. Last school year was my first year teaching. The one thing I wanted to try and do as much as possible was keep my classroom student-centered. I knew that this would help my students feel more accountable for their learning, and lessen the amount of stress or burdens. Needless to say, I came out smiling and ready for year two by the end of the school year. A lot of my first year of teaching involved trial and error. I experimented with my students and tried things for the first time with them. What I didn’t realize I was doing was essentially “teaching more than I know”. Based off of my first account experience, I would highly recommend this to any teacher and will continue to be a learner along side my students. Roles are particularly important for this method. Giving students a job greatly reduces the amount a teacher does or instructs. The learning becomes student-centered and guided. A few roles could be the project manager, the principal investigator, the coach, or the research librarian (Makerspace Playbook, 2013). Once the pressure to do everything is off the teacher, it is easier to focus on the objectives and procedures. This essential question is exploring if it is possible to teach something you just don’t know. The answer, in my eyes, is that a great teacher can learn alongside their students. What better way to help guide and teach than to experience exactly what your students are feeling? As expressed in the Makerspace Playbook, “When running a Makerspace or a class that uses a Makerspace, you may find it daunting to stay ahead of your students. Let it go. The most important thing to know is how to help your kids find answers and connect with expertise. That’s not always so simple, either, but just be reassured that nobody expects you to be an expert in everything (Makerspace Playbook, 2013).” Once we let go of the idea that we are teachers here to teach our craft will expand to greater areas. We are guides and inspirers. We aren’t here to teach all that we know, but rather to guide our students to places they can reach. Part of that means going beyond what we are comfortable and know. What does this look like in my classroom? As mentioned before, roles are huge for partitioning out the work. My classroom will also have a lot of freedom within its walls. This may look like a few objects around the Makerspace table and I will allow students to create and make as they choose with no objective. Further in the year, I will start to create more goals for our Makerspace and classroom involvement. “Pixar uses the term “plussing” to mean finding what’s good about an idea and making it even better (Makerspace Playbook, 2013). Plussing our way through various projects will evolve into a greater classroom community and more ownership. I don’t go into a year knowing exactly what I am teaching and how because the students I receive will have very different needs. That is why teachers of the 21st century need to facilitate learning and customize it to the needs of their students (Daggett, 2010). My classroom is open for growth and improvement for my students and myself. Together, we make the classroom an environment where mistakes are accepted, practice is encouraged, and collaboration is a constant. Lastly, technology is the present day sticks and rocks. It is everywhere. Every child has some gadget or used one before. No matter our feelings towards or against them, they are around and they aren’t going anywhere. My classroom uses these devices for learning, whether I know exactly how to work them or not. There is a difference between putting technology into students hands to teach the material and giving them devices to help enhance their learning experience (Hudson). I’m a lifelong learner and I hope that my students gain these skills too. One way I can constantly encourage this life mindset is by learning alongside of them. I am comfortable with them seeing my failures and successes because it is leading by way of example and giving up the notion that we know it all. Daggett, W. 2010. Preparing Students for their Technological Future. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/Preparing%20Students%20for%20Tech%20Future%20white%20paper.pdf Hudson, H. Do your students know more about technology than you do? Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/do-your-students-know-more-about-technology-you-do/ Makerspace. 2013. Makerspace Playbook: School edition. Retrieved from http://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf Every “fun” thing has the background details that are considered in order for it to go smoothly. Though this part isn’t always fun, it is essential for achieving the best experience. This week was the nuts and bolts, the not-so-fun, part about creating a Makerspace. I realized that in my original post, I had not been as thorough with my rules as I learned from reading other’s blogs.
For example, Douglas gave a great set of safety rules/procedures that will be useful in his classroom. This made me realize that the safety part of my Makerspace was missing and most definitely essential. For my classroom in particular, I will have a small space dedicated to the making area and all students will follow the same rules as when they draw, create, experiment, or fix anything in the classroom. I will go over extra special safety rules when I introduce the circuits and using electricity. After reading Sarah’s blog, I liked how in her rules she also included emotional and mental guidlines such as, “No giving up! If you get stuck, ask for help. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And Collaborate with each other often.” I think reiterating (as much as possible) that attitude and perseverance are important helps students within Makerspace and outside of it. On my poster of rules I will definitely include these very important guidelines/expectations. Ideally, I want to start small with Makerspace and build on top of that. As I add more elements, my rules and guidelines will also evolve. This week helped me see the types of rules that I will start to add once my Makerspace has more options. |