Am I a maker? Maker mindsets need apply.

Am I a maker?

Truth be told, when I was first asked to answer this question as part of my #EDUC5199 course, my immediate response was... no. No, no, nodedy, no, NO!

We run a makerspace in our library learning commons at school and I immediately compared myself to our students. And there is no way that I am as talented as they are...I mean...I can only dream about understanding what the heck they are talking about half the time.  And I felt guilty about that. Why can't I make like them?

Let's take my daughter as another example. She's always making stuff. Out of anything! And she's particularly most pleased when we get cardboard boxes. While her brother is playing Minecraft she's making....stuff.

When did I loose my excitement for making just for the joy of it? When did I become so concerned about what I could and couldn't do? Am I projecting this sub-consciously to the students I teach?

Clearly I am in need of a new maker mindset.

After some more reflection I realized that this wasn't the case. I am a MAKER....just of a different kind.

I make movies and visual aids to differentiate for the needs of my students in order to reach and teach them. If I get inspired by a speaker, or if there is something important I want to say I make an infographic on Canva and tweet it out. Whew...feeling better now.

And I can make some of the things my students are making ... I just have ... a different entry point. Recently I gave up learning how to knit using needles and have discovered finger and arm knitting. I was pleasantly pleased with my first two attempts...and just bought a few more balls of yarn to try my next project.

Attempt #1 

(See? Why did I say attempt?!!? This is something I MADE!!)

Makerproject Extraordinaire  #2

I am a maker.

I can do things.

I can show our students that it's ok to not know, it's ok to make mistakes, it's ok to learn and and that we can go through this together to re-discover making simply for the joy of it.

Because if we're all together in this .... who knows what we can do next!

Next step...get my son to teach me more about Minecraft.

 I.
CAN.
DO.
THIS.

(This one is just because I love Star Wars :)

Maktivists, Hacktivists or a Combination of Both?

One thing that particularly struck me during this week’s readings for my #EDUC5199 course was Steve Mann’s makivists definition: people who “are authentic and committed to making things for social change” (Mann, 2014) and how this relates to the current craze in adopting makerspaces in our schools.

I follow Laura Flemming on Twitter - she’s been running a makerspace in her high school learning commons in New Jersey for several years. She is also the author of Worlds of Making. A lot of people, (myself included) have incorporated makerspaces in their learning spaces that allow students to explore different tools that interest them and that they are passionate about.

This tweet really changed my thinking about our makerspace and what it provided our students.

When our makerspace first opened, instead of honouring our students voices - we set up challenges for them to complete. How do challenges honour their voice and creativity and allow them to authentically commit to the learning process? I would argue that it doesn’t and doesn’t honour Mann’s “learn by being” which I interpret as learning about things by being fully engaged and immersed in the learning process - it’s almost like you ARE the process. Students should be able to make mistakes and guesses without the burden of worrying about whether or not “challenge requirements” are being met. Learn by being means being free to make, mistake, and re-make. And the result? Something wonderful that might not have been discovered before. Our makerspace now focuses on true open exploration, inquiry and tinkering which Mann says that a makerspace “should all be about”.

I found the differentiation between maktivism (the making of physical objects) and hacktivism (the making of digital objects) intriguing. As making evolves, I see these two worlds converging even more in the future so that one will eventually become the making process of the other.

We are beginning to see this approach to blending both maktivism and hacktivism in our learning commons. The Raspberry Pi and Arduino lend themselves quite nicely to this. Students have to actually create circuits, attach wires, cameras, sensors and the like but also have to code a program in order to make their invention work. While only at the beginning stage of our e-textile exploration, we could be soon blending physical making and coding when using the Arduino LilyPad and LED lights as well. (Right now we are only building basic circuits using conductive thread, LED lights and 3 volt batteries)

Imagine if were are able to provide our students opportunities to learn not only maktivism but hacktivism skills? 21st century competencies? What inventions we might see!

Revelations in Making

Over the holiday break, I read a tweet from Laura Fleming (one of my many Maker gurus) that really "challenged" my thinking about our maker space, the language we use and the importance of student voice.

Now, I am no stranger to Laura's planning process for makerspaces and really thought I had considered all aspects in our school's makerspace design. I really thought I had it figured out!

And.....,no. No, I didn't.

We had created a virtual space to support our physical one so that students could access resources, share and contribute ideas and continue to make in and outside school hours. While all of this sounds great, there was one thing missing,

And that was their voice.

Even though students were (and still are) free to choose the resource they'd like to explore, I had created "challenges" for them to complete. How was I honoring their creativity and imagination by directing them this way?

I wasn't.

Upon returning to school after the holiday break, we sat all our makers down, talked with them about the space and their aspirations for it. We cleaned up all the "challenging" language and activities in our virtual and physical spaces with a focus on open exploration using the language "What do you want to make?"

While I don't believe that our journey will ever be over, I do believe we've taken a step in the right direction. 

It is my hope that our makerspace will always be a "work in progress".