MakerSpace Creation

I'm in charge of a new project.  I've been asked to create a MakerSpace in our high school.  So, I gathered information, asked the my internet pals for help, made some site visits, read the blogs of people who've been in my shoes, and started making plans.  I formulated a list of things we'd want in our space.  I paid special attention to details and organization in the sites that I was able to visit.  I asked for advice.  I asked what they would do differently if they could.  Then I got busy.  I created a presentation with all of my information.  I created an ask.  I went before the Lakewood Ranger Education Foundation and presented my work.  They liked it.  They said they wanted to support it.  It's going to happen.  We have the support.  We have a strong team.  We have a solid plan.  I am ecstatic!

Attached here is our presentation.  Inside you will find examples of other MakerSpaces, the mission of our school district and the foundation, and a working budget for our new space. 

One of the visits stood out considerably.  Case Western Reserve University's Think[box] is absolutley amazing.  Here are some photos of this state of the art space. 

Stay tuned for progress on our new space!  The big check gets cut next week!  

😁

Hack Your School District

I’ve been teaching for nearly twenty years.  There have been stretches of time when I just did my job.  I went through the motions, complained about things that bothered me, but did little to fix it.  These days, I’m trying my best to solve problems rather than just complain about them.  I look at other people’s complaints as a gold mine for opportunity!  The reason I wanted to speak about hacking your school district is because I believe we have so many amazing people working in our school districts.  We have a huge talent pool to draw from to help solve our problems.  My target learner audience is teachers.  They are in the trenches.  They know best what our students need.  However, most teachers are so busy, they leave little time to grow.  Some teachers are too intimidated to propose change.  Teachers can take solace in the fact that by giving the students some of that workload, they are in fact helping them grow.  The learning objectives for my talk include providing rationale for teachers to question why things are the way they are.  I want teachers to not only question, but to look for answers, and to work with the district to solve problems.  I give several examples for ways that some districts are already successfully implementing these changes.  I believe this is an effective way to teach my objective because it a very cognitive piece.  Hacking your school district takes some thought, some reflection.  Getting the seed planted in teachers’ minds that they can make a difference is my objective.  I believe my podcast can do that.  I started my podcast with a jarring word - hack, to gain attention.  I also engaged the listeners in a game of “what if”.  The point of the game was to get the mind reflecting.  I next explained that my audience was teachers.  I told my audience that they need to speak up to initiate change.  I continued by starting with the first hack which also recalls prior learning - Have you ever?  Next, I went on by giving the following examples of appropriate instructional content -

• doc cam/ipad
• Google yearbook project
• Google school photos
• scoreboards/projector
• reduce printing, copying, paper use, & expensive machine purchase, with apps like Google Classroom
• ebooks

In closing, I reminded teachers to be proactive.  I encouraged them to spark innovation and to include the students as well. I hope my podcast can help teachers take the first step towards change.  

Click here to listen to my podcast, Hack Your School District.