Ordering

I never thought spending money could be this hard!  It has always come way too easily for me.  Purchasing items for our new space has proved to be a serious task though.  There are so many steps and things to consider as well.  First there are just so many options out there and we want to make the wisest decisions.  Visiting other makerspaces around us was such a wise use of our time.  We were able to speak to people who have had solid experience with the tools and students.  We also reached out on Twitter for feedback on resources.  More heads is always better than one!

We had a pretty solid list before the money was ready to be spent but once we got down to it we made some changes.  We went through our list line by line in a shared google spreadsheet.  The sheet had links, prices, quantities, and it was sorted by themes.  We wanted to make sure that our space wasn't all techy or all crafty.  We wanted a good balance of themes to attract as many students as possible.  This spreadsheet has been an amazing resource.  We keep vendor information, quotes, invoices, dates of when things are ordered and received, and so much more organized and at all team members' fingertips.

Some companies are way easier to work with.  Some don't accept purchase orders.  This means we have to purchase the item and then be reimbursed.  Our savior has been our colleague, Pam, who does all of the final ordering in the building for us.  She is incredibly organized, efficient, patient, and kind.  We love working with her!

I am also spoiled rotten by Amazon prime.  When I place an order, I am used to some random stranger pulling up in his car and dropping it on my porch within the next day or two.  Sadly, ordering for our school does not work that way.  Even though we order through Amazon, as well as other vendors, the process is much much longer.  Ordering at this time of year probably wasn't the wisest decision either, but we are just so excited to get these tools into our students' hands!

Decisions, Decisions

Our team has been working hard!  We meet weekly and try to make the most out of those together minutes by keeping close communication during the week with shared google drive folders and gmail.  We have so many decisions to make and not much time to make them in.  Above are some images that give you a sampling of what we discuss when we come together.  We never seem to get through it all and feel the time crunch big time!  Throughout this process we keep coming back to our common goals and use the design thinking process to get us through tough spots.  We absolutely cannot wait to see what this new space offers to our learning community!

Marketing and Branding Our Space

We are so happy with how our promo viddy turned out!  Two awesome students and one incredible teacher from the drama department were willing to get creative while staying on script and making this masterpiece.  We spread the video through Twitter, Snapchat, and emailed it out to all staff to share with their students.  

We then pushed out a google form to collect ideas for a space name, a hashtag, and a logo.  We didn't get as much as a response as we thought we might.  Perhaps our timing is off (Thanksgiving week and conferences), teachers don't care (which makes me very sad), or students don't care (more sadness).  Anyway, we did get some responses.  Here they are - 

Stay tuned to see which ideas we narrow it down to and then we'll have the students and staff vote!  You may think, why don't you just pick your favorite?  Why leave it up to the students and staff?  The reason is we want this space to belong to everyone.  It's not ours.  Yes, we are doing a lot of work to make it happen, but it's not for us, it's for all!  

Modifications, Iterate, Repeat

Each week our makerpace team meets over lunch. We have a rolling agenda that is shared and editable by our team. Right now we are focused on ordering materials which entails a line by line review of our original ask. We are making sure we are spending these dollars in the best ways that we can. We are putting some funds aside to order more materials if necessary. We have made some changes on brands after getting feedback from professionals in the field who've been where we are. Several schools we talked to have made the switch from Makerbot to MakerGear.    We are super lucky to have MakerGear right down the road.  The company is located in Beachwood which is right on the other side of town.  We made the decision to purchase one 3d printer along with a two year warranty.  The company was great and provided us a quote with a discount on filament.  We also had to adjust our carving/engraving purchases.  The Glowforge was high on our list and still is.  It is an incredible tool.  However, it's on backorder and we won't be able to get it in until next school year.  We decided as a team that we would put Glowforge aside for now and move forward with a Carvey.  We were impressed by what it could do at many of the other makerspaces we visited.  We feel the carving/engraving is a must as it will produce many products that we can create to sell at our Ranger Shop.  One of our main goals of the space is to promote community and school spirit!  The whole purchasing process is completely intriguing.  First, we need an official quote.  We need to purchase from partners that offer purchase orders as an option for payment.  We need to submit to our bookroom.  Then they submit to our finance people.  Then the invoice is generated, a purchase order is put up, the money comes out, and the order moves through.  It is not like the amazon ordering I'm used to.  Click, click, wait two days, and open box!  Not the case at all when ordering school materials.  This is all the better though because I am learning that my passion and excitement are leading to impulsiveness and impatience.  I need many reminders to slow down, think, reevaluate, and then talk with my team.  It's an incredible learning process which I am excited to share with the students.   Here are some of our purchases!

So, not only are we working on spending our money wisely, we are also trying to promote our incredible space.  It's hard to promote something that isn't there yet though.  We are calling in the kids for help on this one.  We are asking our drama teacher to rally up some kids with energy and a willingness to get really cheesy!  They will create a video to be shown in all classrooms and on the monitors in community spaces like the library, cafeteria, and hallways.  Here are some of the statements they will use to promote the space -

• You can hem your pants.  

• Dresscode problems?  Go to the Makerspace and fix that hole in your pants!

• Need a case for your cell phone?  Design and print one!

• School project blues got you down?  Makerspace that!

• Ever wanted to learn how to code?  Or design a video game?

• Did you forget your BFF’s bday?  Hurry, go make them a light up card and a friendship bracelet!

• Check out some robots!

• 3d print anything!

• It’s in the LRC.

• Hang out.  Free time.  Remember the L Room?

• You don’t have to be super quiet.

• Carve or engrave a gift for your fav teacher!

• Did the travel bug bite you?  Take a trip anywhere on earth with our virtual reality goggles!

• Wanna create a video/podcast?

• Need to charge your phone?  Oh yeah, we’ve got that covered.  You can even use solar power!

• Help us name our new creative space! The winner gets an exclusive preparty with ten friends!!!

• Ask Mrs. Chanter, Mrs. Spurlock, Mr. Petto, Mrs. Storey, or Mr. Kozar all about it!

• A cool space that revolves around learning!

• craft your heart out!

• like legos or knex or coloring or just creating?  Come on down!

• Look for snapcodes in the hall to submit your idea to name our space!

After the video is shown, we will open up the voting via Google Forms.  We are hoping to have a name soon!  Stay tuned!

Makerspace Progress

We are moving right along!  I am fortunate to work with an amazing team of educators on this project.  Our main group is made up of myself and my teaching partner, two classroom teachers, and our lead media specialist.  We are so incredibly lucky to have support from our principal as well.  We are getting a bit nervous about timelines and trying to firm up dates.  Here is what we have so far.

Timeline

Monday January 15 Open to students and staff

Sunday January 14 Grand opening - ribbon ceremony and tours

Friday January 12 Exclusive PreParty!

Wednesday January 10 Final Make the Makerspace event periods 4-7

Tuesday January 9 Team meeting @11am

Wednesday December 20 Second Make the Makerspace event periods 4-7

Tuesday December 19 Team meeting @11am

Tuesday December 12 Team meeting @11am

Tuesday December 5 Team meeting @11am

Tuesday November 28 First Make the Makerspace event periods 4-7

Tuesday November 28 Team meeting @11am

Tuesday November 21 Team meeting @11am - space name chosen!

Wednesday November 15 Initial orders need to be placed

Tuesday November 14 Team meeting @11am

Our Make the Makerspace events will be student centered. We want students to feel like this is their space. We want them to help unpack, assemble, and set up the space. We feel this will help with promotion as well. We will lure them in with the promise of food and the option to get out of their study halls. We want students to help with signage, tutorials, and anything else that might need prepped. We are so excited and want the kids to help spread that excitement!

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.