The work of creating the Makerspace in the LMS Media Center is underway. {I donated my office after being inspired by Shannon Miller at ISTE.} The custodians have moved the bookcases and file cabinet, and will hopefully remove the old bulletin board soon. This week I’m going in to empty out my desk drawers and refill them with tools, paper, and other supplies, set up the green screen along one wall, open up the broken sewing machine (for makers to perhaps repair), draw a welcome sign on the white board, and put out the boxes. “The boxes” you ask?

I’ve left these items in their boxes, patiently awaiting tweenage hands to free them, because what better way to say, “This is your space for creation and exploration!” than to allow students to unwrap, put together, log in, and otherwise parse out how to operate the new toys, tools, and apps that are there? (When I approached my principal about creating the Makerspace, this is precisely the concept that sold him.) 

So often, as teachers, we learn all that we can about a new tech tool, use it ourselves - figuring out how it will best work, and then share precise directions with our students - encouraging them to follow our steps precisely so they will be guaranteed success. The mission behind the Lockerman Makerspace is to have a place where students will feel free to be creative, experiment, and take ownership of their learning. Not only will I be handing students responsibility by having them unpack and assemble the new technology, but I’ll also be teaching them that learning occurs as much in the mistakes as it does in the successes. Stay tuned for updates.

If you have any successes or ideas to share, I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

One of my big takeaways from ISTE is the desire to create a makerspace in my media center. I've done some reading on what constitutes a makerspace, how to work with limited space and budget, how to create time for students to utilize it, etc. I've also been scouring my Twitter feed for information on how other folks are implenting makerspaces in their libraries. This morning I was stopped by a Tweet from @mmooresjc about her blog posts on SAMR and Makerspaces. 

I have yet to read about her makerspace because the SAMR post stopped me cold. Megan Moore organized her lessons in an infographic to show how they related to the SAMR model. Genius! Her graphic communicated SAMR implementation to me in a way that helped take my understanding of it to the next level. I also had a couple of "A-ha moments" as I processed her blog post. 

"A-ha" moment #1 was that I need to remember that I am a visual learner and should actively look to gather information of a graphic nature to better my own understanding. Sometimes I forget that learning styles are not just for students. I am a reader, and tend to gather information through books, articles, etc., but in truth I learn best visually. If I were planning a lesson for my students, I would include graphics to help explain what I am teaching, so why not do it for myself?

'A-ha" moment #2, was that I should create a planning template so that I can better understand how the activities I plan relate to the SAMR model. I'm sharing my creation below, with a download link beneath. Thank you Megan Moore for the inspiration!