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A Spark that became a Fire...
It began two years ago. I attended the Technology and Information Educational Services (TIES) in December of 2015. I was inspired by Beth Sletta and Amber Schaefer's presentation, Building an Elementary Makerspace on a Limited Budget. This was the first time I attended TIES as a Technology Integration Specialist and not as a teacher. I was in a new role and feeling a bit lost. This presentation spoke to me. It inspired me. I had spent 5 years prior teaching high school Social Studies along with acting as the high school's Technology Coach. However, most of what I integrated was student creation/presentation tools, G Suite, and I gamified my classroom. It sounds good, but I wanted to be sure that I was creating district opportunities for students to utilize technology alongside problem, project-based learning. This was it! This idea (makerspaces) was going to be my balance.
It took a month to digest what I had experienced. I began to brainstorm an approach. I realized the presentation emphasized limited budget...but let's be real...who wants to be limited?! Before I could start filling out grants and reaching out to local businesses, I needed a vision. My next step was approaching my Superintendent with my plan. He was very supportive and gave me the go ahead to reach out to local businesses and begin filling out grants to fund the program. A month's time had passed and I had sent out flyers and filled out three grants. I had some luck with local businesses but not to the extent I was hoping for. Eventually the school board caught wind of this and was anxious to hear about it. I was nervous. I wasn't sure if they were frustrated with me or excited to see momentum. I attended the next board session and presented the idea of Minnewaska Makery. After a well-received presentation, the board asked how much it would take to get this program going. They put a wonderful budget together to help make Minnewaska Makery a reality! Man, am I blessed to have such a supportive board!
Now that I knew I had funding, I spent the spring educating teachers about this program and asking for junk! Simply put, it is project-based learning with a new spin! It could be high tech, low tech, or no tech! It is about kids exploring, tinkering, failing, and finding their passions! I needed to collect all sorts of things: old computers, DVD players, Legos, cardboard, recyclables, etc. I needed, okay wanted, to buy all sorts of things: makey, makey, 3D printers, 3D pens, Spheros, Ozobots, etc. During the summer, I attended multiple conferences including ISTE in Denver. It was overwhelming to see all the wonderful resources and gadgets that support makerspaces. By the end of July, I was ready to order the supplies I needed to make our Minnewaska Makery a go!
It took a month to digest what I had experienced. I began to brainstorm an approach. I realized the presentation emphasized limited budget...but let's be real...who wants to be limited?! Before I could start filling out grants and reaching out to local businesses, I needed a vision. My next step was approaching my Superintendent with my plan. He was very supportive and gave me the go ahead to reach out to local businesses and begin filling out grants to fund the program. A month's time had passed and I had sent out flyers and filled out three grants. I had some luck with local businesses but not to the extent I was hoping for. Eventually the school board caught wind of this and was anxious to hear about it. I was nervous. I wasn't sure if they were frustrated with me or excited to see momentum. I attended the next board session and presented the idea of Minnewaska Makery. After a well-received presentation, the board asked how much it would take to get this program going. They put a wonderful budget together to help make Minnewaska Makery a reality! Man, am I blessed to have such a supportive board!
Now that I knew I had funding, I spent the spring educating teachers about this program and asking for junk! Simply put, it is project-based learning with a new spin! It could be high tech, low tech, or no tech! It is about kids exploring, tinkering, failing, and finding their passions! I needed to collect all sorts of things: old computers, DVD players, Legos, cardboard, recyclables, etc. I needed, okay wanted, to buy all sorts of things: makey, makey, 3D printers, 3D pens, Spheros, Ozobots, etc. During the summer, I attended multiple conferences including ISTE in Denver. It was overwhelming to see all the wonderful resources and gadgets that support makerspaces. By the end of July, I was ready to order the supplies I needed to make our Minnewaska Makery a go!
Roll Out Year
Minnewaska Makery officially rolled out on October 24, 2016 during our first district inservice day. To set the right tone for the day, I invited Brad Waid (@Techbradwaid) to kick off the day! He did a wonderful job speaking to the heart of makerspaces and edtech. He encouraged teachers to push boundaries and do what's best for kids. Not only does technology enhanced lessons increase student engagement, it also creates opportunities for teachers to connect with students on a whole new level.
Maker MondaysAlthough roll out day went well, I knew many teachers weren't ready to begin incorporating makerspace curriculum into their everyday curriculum. I was okay with that. Change takes time.
I decided to take a different approach to expose students to Minnewaska Makery. After discussing with my administration, we decided to create Maker Mondays. This started in February and ran through April. This occurred two Mondays a month. Students who were meeting or exceeding expectations could leave their classes and participate in Maker Mondays. Maker Mondays was set up as a tech playground. There were five to seven stations set up with various challenges. Some were high tech, low tech, and some were no tech. Learning was self-directed. This opportunity was available for our intermediate, middle, and high school students. Intermediate students could attend in the morning and middle and high school students could attend in the afternoon. This sub program of Minnewaska Makery was widely accepted throughout our intermediate program. Each time I had 30-40 students attend. Students typically stayed for two and an half hours. It was amazing to see students collaborate, communicate, think critically, and express themselves creatively. What was even more astonishing was the fact that they didn't get bored after an hour. Most students stayed engaged for the entire time! Have you ever seen a 12 year old stay attentive to a lesson for 2 and half hours?!?!?!? I hadn't! Curious about how this worked? Check out this Seesaw webinar featuring our Maker Monday program! |
Tinker TuesdaysTinker Tuesdays is an after-school program I created through our Community Education program. It's simple. Students in grades 2-6 are invited to our Makerspace for an hour after school to tinker! This ran from April to mid-May.
I created stations, but I did not have challenges or instructions. Sometimes students just need time to explore and play. This time was dedicated to that. With the success of this program, we are hosting another tinker program through our Community Education program this fall! Maker CampAfter getting 44 kids to sign up for Tinker Tuesday, I knew I had enough interest for a summer camp. However, this time I wanted the program to be centered on a project that would help our community. Our district's Media Coordinator, Deidre Williams, mentioned Little Free Libraries (LFL). I loved it.
I started looking for grants to fund the project. This way student fees could cover compensation for camp facilitators and continue to fund the Minnewaska Makery program. Kari Nelson, a community volunteer, told me about West Central Initiative who partners with Rural Schools Collaborative to fund community projects such as the one we were hoping to accomplish. I applied and they were thrilled to fund the project. I realized I needed to find the right people to assist me with this camp. It was going to be something I had never led before or had done. I am not a power tool kind of gal! I grew up with three brothers. I was a tomboy but never had to be super handy! Luckily, the right people were right in front of me. My husband, Nate Lund (@waskascience5) teaches 5th grade Science and had been my biggest supporter (still is) through this entire initiative. Deidre Williams is our district's Media Coordinator. Not only was this her idea, but she is fabulous with kids. I also reached out to our Industrial Tech teacher, Steve Entzi. He was happy to help and expose such young kids to applied technology. My next "go to" girl was Janelle Field (@msfield5). She is a neighboring district's Technology Integration Specialist and a friend of mine. Now that I had the right team, we needed to finalize plans. I knew I had funding to build three Little Free Libraries. Depending on the number of campers, this would be perfect. However, 10 campers registered turned into 20. 20 turned into 40. And finally a week prior to Maker Camp we had 55 students registered. You do the math---55 campers and three projects. Our groups were going to be too large. We decided to add benches. Steve Entzi provided us with a simple cedar bench design. Minnewaska Area Schools is VERY fortunate to have such supportive businesses. I went to Hilltop Lumber to see if they would donate all materials to build three benches. They didn't even hesitate. With funding and materials figured out, we needed to structure the day. This was a guessing game. Were we even going to get all three LFLs and benches complete? I did have a backup plan if we didn't. Steve Entzi's IT classes would finish them. Luckily, we were able to finish all of them including three extra benches. Words can't explain the day-to-day interactions and the accomplishments of these students. The camp leaders were so impressed. I am excited to see what the future holds for this program. For more details, check out the articles below along with our Community Education's Facebook post. West Central Initiate Events and Resources Blog |