BubbleUp Classroom
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials

BubbleUp Take5: Top Tips for Starting A Makerspace

3/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
This past weekend, I had the honor of serving on a panel at the NoVa Maker Educator Meetup, a new part of the annual Maker Faire NoVa. I represented middle school making and spoke along side public educators from elementary school, high school, and higher education; we were joined by maker facilitators from private school, community spaces, the public library, and a children's museum. It was very cool to be part of these conversations, the first of hopefully many more coordinated efforts of this group.
This week's Take5, expands a bit on something  I mentioned at the Educator Meetup: getting started. We began planning the Kilmer Library Makerspace a bit over three years ago and these are my top five tips for starting a makerspace.
PictureCamelot ES Makerspace
​Visit other spaces
Your first step should be to visit other makerspaces. After seeing makerspaces pop up in library literature, my first makerspace adventure was a visit to the Camelot Elementary School Library Makerspace; I consider librarian Valerie Jopeck (now our district's Elementary Library Specialist) one of my makerspace mentors. It was incredibly helpful to see her space and how it was organized and to talk to her about the kinds of lessons she was doing with her students. I learned how she was supporting curriculum, facilitating critical thinking and encouraging creativity. Even though we teach at different levels, a visit to Valerie's space helped me start think about what this could look like at my middle school library. Checking out Nova Labs, a local community makerspace, also helped me begin to envision our program.

If you cannot find a makerspace nearby, visit and connect with other makerspaces online. Laura Fleming's 2014 post titled "If You Let Them Build It, They Will Learn" helped me to visualize her space and understand her set up of fixed and flexible maker stations. Fleming has since written a book called Worlds of Making: Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School and offers makerspace-focused PD.

Other other ongoing virtual makerspace visits of mine have included:
  • Stewart Middle Magnet School through librarian Diana Rendina's site Renovated Learning
  • Colleen Grave's makerspace program at Ryan High School (and formerly at Lamar Middle School)

​Go to a Maker Faire
As I was planning our makerspace in the winter of 2014, I got lucky. The first ever NoVa Mini Maker Faire (this faire has since lost its "mini"and is now officially called Maker Faire NoVa)  took place just ten minutes from my house.  My advice to you if you are thinking of developing a makerspace (or maker programming): get yourself to a Maker Faire. They are all over -- and undoubtedly, you will be able to find a Maker Faire held near you.

Attending Maker Faire NoVA allowed me to explore all different kinds of making. I played with LittleBits and Squishy Circuits. I saw drones in action and discussed upcycling. I checked out robots, tinkered with a Makey Makey and watched earrings being made on a 3D printer. Most importantly, I was able to talk with everyone from student makers to educators to vendors, learning from their experiences and gathering ideas.
PictureSusanna & I at Maker Faire NoVa. Photo by Valerie Jopeck.
Find partners
It's hard to go at any new initiative alone. In your makerspace effort, it's important for you to find partners and supporters in your local school community. As I was planning our space, I immediately reached out to friend and colleague, Brian Herberger. At the beginning of our makerspace journey, he was our School-Based Technology Specialist, a teaching position in charge of supporting technology in instruction. He was a obvious collaborator on our makerspace project, not only due to his technology skills, but also because Brian is a natural maker -- he builds things, crafts things, creates things. I, on the other hand, am not the kind of person who nails together a bookshelf or hems curtains; I am learning on this journey alongside my students. Brian has since moved into a district-level position, but is still invested in our space -- stopping by to visit, checking in with our projects on Twitter, and recently building us a table top loom.

​My current makerspace partner is my co-librarian. Susanna Carey. New to Kilmer this year, her energy and excitement has helped re-invigorate our makerspace program. Can you have two partners? Sure. Or three? Even better. But I believe that partnering with at least one other person will help you be more successful; a partner will provide a sounding board, share ideas and planning, and serve as another adult person in the space when you need it.

Start small
You can start a maker program in your school without any space or money. Even if you have space AND money, it might make sense to start small as you figure things out. You can begin maker efforts with a few bins of materials and some challenges or task cards to accompany those bins. My original plan was to use a large abandoned TV cart to house our maker supplies. It was going to be a mobile "makerspace."
  • Baker-Butler Elementary School Library: Maker Tubs
  • Teach Outside the Box: STEM Bins
  • Mobile Maker Spaces (School Library Journal)
I think it's also important to start where you are comfortable. Are you interested in sewing? Woodworking? Crafting? Is coding your jam? Begin with something that is fun for you and share that with your students. Your makerspace efforts can easily grow from there.
Involve your community
Pulling together our makerspace would have been impossible without the support of our school community -- students, families, and staff. We received donations of old equipment for our students to take apart, LEGOs, Snap Circuits, PVC pipes, cardboard tubes, crafting supplies, storage bins, and more. A simple call out in our PTA newsletter brought in all sorts of things. If you don't have a school community who can support this effort, local craft stores, flower shops, electronics outlets, and hardware stores may all be willing to give you scraps to support your efforts. People want to help and love sending their donations to a place who will use them, appreciate them, and reimagine them.

Donations of time are also incredibly meaningful. You may have a community member who can teach your students 3D design or bicycle maintenance. One mom recently spent hours in our space, sorting, organizing, and labeling all of our materials -- it was such a gift. And, perhaps most importantly your students have skills they would love to share with their peers -- putting kids in leadership roles allows them to really own their space.
These start-up ideas are relatively simple, but I hope they help get your feet wet.  And please know, that our doors are always open if you would like to come see our makerspace at Kilmer Middle School!

Happy Making!
​-Gretchen
Kilmer Library Makerspace

You might also like:

  • BubbleUp Take5: Writing, Art, Growth Mindset, and more (January 24, 2017)
  • BubbleUp Take5: Positive Nudges, Cardboard, Meditation and More (October 31, 2016)
  • Making Our Makerspace Even Better (June 14, 2016)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Who We Are

    Picture
    Corey Thornblad
    Teacher 
    Picture
    Picture
    Gretchen Hazlin
    ​Librarian
    Picture

    Picture

    Join our list!



    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All
    Activism
    Adminstrators
    Assessments
    Back To School
    Balance
    Best Practices
    Books
    Brain Breaks
    BreakoutEDU
    #bubbleupthx
    Cell Phones
    Civic Engagenemt
    Classroom Design
    Classroom Management
    Coding
    Collaboration
    Community
    CREATE
    Critical Thinking
    Curation
    Design Thinking
    Discipline
    Discussion
    Distance Learning
    Edcamp
    Equity
    Field Trips
    Flexible Seating
    Flipped Classroom
    Genrefication
    Gifted
    Gifts
    Google
    Grading
    Gratitude
    Growth Mindset
    History
    Homework
    How-to
    Images
    Inquiry
    Interview
    Joy
    Kindness
    Leadership
    Librarians
    Library
    Literacy
    Makerspace
    Math
    Mental Health
    Middle School
    Mindfulness
    Movement
    New Librarians
    New Teachers
    Orientation
    Parenting
    Pbl
    Physical Space
    Pln
    Podcasts
    Poetry
    Primary Sources
    Problem Solving
    Professional Development
    Project Based Learning
    Questioning
    READ
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Research
    Rubrics
    Simulation
    Sketchnotes
    Social Emotional Health
    Social Emotional Learning
    Social Studies
    Stations
    Student Centered Learning
    Student-centered Learning
    Study Skills
    Summer
    Take10
    Take5
    Teacher Appreciation Week
    Technology
    Teens
    Testing
    Twitter
    WRITE

    RSS Feed


Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials