Makerspaces: Using Literacy to Fuel Inquiry, Creativity, and Student Voice
What is a Makerspace? Why do our students need Makerspaces?
Makerspaces are not about "the stuff" that you put into a space. They are about providing our learners with rich, meaningful, and authentic experiences where they have ownership over their learning. Students learn through exploration and discovery in an area of interest. In a Makerspace, students can actively apply and build upon their content knowledge by designing and creating in an area of their choice. They strengthen their ability to persevere, think critically, collaborate with others, problem solve, communicate, learn from failure, and make decisions.
A Makerspace is Born
Students have the best ideas and solutions if we take the time to ask and listen. Ours came from our annual Innovation Day. Getting to the True Value of Literacy. Learning Is messy, so Let's Make a Mess.
A Makerspace in an ELA Classroom?
As literacy educators, we understand that literacy is a foundation for learning across all content areas and spectrums. When we began investigating turning our classroom into a Makerspace, looking at our content standards, we found twelve that directly supported the work students would do in our Makerspace. In Makerspaces in Content Area Classrooms and Managing the Mess of a Makerspace, I shared how we made this work within our classroom.
Explore, Discover, Challenge
We conducted an interest inventory in order to design learning opportunities for our learners. Then they were given time to explore with new tools (or familiar tools in new ways) and challenged to solve problems with challenge cards. Then learners created a plan for their Makerspace project and informational writing piece.
Applying Strong Literacy Practice
Like any of our other writing projects, students began by exploring mentor texts and constructing an understand of How-To informational writing. We also read and discussed many books that demonstrated the importance of creativity, problem solving, inquiry and perseverance (Beautiful Oops, Iggy Peck, Architect, Rosie Revere, Engineer, Ada Twist, Scientist, Mistakes that Worked, The Dot, Ish, Sky Color, Going Places, What Do You Do With an Idea?, What Do You Do With a Problem?, The Most Magnificent Thing). Students created a rubric that would assess their level of mastery on ELA standards. We regularly conferred with students.
We noticed as students began documenting their projects via photography or video, the quality was exceptionally low. Since this could affect the quality of their audience's understanding of their writing, we conducted a 5 minute photography lesson.
Paying it Forward
Students need a chance to share their learning with others. Third graders were our audience. My learners chose how they wanted to publish their final writing for their third grade friends and then presented their writing and their Makerspace projects to them.
This is a Blendspace of all the resources we used for our Makery. All resources created by @Caylyn_Harden.
Additional Makerspace Resources:
My Makerspace Pinterest board
ReMaking Education: Designing Classroom Makerspaces for Transformative Learning
Making Way for Makerspaces
Maker Ed
How to Create a Makerspace in Your School Community
Why the 'Maker Movement' is Popular in Schools
Instructables: Let's Make
Makerspaces are not about "the stuff" that you put into a space. They are about providing our learners with rich, meaningful, and authentic experiences where they have ownership over their learning. Students learn through exploration and discovery in an area of interest. In a Makerspace, students can actively apply and build upon their content knowledge by designing and creating in an area of their choice. They strengthen their ability to persevere, think critically, collaborate with others, problem solve, communicate, learn from failure, and make decisions.
A Makerspace is Born
Students have the best ideas and solutions if we take the time to ask and listen. Ours came from our annual Innovation Day. Getting to the True Value of Literacy. Learning Is messy, so Let's Make a Mess.
A Makerspace in an ELA Classroom?
As literacy educators, we understand that literacy is a foundation for learning across all content areas and spectrums. When we began investigating turning our classroom into a Makerspace, looking at our content standards, we found twelve that directly supported the work students would do in our Makerspace. In Makerspaces in Content Area Classrooms and Managing the Mess of a Makerspace, I shared how we made this work within our classroom.
Explore, Discover, Challenge
We conducted an interest inventory in order to design learning opportunities for our learners. Then they were given time to explore with new tools (or familiar tools in new ways) and challenged to solve problems with challenge cards. Then learners created a plan for their Makerspace project and informational writing piece.
Applying Strong Literacy Practice
Like any of our other writing projects, students began by exploring mentor texts and constructing an understand of How-To informational writing. We also read and discussed many books that demonstrated the importance of creativity, problem solving, inquiry and perseverance (Beautiful Oops, Iggy Peck, Architect, Rosie Revere, Engineer, Ada Twist, Scientist, Mistakes that Worked, The Dot, Ish, Sky Color, Going Places, What Do You Do With an Idea?, What Do You Do With a Problem?, The Most Magnificent Thing). Students created a rubric that would assess their level of mastery on ELA standards. We regularly conferred with students.
We noticed as students began documenting their projects via photography or video, the quality was exceptionally low. Since this could affect the quality of their audience's understanding of their writing, we conducted a 5 minute photography lesson.
Paying it Forward
Students need a chance to share their learning with others. Third graders were our audience. My learners chose how they wanted to publish their final writing for their third grade friends and then presented their writing and their Makerspace projects to them.
This is a Blendspace of all the resources we used for our Makery. All resources created by @Caylyn_Harden.
Additional Makerspace Resources:
My Makerspace Pinterest board
ReMaking Education: Designing Classroom Makerspaces for Transformative Learning
Making Way for Makerspaces
Maker Ed
How to Create a Makerspace in Your School Community
Why the 'Maker Movement' is Popular in Schools
Instructables: Let's Make
Please stay in touch. I would love to continue these conversations. You can follow me on my blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com, on Twitter and Instagram @juliedramsay or on my Facebook author/educator page, Julie D. Ramsay.