Making Something of a Makerspace

Image from Smith, 2019

In education, trends come and trends go. It seems like as soon as teachers get comfortable, something new comes around the bend, and we have to shift.  Before I jump on any bandwagon, I need to know what it is people are talking about, how it can be used in my classroom, and what I would need to do to get started. 

A Makerspace is one of these new trends.  First appearing in educational worlds around 2010, popularity increased rapidly in the last 10 years.  Is this trend worth pursuing?  Let’s take a look.  

What is a Makerspace?

A Makerspace is a “[place] where practical and artistic creations can be made to gain ... educational and social rewards” (Burke, 2018, p. 1). As STEM gains momentum and education focuses more on creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking, makerspaces are growing in popularity.  Individual teachers are creating makerspaces in their classrooms, and administrators are designating specific shared spaces for the entire school.  In fact, school libraries and media centers across the country are shifting from archives of information to creation centers (Bull et al., 2017).

  

At first glance a makerspace seems like a glorified craft room or a STEM laboratory.  However, Wendy Goldfien suggests that it is much more than that:

A makerspace is not solely a lab, a craft area, a STEM center, a tech room, or an art station, but it can have components of some or all these places. Makerspaces provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering.  They provide a space and time for students to build, explore, fail and retry, and share their ideas with others. The space can be a large elaborate area with 3-D printers, all kinds of technology and interesting tools or as simple as a cart or bins with recycled materials.  (2017, para 1).

Makerspaces and Language Arts

Thought most often connected with the STEM subjects, makerspaces prove beneficial in other subject areas as well.  Nick Provenza, author of Beyond the Poster Board: Project Based Learning in the English Language Arts Classroom, promotes makerspaces in his blog, The Nerdy Teacher.  He demonstrates how makerspaces provide ways for students to use creativity to demonstrate learning.  He suggests that if we want to teach students to be thinkers and problem solvers, we need to give them opportunities to create (2015).

Instead of asking students to write a literary analysis, we can give them creative options.  For example, they might write a song to represent a theme in a story, or make a comic book that captures the conflicts as they are introduced and resolved.  In “Using Makerspaces to Teach English Language Arts Common Core State Standards,” librarian Mollie Hall pointed out, “one of the beauties of making is that there is something tangible beyond a paper or a test that shows that a student has developed a skill and expanded his or her knowledge in the process. It is different from writing an essay, but requires a lot of the same powerful thinking”(2014).

There are a plethora of examples of creative projects that makerspaces would enhance.  One teacher suggested having students create a 3-D representation of a symbol presented in a book (Huddleston, 2020).  They could build the symbol from materials like clay or Legos; or they could design it and print it on a 3D printer (which would exist in my dream classroom!).  In one example, a middle school ELA class used a makerspace to create dioramas of stories they read.  Rather than stopping at the traditional shoe-box and paper cut-outs, they animated their dioramas (Bull et al., 2017). 

What does a makerspace look like? 

Image from "Making Better Teachers"

Creating a makerspace in a classroom doesn’t have to be expensive.  Wendy Goldfien suggests starting with basic recycled items like boxes, egg cartons, paper towel tubes and plastic containers.  A good inventory can also include tape (lots of tape), glue, markers, toothpicks, cups, tools like screwdrivers, pliers and scissors, and craft supplies like feathers and googly eyes.  Parents and school supporters are often great resources to provide donations (2017). 

Conclusion

As I looked into makerspaces, I realized that this is not just a trend that is going to disappear.  Though the name may be new, the idea of implementing creativity in the classroom has been around for decades.  For years, I have given creative assignments as a way to allow students to show me what they’ve learned.  However, I always assigned these as homework.  Adding a makerspace area to my classroom might well go along with a flipped classroom concept.  Students can read at home; they can get the lecture notes from a video, and the classroom might become the creation zone where they can work together, brainstorm and learn.

References

Bull, G., Schmidt-Crawford, D. A., McKenna, M. C., & Cohoon, J. (2017). Storymaking: Combining Making and Storytelling in a School Makerspace. Theory Into Practice, 56(4), 271–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2017.1348114

Burke, J. J. (2018). Makerspaces: a practical guide for librarians (Vol. 8). Rowman & Littlefield.

Goldfein, W. (2017, October 11). Makerspace in the classroom: ideas and tips for Stem Success. GetCaughtengineering.com. Retrieved August 5 2020 from https://tinyurl.com/y2g6syn4

Hall, M. (2014). Using Makerspaces to Teach English Language Arts Common Core State Standards. Library Media Connection, 33(3), 32–33.

Huddleston, L. (2019, July 10).  Using a Makerspace for English and Humanities Instruction.  Edutopia. Retrieved August 4, 2020 from https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-makerspace-english-and-humanities-instruction 

“Making better Teachers” retrieved August 5, 2020 from  https://makingbetterteachers.com/2018/04/15/the-amazing-classroom-makerspace/

Provenzano, N. (2015, April 8). Making is Not Just for STEM #MakerEd. Retrieved August 4, 2020 from http://www.thenerdyteacher.com/2015/04/making-is-not-just-for-stem-makered.html

Smith, A. (2019, January 25). What is a makerspace? Retrieved August 5, 2020 from https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/tips-and-ideas-for-creating-a-makerspace-in-the-classroom-us/

Lightening my Load

 

image from Pinterest

When I returned to teaching high school English more than 15 years ago, I purchased a cart to help me transport my work from school to home each day. My cart held textbooks, my lesson plan binder, multiple unit binders, my grade book, and an expanding file folder, filled to capacity with papers that I had to grade. Because of the wear and tear and the literal weight of my teaching load, I felt lucky if my cart lasted 2 years before I needed to replace it.  I continued to lug this home for nearly 10 years of teaching.  Even with years of experience, I still had books, plans, and papers to grade.  

Now, instead of carrying home a heavy cart, I can bring home one bag holding a file or two of papers to grade and my laptop.  What has changed?  Technology.  As technology has advanced, my load has lightened.  Google  tools have helped me organize, simplify and analyze my work.

Organize

In those early years, I had a binder for each unit I taught. My bookshelf was filled to capacity with JUST my binders. Each year I started with a resolution of staying organized, but the sheer volume of papers that I kept made this nearly impossible.  To find a paper in one of the binders was nightmarish!

Now, I have a Google drive folder for each class I teach;  Each of these folders contains unit folders, and inside each unit folder are all of my teaching materials, texts, lessons, quizzes, tests.  When I can't find a document, a quick search helps me to locate it.  I also try to stay organized by using a consistent naming system with a number and a topic (TKM.01.intro.notes = To Kill a Mockingbird, Introductory lecture notes).  This makes sorting, filtering and finding information super easy.

Being a pack rat by nature, I keep a file called "old documents" inside each unit folder.  When I update or replace documents, I drop the original in that folder.  One of my summer goals each year is to purge the files, removing duplicates and outdated information. 

Simplify 

Where Drive has organized my life,  Google Classroom has simplified life for me and for my students.

One of the major benefits of Google classroom is accessibility (Lynch, 2018); this makes life more simple. A huge feature for me is that students can access Classroom from any device, thus eliminating the need for me to reserve the Computer Lab or a Chromebook cart.  It also has made the work accessible to the students.  Excuses like "I couldn't do homework because I left it in my locker" are no longer viable!  Since I post copies of assignments in Classroom, they can get it any time.  

Classroom also makes communication with students and parents simple.  The stream is a great way to remind students when they have work to do; it also helps them to communicate effectively with each other.  Several of my students used the stream in Classroom to ask questions about homework.  The parent notification feature was wonderful.  The parents could determine how often they wanted summaries.  The most inquisitive could see a daily summary; this prevented them from sending me daily email queries about their children's progress!

Using Google Classroom with Forms reduced my grading load exponentially.  When I make an objective quiz, Google forms can actually grade the quizzes for me.  Even though I frequently make open ended questions on my tests and quizzes, it is still easier for me to grade a form than a paper test.  Instead of carrying home that giant expandable file of papers, I can quickly open the form (or the spreadsheet with the answers), and grade student writing.  Side benefit, I can actually READ their work and never have to mark an answer incorrect because it is illegible! 

Finally,  using Classroom with other Google tools makes the 21st century skill of collaboration super easy (Technology in the Classroom, 2020).  I can share documents with students, ask them to work in groups, and easily see who has added to the document and the conversation.  One of my favorite assignments uses Google Slides as a review.  I share a copy with all students through Classroom, giving them permission to edit.  Then I assign groups of students to specific slides.  I provide instructions in the comments so they know what they are doing, and then they are able to work together in real time.  This worked both in distance learning and in a physical classroom space.

Analyze 

Last,  Google helps me to analyze student work.  First, I can see late and missing work at a glance.  Google classroom has a grades tab that automatically marks missing items in red.  This page also adds a nice little "done late" notice so I could see.  Using Google Forms for tests and quizzes also made it easy to track and analyze the data.  When I noticed that many students missed the same question, I could quickly surmise if the question was bad or if perhaps I had not not taught the material well.   

Conclusion

Even with many years of teaching experience, I still take work home from school on a daily basis.  The difference now is that by utilizing technology, I am able to be more efficient with the mundane parts of teaching (paperwork, grading, filing, etc.), and I can spend my time planning more creative lessons or looking for better ways to approach the material. Teaching will never be an easy job, but, thanks to technology, I can do more in less time!

References

Lynch, M. 10 Benefits of Google Classroom Integration. (2018, September 4).  Retrieved July 31, 2020 from https://www.thetechedvocate.org/10-benefits-of-google-classroom-integration/

Technology in the Classroom: A Look at Google Classroom. (2020, May 19). Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://www.teachhub.com/technology-in-the-classroom/2019/10/technology-in-the-classroom-a-look-at-google-classroom/

   

   

Stand on Giants' Shoulders: Google Scholar Review

A common complaint in the academic world is that College Freshmen arrive on campus with very low informational literacy skills (Taylor, A. 2012; Varlejs, E. et al., 2014). Since Millennials are the epitome of the Google Generation, this fact seems strange.

In reality, just because someone is a digital native, they do not necessarily know how to use all the tools correctly. Children of a carpenter aren’t born learning how to use a hammer; they must be taught. The same tenet is true with Google. Students will not automatically know how to use Google to research; they must be taught.

Google Scholar

A good place to teach research skills Google Scholar, an academic search engine. Utilizing many of the same features as the Google search engine, it will look and feel comfortable to students and teachers alike. However, Google Scholar narrows the search results to a pool of academically viable sources, helping the researcher to find credible sources.

According to the Google Education Center (n.d.), the articles available in Scholar have been indexed and ranked based on the content, the author, the publication date and by who cites it and how often it has been cited.

Features:

With Google Scholar, students can 

• Filter by date to look for current information, or to focus on a particular era
• Save relevant articles to their own library with one click
• Find the appropriate bibliographic information, whether it is MLA, APA, or Chicago
• Gather information about the author; A Simple click on the author’s name will lead to a list of other sources connected to him / her.
• Identify how many other Academic sources have cited this particular source.
• Find related articles.
• Receive email notifications when new articles about their topic are available.

Pros

One of the major advantages of Google Scholar is its easy access. Even when students have access to online databases like EBSCO or JSTOR, they often forget important log-in information. Google Scholar is free to use for all and available to anyone with internet connection.

In addition, Google is a familiar brand to our students; it is easy to use, and when they learn the simple tricks, it helps them avoid the “hassle of searching in numerous places for academic literature” (Bereton). In some ways, it is a one-stop-shopping research experience.

The sources provided are peer reviewed. This helps to ensure the quality of information. Sales pitches, personal blogs and even news media sources are not included in this database.

Cons

Most peer reviewed sources are difficult to read. This makes many of these articles inaccessible to lower level students. Struggling readers often give up quickly when what they are reading is above their comprehension level; Google Scholar will frustrate them.

Some material listed is not freely available to students (or teachers). There is no filter to find only full text sources online. Researchers have to take the extra step to look at the sources to see if a full text HTML or PDF is available.

Recommendation

On the about page, Google Scholar says "Stand on the shoulder of giants" (Google Scholar). Attributed to Isaac Newton, this proverb suggests that we learn more and grow more by leaning on what others have done. Teaching students how to research using tools like Google Scholar enables them to learn more, grow more and do more than we can ever imagine.

This is an essential tool for college bound high school students to learn. Not only will it enable them to practice critical thinking skills necessary for research, it will also prepare them for success in college.

Using the Right Tools: Blogging

I have a small tool kit in my desk drawer at school.  It includes a hammer and a variety of screwdrivers.  I’m set for any emergency ...  until a student creates a hole in the wall when he trips over a desk.  My hammer is not going to fix that hole.  Knowing how to fix a problem means knowing how to use the right tools. 

As teachers incorporate technology into our classrooms, we can’t just add random tools; we have to understand how the tools work and how to appropriate each tool for the right job.

At first glance, a blog seems like an ideal tool for an English teacher.  Where students once wrote a research paper, they can write a blog.  Voila, a 21st century assignment.  However, it’s not that simple! 

When blogging was first exploding on the internet, Vicki Davis, blogger of Cool Cat Teacher, explained that blogs are not meant to replace research papers and other forms of academic writing (2006).  In fact,  she cited research saying that there is “no significant measurable difference in engagement and effectiveness of blogging used in [the] classroom” (2006).

Among the advantages of blogging, Davis notes that a good blog is a “part of a conversation” (2006).  Students can read, write and respond to each other.  This means their blogs should not be everyday expository essays, but rather topics which ignite their passion and enthusiasm and which allow them to express and defend their opinions.

The Benefits of Blogging

Another blogger, Kathleen Morris suggests 18 benefits of blogging that range from expanding new literacies and revisiting traditional literacies to creativity, digital citizenship and global connections.  One of the strongest benefits she gives is allowing students to learn social skills and confidence.  Students are able to practice their conversation and communication skills and they can practice using empathy (2018).  We cannot assume that students are learning these skills on their own.  I need to be TEACHING them how to communicate effectively and how to read and write with empathy.  Blogging gives real world practice. 

So, rather than using duct tape to fix a hole in the wall, I found a drywall patch kit, sandpaper and some paint.  The right tools made a simple fix.  And rather than using blogs to teach students to write a literary essay, I can use blogs more effectively to teach students how to use 21st century skills.  

References

Davis, V.  2006, April 24.  The mistaken identity of blogging: why educators are missing out. Coolcatteacher.com.  Retrieved on 7/21/20 from https://www.coolcatteacher.com/the-mistaken-identity-of-blogging-why-educators-are-missing-out/?highlight=student%20blogs

Morris, K.  2018, March 14. Why Teachers and students should blog: 18 benefits of educational blogging.  Kathleen Morris: Primary Tech. Retrieved on 7/21/20 fromhttp://www.kathleenamorris.com/2018/03/14/benefits-blogging/