I just finished watching Yumi Lee’s amazing TED Talk on “being a maker.” Unlike many other TED Talks, this one is done by an elementary school student, that shared the stage on that same day with educators, administrators, and numerous other professionals. She has a powerful voice with an important message.
This weekend, I’m organizing our full school Maker Day for June 28th. While I stand behind the Maker Movement, I have to wonder if we really need Maker Spaces, or instead, classrooms that embrace the Maker philosophy.
Last month, I attended EdCamp Mississauga (#edcamp905), and I participated in a session on Maker Spaces. I listened to and saw examples of many incredible things that are happening in classrooms across the 905 area code, but I believe in the words that I shared on that day: a play-based Kindergarten program is a classroom Maker Space.
- We don’t need a separate Maker Space area.
- We don’t necessarily need technology. (In fact, on our Maker Day on Tuesday, all classroom iPads will have been returned for the summer, and all of our Maker stations are low-tech ones.)
- We don’t need “making” to exist outside of the curriculum.
Instead, I think that we need to develop a Maker culture in classrooms. We need to encourage thinking, problem solving, creating, and a real world application of learning. I think about the examples that Yumi shared in her TED Talk: from the baking she did as a three-year-old to her drawing blog to the songs and drama created in the shows with her parents and siblings to the creation of her current business — Yumi’s Dozen. Then I think about what happens in our Kindergarten classroom every day thanks to the benefits of play.
- We have baking and cooking.
- We have building and creating.
- We have drawing, painting, cutting, and gluing: creative work that all looks different and is driven by student interests and desires.
- We have dancing and song writing.
- We have puppet plays and dance shows.
- And we have students that ensure that all of this work is captured — in photographs and videos — and shared on our class blog, so that they have a real audience for their work.
During these regular, every day making times, we teach.
- We work with individuals and small groups.
- We run mini-lessons.
- We provide direct instruction.
Thinking about what Yumi said as she discusses the creation of her business and her various Maker experiences, I realize how many curriculum connections there are to making.
- Math – Number Sense, Measurement, and Data Management
- Language – Reading, Writing, Oral Language, and Media Literacy
- Science – The Safe Use Of Tools, Matter and Materials, and Scientific Inquiry
- The Arts: Music, Drama, Dance, and Visual Arts
- Social Skills and Learning Skills
Maybe it’s the Maker Days that get this movement started in schools, but I have to wonder if “making” should be confined to a space or a day. If we see the value in this learning — at making curriculum expectations so much more meaningful than a checklist of what we’ve accomplished — then maybe all grades (at least to some extent) can become these Maker Spaces that are so prevalent in play-based Kindergarten classrooms across our province. Yumi has amazing parents that encouraged this creativity at home. What if we could provide it at school? Would all students have the confidence to live by Yumi’s mantra: “Be weird. Be different. Be awesome like me.”? Imagine what this could mean for content delivery and application of learning. So many incredible possibilities …
Aviva
It’s often said that, when we hope to make change in education, one day or a special event is one way we can begin the process. Because I agree with your sentiments in this post, sometimes I wonder if the one day events actually accentuate how divergent to the norm the activity is, thereby relegating something like “making” to that external event. We need it to be a habit, a way of learning period. Thanks for sharing your reflections on Yumi’s talk!
Thanks for your comment, Royan, and for making me think some more. I totally agree with you that, “We need it [“making”] to be a habit, a way of learning period.” If the one day events actually lead to people seeing “making” as an “external event,” then how do we change this? Is it in the conversations that happen afterwards: where we look critically at the learning that took place and explore ways to create this “maker environment” as a regular part of our classroom environment? Is it through PD sessions with teachers, and challenges to re-think what the classroom environment looks like and what it could look like? Is it sharing “maker environments” with others — either through classroom visits or recorded videos — so that we could all think about what we could do differently in our rooms? I’ve run this school-wide Maker Day for the past couple of years because I do believe in the benefits of “making,” and I hope that the day makes people think about what is possible and could work in a classroom environment. Your comment though makes me wonder if I’m going about this wrong. What do others think? What do you do?
Aviva