Why MakerSpace?

I've always enjoyed drawing, painting, crafting, decorating and creating.  I find this time relaxing, allowing me freedom to explore, problem solve and sometimes fail.  I tried to make a rose out of duck tape last week, and failed.  No worries, failing in a creative process is painless and provides motivation for second attempts!

As a classroom teacher, I wanted to give my students as many chances as possible to be creative. Over the years, I've seen amazing projects from students who dared to take creative chances. I also found that the use of a MakerSpace in my classroom allowed students to be creative, collaborate with peers, critically think through obstacles and be innovators.

I have loved having a MakerSpace in my classroom, but what about the rest of the building?  I am blessed to be working with Lane, my friend and amazing media specialist.  Together we are on a mission to establish a MakerSpace in the library.

Last week, we attended a Maker Fair together.  We had so much fun creating, tinkering, taking apart and learning together.  We left energized and ready to put together a space that will be beneficial to our students and staff.

We are working on a space that is easily accessible to students.  Our goal is for the space to be a place where students can drop in before school, during lunch, after school, or even during the day if the teacher allows them to visit. We have a corner and room that could be use for our entire MakerSpace.

We have been collecting materials for our space.  Some grant funds were secured for the space last year, and Lane and I have brought our own materials, as well as recycled materials we are collecting.  We are also hoping to write grants for future additions.  It is exciting to have a mission, vision and dream for a space that will grow and evolve over time.

The space will be theme driven to begin with.  Our plan is to set materials out by theme and let the students take lead.  Of course we have some expectations for how the space will be managed.  This means that we will have some rules for behavior and materials.  The first theme for our space, is based on art: Wire Art.  We can’t wait to see what students create!

Why is MakerSpace important? It can be tough to explain the value of creativity to some people who see data as the most important function of school.  I can tell you that research show that students are in need of relationships, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills and resilience.  Tony Wagner shares seven survival skills students need in his book The Global Achievement Gap, and a MakerSpace addresses most of these.  MakerSpaces can encourage a whole new generation of creative minds to explore and solve the big problems.  Giving students a chance to see what they can do when they aren't limited by multiple-choice answers. Creativity is a valuable resource, a MakerSpace is a key to enhance and harness it.

Making is crucial for happiness, health, and mind expansion. We are hoping that we create a space that helps Spartans dig in and get immersed.  Our library will be providing a space for projects as well as books, and fosters relationships as well as minds.