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We are currently building a new SLLC that will include, for the first time, a makerspace. While we have many ideas for the space, we do not have experience utilizing it yet so are gathering resources to inform our way forward.

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How might we encourage self directed learning and student ownership within the Makerspace?

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How might we use the Makerspace to jumpstart new collaborations with teachers?

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What kind of guidelines/routines/expectations need to be in place in our Makerspace?

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The Maker Education Initiative is a 501c3 non-profit organization. EIN# 83-4594261

Unless otherwise noted, all the materials on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 license.

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The Maker Education Initiative is a 501c3 non-profit organization. EIN# 83-4594261 Unless otherwise noted, all the materials on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 license.

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Kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers already use sketchnoting continuously throughout their teaching. I think it would be interesting to promote the use of this visual portrayal of thinking throughout the Junior School (K-Grade 7). The TL could help implement this by incorporating sketchnoting into library classes and could also model this way of communicating when collaborating with other teachers.

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How might a flexible SLLC schedule contribute to the support of inquiry and design in our school?

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How might a flexible SLLC schedule contribute to the support of inquiry and design in our school?

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To draw is to sharpen an idea. Drawing is the precision of thought.

~Matisse

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Christopher Hunt, a TL in Chilliwack, started the "Makery Bakery" in his school. He said, "I was also interested in breaking down gender barriers to certain kinds of making. Much has been done to encourage female students to embrace science, woodworking, robotics, etc, in elementary schools, but not as much had been done to bring boys to sewing and cooking." In this project, Grade 2 students baked bread inspired by and adapted from a recipe in the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and made fresh butter. This was a collaboration with Grade 2 teachers who used the project to meet ADST and science curriculum requirements. Hunt has been pleased to note that students enthusiastically take part in all types of Makerspace activities. He said, "Gender is becoming less and less an issue within the growing Makerspace ethos."

**It would be interesting to pay attention to our students as we begin our makerspace, to see if gender barriers are affecting their perceptions of making.

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Fan Fiction Club at Lunch for Grades 6 and 7 students

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Fan Fiction Club at Lunch for Grades 6 and 7 students

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Currently, our Grade 6 and 7 students have very little interaction with the SLLC and TL. A few students voluntarily come to the SLLC to exchange books and some Grade 6 students volunteer as library monitors. A fan fiction initiative might be a good way to draw some of these older students into the SLLC. In the article "Fellowship of the Fans," Anne Ford says "Libraries that have a thriving young-adult population - or that would like to grow one - might consider starting a monthly fan fiction group, in which participants share feedback on each other's works in a supportive setting." I think it would be interesting to try to create a weekly fan fiction club for one semester, to see if there is any interest.

Kathlyn Dekens suggested the idea of using a lunch period to start a fan fiction writing group. She suggested that students write a "drabble"- a 100 word piece of fan fiction. Within this time frame, students could introduce themselves, individually write a drabble, and then a few writers could share. Before the next meeting, students could revise their drabbles. The next meeting would begin with feedback and more sharing.

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aka "fanfic" or "fic"

"describes writing where authors borrow characters from established books, movies, and other media, and insert them into original situations. Plots can ranges from creating alternate universes to merely completing cliffhangers." (Student Voice)

"Traditionally marginalized groups use fic as a way to see themselves represented in stories with little diversity in the canon; a common trope in moden fan compositions recasts Hermoine from Harry Potter as Black." (Student Voice)

Read and shared on sites such as Archive of Our Own, Wattpad, and Fanfiction.net (Ford)

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Notes from "Sketchnoting: I Just Don't Know How to Start" by Carrie Baughcum

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Notes from "Sketchnoting: I Just Don't Know How to Start" by Carrie Baughcum

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Adding elements of visual thinking and doodling to your instruction shouldn’t and doesn’t have to take over what your are already doing

Visual thinking and doodling can be layered over what you are already doing

The power of visual thinking and doodling begins with embracing what it is capable of and then using it to bring out the best in your teaching

Everyone can doodle. It is the doodle that has the power not the art of it.

The teacher is drawing for and with the students.

There are no rules.

Sketchnoting supports all learning styles. It can help students retrieve information and support recall and idea production.

When reading text or listening to information: Students can write one fact with a doodle of it per post-it. The post-it can then be stuck next to the text in their book, on their desk or on piece a paper to build a future sketchnote. If students are given a handout, they can doodle their learning or visualizing beside the text.

Building an Icon library: Students can explore a chapter / information before learning about it creating icons about the information they already know about the topic. The library can also be built throughout the lesson /chapter.

Mobile Doodles: Post-Its with information and doodles can go and stick anywhere…from the desk to the board to the wall or the floor making information visual and mobile

Give permission to doodle and share learning visually. Ask them to share their thoughts with you verbally if you cannot decipher their drawings.

Create a learning mascot based on your inner you and encourage students to do this too. This mascot can then be used repeatedly throughout learning to bring learning to life with a thought or talk bubble.

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Using ordinary and industrial materials to create chain reactions

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Using ordinary and industrial materials to create chain reactions

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In the discussion forum for LLED 462 Module 9, Andrea Skinner posted a video of an artwork made by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, called "The Way Things Go". She said "[t]o make [this video], the artists gathered objects like tires, balloons, and old shoes to create a series of chain reactions, including a rolling tire knocking over a board that sends a ladder 'walking' down a ramp, and a water bottle shooting foam that oozes down a plank and extinguishes a pair of candles." She thought this would be a good example to inspire student inquiry in a makerspace, and would especially tie in well to Grade 2's exploration of the concept of forces. This would work well in our school too.

Kindergarten students also explore forces, and work with many different materials within their classroom to do so. Our SLLC makerspace could provide more opportunities for experimentation with forces as well. I could see us using a video of a chain reaction similar to this one as a provocation for these younger students.

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Peter Fischli and David Weiss, The Way Things Go, 1987, Excerpt.

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General Building

Adam Savage’s Tested: a channel about making. It began with a focus on movie props, but has expanded into other domains.

Bill Making Stuff: A channel featuring the making of toys and figures out of junk.

Yuri Ostr: a channel about building simple toys and contraptions.

Remotely Operated Vehicles and Drones

FliteTest: a channel that is directly related to RC aircraft. Some of their earlier videos deal with quick building foam board aircraft. They also have a series of tutorials on technical aspects of the hobby like transmitters and flight surfaces.  Here is a video about building their Tiny Trainer.

Peter Sripol: a channel also related to RC aircraft. This channel mainly focuses on making challenging aircraft, like extraordinarily large RC aircraft or RC aircraft made out of unconventional materials.

RCI Save: a channel dedicated mainly to wheeled RC vehicles, including this scratch built truck.

Art

North of the Border: a crafter who makes small objects and dioramas. The maker favours the use of polymer clay.

Stilt Beast Studios: a channel mostly focussing on building creepy decorations and costumers. Here is a video on how to make a foam Frankenstein's monster head.

(from Daniel Mack)

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I would love to create a "story studio" area in our SLLC, similar to the one described in the LLED 462 course notes from the Burnaby School District Teacher Librarian Inquiry team. This team proposed the creation of an area within the school library that included loose parts and other materials in order to support the creation of stories (including characters and setting), a space for Indigenous story exploration and "retelling" and was available to classes to help students develop identities as writers and storytellers.

Our Kindergarten and Grade 1 students occasionally use loose parts to tell stories in their classrooms, but I haven't seen other grades using a story workshop method at all. A story studio area in our SLLC could also allow students to connect their learning with the First Peoples Principles of Learning, specifically "Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story." (FNESC) It could be a wonderful opportunity for collaborative partnerships between the teacher librarian and teachers across grade levels, and at the very least, something to consider implementing during library classes for Kindergarten - Grade 5 (currently the only grades who have regularly scheduled library classes).

In our SLLC, we have some loose parts for storytelling activities, but would need to get more if we wanted to create a story studio area. We may want to create a booklist of picture books that would be strong provocations for telling and retelling stories, and our acquisition of storytelling materials might be inspired by these as well.

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Our School Library Learning Commons (SLLC) operates on a fixed schedule, without any opening hours over recesses or lunch breaks. Would it be possible to open the makerspace in the SLLC for free inquiry projects during one lunch recess per week?

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StoryMaking: The Maker Movement Approach to Literacy for Early Learners by Robin Chappele Thompson and Michelle Kay Compton

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Makerspaces = Tools + Support + Community

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Makerspaces = Tools + Support + Community

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In the article, "What I've learned from 7 years of the Maker Movement in Schools and Libraries," Kristin Fontichiaro noticed that the three community makerspaces in the Ann Arbor area had a common focus of "building up the capacity of people to do more within a collaborative, warm, and welcoming culture." Dale Grover of Maker Works said, for him, makerspaces are "tools plus support plus community." As our school gets started with our own makerspace, I think there are some important tips we can take from Fontichairo's experience. Here are a few items that resonated with me:

In addition to STEM kits, we should add low-cost stations with take-home materials. Fontichiaro notes that kids like making things to take home and gift to others, especially those from low-income and low-budget communities.

We should build in meeting time with our high school librarian. Our SLLC makerspace will serve Kindergarten to Grade 7 students while our high school SLLC serves Grades 8 - 12. We need to ensure we are using different tools and allowing for skills growth.

Integrate design thinking to give purpose and purposefulness to the making.

Take photos to gather information about how the space and materials are being used.

Invite others to share their expertise within the makerspace: students, facilities staff, other teachers, parents, etc. "Mentors can take the pressure off of you [the Teacher Librarian] to be the sole expert while stretching the directions in which students can grow."

To me, the most important tip is the last one. Fontichiaro and Grover both highlight the importance of the community aspect of makerspaces. If our makerspace is to be successful and as impactful as we hope, we need to ensure this community mindset is in place from the beginning.

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Baughcum, Carrie. "Sketchnoting: I Just Don't Know How to Start." Carrie Baughcum, 4 Aug. 2017, https://carriebaughcum.com/how-to-start-sketchnoting/.

Dekens, Kathlyn. LLED 462 Module 9 Discussion Forum. 4 Nov. 2023.

First Peoples Principles of Learning. First Nations Education Steering Committee, fnesc.ca/first-peoples-principles-of-learning/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2023.

Ford, Anne. "Fellowship of the Fans." American Libraries, 1 Nov. 2016, from: https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/11/01/fellowship-of-the-fans-fan-fiction/.

Hunt, Christopher. "#MakeryBakery: Bread making and butter making in the library." LLED 462 Module 9: Supporting Learners as Inquirers & Designers. Canvas, UBC, 2023. https://canvas.ubc.ca.

Mack, Daniel. LLED 462 Discussion Forum Module 9, 29 Oct. 2023.

Neill, Doug. "Drawing basics for sketchnoters." YouTube, uploaded by Verbal to Visual, 8 Oct. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0IEYeLlq4.

Neill, Doug. "A Warm-Up Routine for Sketchnoters." YouTube, uploaded by Verbal to Visual, 13 Jun. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdV7A7e8IGg.

Skinner, Andrea. LLED 462 Discussion Forum Module 9, 29 Oct. 2023.

Student Voice: The Learning Network. "Why We Should Be Fans of Fan Fiction." The New York Times, 26 Jun. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/learning/why-we-should-be-fans-of-fan-fiction.html.