~Matisse

**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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.