Thing 23: Makerspaces

To start my exploration of Makerspaces, I decided to read Deb Collins post about them.  I liked her rules for the MakerSpace:

1. Be safe at all times!
2. MakerSpace Materials stay in MakerSpace unless you have permission from Mrs. Collins to remove them!
3. If you bring in materials for a project for you to make, be sure you put them in a labeled container. However, be aware that if you bring materials, you are responsible to keep track of them…
4. Before using materials for a project, think about what you are going to make and have a plan – we have limited resources.

I was glad to hear of her enthusiasm and her successes, but she didn’t really discuss how she got the money +/or the materials.  

Then, I went back and read Joyce Valenza’s SLJ post which referenced a MakerSpace-to-Go.  It was good to get an idea of what people thought were important for a MakerSpace.  I had always had the impression that they were mostly tech oriented.  It turns out that I have many of the MakerSpace-to-Go materials already in my library.  I have staplers, paper, pencils, and erasers available to all classes.  I also have a supply station (that I point out to every student in September) with drawing paper, graph paper, lined paper, crayons, colored pencils, markers, rulers, and scissors.  I regularly give kids who ask glue, colored paper, etc.  If I have it, you can usually have it.  I don’t think I will move the glue to the supply station any time soon or add Duct tape as the younger students (starting with pre-K) really aren’t responsible enough yet to use it unsupervised.  (Popsicle sticks would be a good idea though.)  I have some things that I’ve never figured out just how to put out like rubber band bracelet looms and crochet hooks.  

I knew that I have had students making things in my library for years: plays, poetry books, “reports” on unexplained phenomena, games, power point presentations (that have nothing to do with school), even pan flutes!  I also knew that our library has tons of books to inspire creativity: drawing, knitting, crocheting, origami, science projects, paper airplanes, Lego, books on making things that go, bridges, even books that describe how to make trebuchets!  

I have links off my website to Khan Academy and Coding, but it would be nice to see what other software options I could pursue.  We have things like drawing programs.  I have been wondering about Minecraft in the library, but I’m afraid that it would distract students from the education mission rather than lead them to independent learning.  I guess one of the pieces that I am missing is the electronic things, like MakeyMakey kits.  I have wondered about circuit kits like I used to see at Radio Shack and magnet kits before.  The problem is keeping the pieces.  Does anyone have a solution for that?  How do you avoid the theft?  When I got my SMARTboard, a student took one of the pens!  Fortunately, a good sob story later and it was returned, but still…  Teachers have had cell phones stolen and don’t get me started on how hard it is to keep erasers in the library.

I also should probably promote my supply/MakerSpace more.  It is the more assertive kids who think to ask me for help locating books on their area of interest or who ask for glue, etc.  What with the staffing situation, though, I really can’t handle more kids at this point.  Not that I don’t want them to come, it is just that it is awkward to either interrupt my lesson to supervise or chastise other students or to ask the teacher whose class I am teaching to do it.  Despite the fact that I REALLY emphasize my behavior expectations, kids will be kids and get carried away.  Likewise, although I try to show the adults that anyone is welcome to talk to misbehaving students in “my” library, only some of them feel comfortable speaking up.  Starting a MakerSpace club would be an interesting idea, but again I need more staff so that I am not spending my afterschool time doing jobs that an aide or clerk could easily do.

The Caine’s Arcade film was unbelievable!  Everyone should watch it.  The The Global Cardboard Challenge that came about as a result of Caine’s arcade is certainly an interesting idea to consider participating in.

Further investigation of the links of Joyce Valenza’s post led me to a page on www.pearltrees.com.  It made me wonder why it isn’t mentioned as a productivity tool.  It seems to have potential, though for me the disadvantage is that the default is a public collection.

I liked the link TinkerSpace: Library Learning Commons as it seemed among the most practical, especially for an elementary school.  I will definitely look into more of these links for more ideas of how I can expand what I have already without spending a fortune.

As far as how to justify the existence of a MakerSpace to the administrators and beyond, that seems obvious.  The Common Core is all about getting students ready for the real world: learning to problem-solve, work cooperatively, and have “grit.”  Any kind of MakerSpace activity will promote those behaviors.  Even my letting students come to the library during recess to use the computers for non-school uses promotes those behaviors.  The students teach each other how to use powerpoint or other programs.  They are having fun and investigating, but they are learning real-world skills.  We have a tendency in the education world to expect that everything will be taught, but most of the world’s geniuses were self-taught at least in part.  Most tech-savvy adults aren’t “taught” how to use all of the technology that they use; they just try it until they learn how it works.

Thing 21: Productivity Tools

So, I’m looking at productivity tools again.  I did download Evernote last year, but I ended up abandoning it.  I wasn't sure I wanted my home and school life that connected and the tech guy at school wasn't all that excited about letting me have Evernote at school.  I see the advantages of having one go-to spot, but there are disadvantages, too.  Software changes, disappears, or morphs into pay-as-you-go services, not to mention that companies sell off your information, so that putting everything in one place lets them sell more of your information at once.  Yes, I'm being paranoid, but...

So right now I use the Calendar app with Groupwise for all of my appts that affect work.  For other things at home I just use an old-fashioned paper calendar.  I don't tend to use my phone much for the web, unless it is to look for hours, directions, or phone numbers.  I like the Lists and Tasks in the Calendar app.  There was a learning curve when I learned how to sync to the appropriate calendar, but that is not a problem now.  

As described in previous posts, I already have Lookout on my phone and I am increasingly using GoogleDrive.  I’m actually thinking of using Google Classroom for our professional tech group instead of Moodle because Moodle is so intimidating.  I’m using GoogleDrive’s capabilities with my students, my colleagues, and my union.  With the rise of Chromebooks, I think that I will use it more, not less.  

I looked at Zotero because it was already on my Firefox browser at home.  I watched the tour video, though I had to watch it through Youtube.  It looks like a great tool for high school and college students and for adults, but it seems way too complex for my elementary students.  I might show it to my family-history-obsessed sister though.

So I had to remind myself about the difference between browser add-ons, extensions and bookmarklets.  Having explored that, I hope that bookmarklets might be the key to getting some more features out of our computers at school.  Add-ons and extensions don't really work because they slow down the already slow computers so much AND because you usually have to involve the tech guy in their installation.  He helps me when he can, but he is overworked and I hesitate to ask for things that aren't essential.  For example, Clearly looks good, but is problematic.  In addition, since he has to be involved for each one, I would have to commit to a browser, which I haven't.  I probably like Firefox the most, but at school, since you can only be logged into your profile on one computer and I am usually logged into 3 at a time, it doesn't work for me.  Some of the computers default to IE, in fact, our generic library login, that we use to turn all of the computers on, uses IE to automatically load the school webpage and the catalog.  The students can't open IE when they log in, however.  They generally use Chrome as the default browser.  So, I am constantly changing browsers which would require the add-ons to be installed on all 3 browsers.

With that said, I went back and looked at the Readability bookmarklet.  I dragged ReadNow to my bookmarks and used it to look at a web page.  For my reading, it seems to be a viable option because it gets rid of the adds, pictures, slideshows, and animation that drive me crazy!  However, for kids it strips SOOOO much out of the webpage that it makes it less appealing.  A fine line to be sure, but one to consider.  

While still considering the Reading options, I decided to do a Google search to see if I could find a comparison.  I ran into a LifeHacker article comparing Pocket vs. Instapaper vs. Readability, a Mashable article on the 5 Best Read-It-Later Apps, and Best Reading List Apps for Android: Pocket vs. Readability vs. Papermill vs. Pulse.  All three seem to lead to Pocket, so I think I will check it out.  Flipboard came preinstalled on my phone, but it seems to be more for feeds than for marking pages for later reading. 

I made a Pocket account.  You can sign up with Google or another e-mail account.  I dragged the bookmarklet to my bookmark list and I have to admit that it seems easy to use.  I’m torn about downloading the app to my phone.  Just like so many apps, it seems like I am giving them permission to touch everything in my phone: Wi-Fi, contacts, USB storage, and use accounts on this device.  Am I the only person who worries that we are giving these app designers access to everything?!  I’ll have to try Pocket more on my computer at school to decide if the app on my phone is worth it.  I certainly receive a lot of links to sites and articles on my e-mail account that I’d like to clean out of there!

I could really see using the Pocket account with students to keep all of their resources in one place.  I could either have them sign up with their Google accounts (if that works) or sign up with a generic library account and have them use tags to mark their content.  Certainly something to consider.

 

I looked into OneTab.  It looks really useful, but it is an extension, so it won’t work at school where I really need it.  It is available for Chrome as well as Firefox though so that is definitely a plus.

I briefly explored the Setting Up Multiple email Accounts post and saved it in Pocket for later!  As an LMS, the limit of 20 linked accounts means I could never use it with a grade, do it is only useful for clubs or really individual projects, but still…

I took a look at EdShelf which I will definitely put in Pocket to explore more.  I think that I will bring it up at our next Professional Technology Meeting as well.  I noticed however that there are many listed apps that are not reviewed AT ALL.  I think that I would definitely want to look at how many reviews there are before looking at the apps. 

I took one final look at the How We Work series from LifeHacker, but I didn’t really get any pearls of wisdom. 

Pocket seems to be the best tool I got from this Thing.  Let’s see if I continue to use it!

Thing 3: Online Communities & Personal Learning Networks

I decided to re-explore this topic to see if there was something more I could glean from it.  First I looked at Twitter is Stupid. (until you realize)  Jonathan Barrick makes a good point.  There is something good in Twitter, but the problem is finding it.  He compares Twitter to television to make his point.  The only problem is… I’ve all but given up TV for the same reason.  I don’t want to give time to something unless I’m sure it is worthwhile.  Maybe it has to do with reaching a certain age, but every day is so hectic.  There is so much I have to do, that I want to do, that I wish I could do.  I don’t have the patience to wade through a lot of junk to find the diamonds.  I have a Twitter account, but the only thing I have that is still active is WTEN Steve Caporizzo’s weather alert.  It sure was great when the tornadoes came through last spring!  Still I should take another look.

So I explore #tlcchat and find:

• ·        emaze.com looks like a good presentation tool.  I want to show my art teacher the Piet Mondrian presentation on emaze.com.  Short but interesting.  Too bad it requires a login.  It looks like it might be a nice way to have kids do presentations, but the login is problematic.  The whole issue of having the kids register is problematic, notwithstanding the fact that they always forget their logins!

• ·        Playing the Mystery Skype Game  really sounds like fun.  It certainly involves higher-order thinking skills, as well as geography or math.  The problem is getting teachers to give up enough time to do this.  Everyone is so stressed about covering CCSS that they are hesitant to do things like this.

• ·        It reminded me to look into purchasing El Deafo, the graphic-novel memoir about Cece Bell’s experiences from losing her hearing at age 4.

In general it seems like a time-consuming way to get new ideas.  It may be an idea for when I am stuck somewhere with no book, just my phone to amuse me.  I can’t see myself using work time to sift through all of these posts.

And then http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/

Here I find several discussions that I could join in, but not much to inspire me or my students.  Maybe I just don’t see the point, or maybe it just duplicates what we have locally in the BOCES listserv.  When  I have a question, I just ask the listserv.  I almost always get several responses.  Maybe not as many responses as I’d like, but usually enough to have different perspectives on my dilemma.

The idea of having an online book group is interesting, but being an elementary librarian, I’m not sure where I could host it.  I am personally a member of goodreads, but I hesitate to recommend it to my students as there are so many adult-themed books and comments on the site.  Maybe it is because my rural school is so conservative, but I know that parents would not be happy with using it as a hub for discussion.  Still, I checked out JoCo Library Teens.  Maybe I’m missing something again, but it doesn’t seem like there is all that much activity on the site.  There are a lot of members and I’m sure that people get lots of book ideas from the site, but I don’t see much back-and-forth like I would expect from a book group.  It reinforces what I’ve seen with the book groups that I belong to on Goodreads.  I tried to start a site for our district’s professional book group, but only 2 people even joined.  The BOCES elementary book group has a site, too, but it seems like more a repository to me than a discussion per se.  We discuss the books when we are together and use the Goodreads page to remember books from previous sessions.  

So, does anyone know of a good kid-safe way to run a book group.  I could start a wiki I guess.  Has anyone ever run a book group that way?

Before I left Online Communities & Personal Learning Networks, I decided I should check out #slscooltools!  

• One of the first things I ran into was I Love to Read: ConnectEd Classroom BINGO .  I love the idea!  I would have to water it down for elementary school, but still it is an idea worth pursuing.

• ·        Then, I saw a reference to the Bifocals and Buns blogpost about coding: http://t.co/MltROdAxnc.  I think I will definitely follow this blog some to see where she goes.  I admit I felt jealousy and confusion when reading the post.  I’m jealous that she has computers, iPads, AppleTV and SMARTBoard tables!  Wow, I literally can’t imagine that.  Except for the 2 computers at the checkout desk, every computer in my library is a cast-off from the state or some other school system.  Basically our entire school is full of cast-offs.  I’m also confused by how she makes her lessons.  Doesn’t she follow a curriculum and coordinate with the teachers?  Maybe it is because I am not a special, but anything I put in or take out of the library lessons during the year is done in consultation with the teachers.  I couldn’t just take 3 weeks out to explore coding, no matter how much fun that might be, because it would affect all of the research all year long.  Maybe I could do that with pre-K, but we are trying to teach them about the value of reading, so lessons in coding wouldn’t really fit the bill.

• ·        I saw the reference to the nice Dewey Decimal Infographic.  It was great.  I decided to even comment on the blog.  Inspiring. I have to get to doing the Infographic Thing…

So, of what I explored and the hours I used, #slscooltools seemed the most useful.  I’ve saved some links, but I’m not sure that I will explore any of the hashtags regularly.