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TLA Takeaways

/ gravescolleen / 2 Comments

Tech Camp Presentation

I was honored to present with my #superlibrarianhubs, Aaron Graves, at TLA’s Tech Camp! We had a fast and frenzied presentation on the library as a makerspace at this awesome preconference to the epic Texas Librarian Association conference.  We were able to present our ideas on research and makerspaces to almost 600 librarians through four dynamic sessions! Click this thumbnail to visit our Tackk:

See on Tackk.com
My biggest takeaways from Tech Camp:

(These are my thoughts from presenting all day and then hearing our ideas reiterated in Matthew Winner’s Keynote)

  • When we let our kids fail, we teach them perseverance.
  • We need to teach students how to use social media by modeling effective use.
  • Our research instruction methods need an update so we can reach all students (including the 50% of Texas HS graduates that do not go to college.)
  • A library makerspace allows us to teach our students authentic research skills.
  • Through challenge based learning we can teach students crowdsourcing research methods by:
    1. Incorporating keyword searches
    2. Advanced Google searching with operators
    3. Authenticating sources (including on Youtube and social media)
    4. Sharing learning through social media (See my lamar_library How to Vines)

Thanks to Sparkfun and the awesome Bev, we had a mobile makerspace set up outside of our day long session.  Check out the pics below! Ardusat even came out to share info on their cubesats! Plus, Mod Robotics sent us a Cubelets set to demo and Chibitronics even donated a circuit notebook as a giveaway!

On top of all the learning, I met so many awesome authors and I can’t wait to see the collaboration that will unfold from this epic TLA!

TLA Sessions and Authors

TLA is an amazing place to chat with superstar librarians, book bloggers, and great authors.  I was able to meet up with my National Writing Project buddies Kerri Harris and Donalyn Miller (Whom I realized I’ve known for almost a DECADE! We all ordered the same lunch and realized we are all reading the same book! Look for a collaborative post on The Nerdy Book Club blog in May.)

As we sat down to wait for a lunch table, we ran into Tom Angleberger of Origami Yoda fame, John Rocco Caldecott winner for Blackout and Percy Jackson Illustrator, and Chris Barton picture book author extraordinaire. Our casual conversation about the ease of connecting students with authors through social media got me thinking about how great TLA is for making connections and how inspiring the 21st century has become!  I’m hoping to find out more about John Rocco’s research when creating mythology illustrations to tie in with my 8th grade student mythology research project. Plus, I’d love to learn more from Chris Barton about his research methods for his entertaining and informative picture books. I think my students could learn a lot from these great writers’ authentic research processes!

I even stumbled upon YA author Lindsay Cummings at TT4L ! We’ve been chatting about a dystopian author panel to meet with my 7th grade students in the next few weeks. Our History students are working on a PBL (Project Based Learning) about the next civil war and we are wanting to discuss Dystopian and political aspects that could change the future of America.

Lastly, I spent my final day of TLA running a makerspace for teens at TT4L. They loved learning simple circuits with the Makey Makeys, driving the Sparkfun Redbot with Arduino libraries, and of course racing Sphero and Ollie.  (Note, if you haven’t bought Makey Makeys or Spheros yet, YOU NEED TO! Get a class set of both!)

Now it’s time to get back to reading graphic novels for the School Library Month #shelfchallenge! What are you reading?

“I never knew you were so tall.” “I never knew you were so short!”
Tech Camp Key Note
@Gravesdotaaron and I presented all day!
Setting up our mobile makerspace
Makerspace fun thanks to Sparkfun, Mod Robotics, and Ardusat
So many people trying to get in our session
The Makerspace Team!
View of Austin
Badge Bling
KIERA CASS SELFIE!
Victoria Scott and Rachel Caine Selfie
Jessica Brody and Cecil Castellucci
Makerspace fun at TT4L thanks to Sparkfun!
Can we complete a circuit with our elbows?
Lindsay Cummings and the book the TT4L teens tried to trample me for!
Ran into Tom Angleberger @origamiYoda at lunch!
And Chris Barton- Shark Vs Train @Bartography
And @johnroccoart- Percy Jackson illustrator and author of Blizzard!
ZOMBIES! @genashowalter at author aisle!
NWP Reunion with Donalyn Miller and Kerri Harris!
Jessica Brody Autograph and personal joke….

#SXSWedu Makerspace Core Conversation and Takeaways

/ gravescolleen / 3 Comments

Screenshot 2015-02-20 15.50.21

The SXSWedu conference was transformational! I was only able to attend a couple of days, but those two days have me buzzing with ideas! I met so many great and talented people I hope to collaborate with in the future.

My colleague, Leah Mann and I led a Core Conversation regarding Makerspaces and STEAM labs early Wednesday morning. We were worried no one would come, but instead we packed the house and learned so much from everyone who attended! I’m hoping SXSW recorded the convo and if so, I’ll upload it here later.

Sparkfun is a RAD company!
Hanging out with Kathy from SLJ and awesome Skogee Library Peeps
Greenroom at SXSWedu
Selfie before session – note photobomber
They actually turned people away from our session
My photobomber’s Sketch Note
Learning from others!
Rigamajig- Dreaming of catapults
Love my Badge!

For now, check out all the #SXSWedu links regarding my session with Leah Mann:

Vendors, Playground, oh my!

Check out all of the awesome companies and people I met while at SXSWedu. I found LOTS of companies wanting to get more girls involved in STEM! Plus, some cool maker kits that I haven’t seen available before.

SXSWedu Pinterest Board

SXSWedu Pinterest Board

Follow Colleen’s board SXSWedu on Pinterest.

My Takeaways

  • Getting girls involved in STEM is the next big thing! This topic infiltrated our core convo right from the start! We discussed a lot of way to get girls into our makerspaces and KEEP them there. Please add your own ideas to our Shared Gdoc from our session. Plus, I found lots of great STEM lessons and programming ideas for girls at the SXSW edu expo AND the playground! (see Pinterest board above)
  • We discussed different ideas around Design Challenges and which was more guided, a challenge? or a workshop? I’d love to spend another whole conversation discussing this! I see workshops as guided and challenges as open, but a few of our participants had other ideas.  It just goes to show that we are paving the way with this maker movement!
  • I mentioned that during my summer Maker Camp, Anne  from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History mentioned that one is either a  “Maker or a Tinkerer.”  After our session a man asked me, “Is a Tinkerer a Maker on a random walk?” I loved this metaphor, and it got me thinking that this is another great discussion waiting to happen.  What is the difference between these two? And what is our end goal? To create makers or tinkerers? I see making as following instructions, and tinkering as a precursor to innovation. My goal is to create tinkerers who will become the Steve Jobs or Jay Silver. I also love this idea from Matt Wallaert on Twitter:
  • Lots of our discussion focused on workshops, guided making, and free time to work.
  • One thing we all agreed on was that Maker Education NEEDs to be integrated into the core curriculum.  Afterwards, we even had a few participants ask us about adding this movement to textbooks?
  • Another focus that seemed to be a thread through the whole conference is that educators and developers need to get together and discuss what it is we need from these companies.  I think SXSWedu is a great venue for exploring this avenue.
  • A few sessions I attended mentioned that our students are going to have no jobs when they graduate, and they will need to learn the art of creating a job – in other words, we need to prepare our students to become self starter entrepreneurs.
  • I had a great convo with Kathy Ishizuka from SLJ and I can’t say much, but LOOK for something awesome regarding MAKERS and LIBRARIES THIS SUMMER!
  • Last but not least, be open to all possibilities if you attend SXSWedu.  I missed out on this #ideadrop on Schools and Libraries and STEAM labs, and I’m so sad about that.
  • My brain is still trying to synthesize this whirlwind of learning! So check back for updates!