teched

#SXSWedu Makerspace Core Conversation and Takeaways

/ gravescolleen / 3 Comments

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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!

Digital Flyers for Library Advocacy, Research, Digital Presentations, and Teaching

/ gravescolleen / 3 Comments

Digital Flyers as Library Advocacy

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I started using S’more last school year as a way to share all the awesome “goings-on” in the library.  My first S’more showcased some lessons I taught with our LEAP students, a hilarious video of me as Lady Gaga for our Contemporary World #Aid4Africa project, and a request to teachers to have me help with planning. My main audience was for teachers at my school.

See Spring Break Smore

Then spring got really busy and we Skyped with middle grade/young adult author Claire Legrand, had a ton of fun with Mozilla Popcorn Maker, and celebrated National Library Week with the  #LMShelfie!

See April Edition Smore

This school year I started using Tackk to create my library advocacy flyers and I love the way it embeds social media tools like Vine and Twitter.  My fall edition discusses International #DotDay, #readfortherecord,  Origami #makermonday madness, brushbot madness, and pathfinders for research. My new audience is now parents of our students, my Twitter librarian BFFS, and anyone who has been collaborating with the library.

See fall 2015 Tackk 

Digital Flyers as a 21st Century Research Tool 

I also found S’more to be an excellent tool for creating pathfinders for students.  Last Spring I started utilizing the Google Apps Add-on Doctopus to create and copy research Cornell Note forms for students.  I simply embedded a link to my S’more Pathfinder on the Cornell Notes, so that students would ALWAYS have access to the pathfinder and database resources.

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Another thing I loved about S’more, is that I could put all of the teacher created resources in one place along with a visual guide to navigating a database!

Students would then take their notes in Google Docs and color code their notes with their sources.

You are a Witness Gdoc Template

You are a Witness S’more Pathfinder

Digital Flyers as Presentation of Teaching

During another Inquiry project this year, I created a PBL Google Site and then used the Google Apps add-on Site Maestro to copy and share individual Google Sites for my students’ 8th ELA All Songs project.  A lot of planning and co-teaching was involved in creating this incredible strategic design music-driven unit. During the whole PBL, I was tweeting, vining, and documenting every step.  Near the end, I realized I could streamline the entire PBL on Tackk so it would be easy to share with others.  You can learn more about the whole project a couple of episodes back!  This project was also showcased on our district’s 1:x blog.

Digital Flyers to Teach Students

I really enjoyed the presentation at TCEA by @sue_fitz and @kjrvaldez where they used S’more to present lots of amazing apps and ways to utilize them in their session “Take it Beyond an App for That!” Because of that experience, I decided to utilize a digital flyer (Tackk) when my Science teachers asked me to help them create a lesson about creating a Public Service Announcement whilst showcasing new tools for students to use in the presentation of their PBL.  I love how you can scroll through a presentation. For the last two days, I’ve been able to teach 6th graders about Public Service Announcements by showing them all of the different ways they could make one! The most enjoyable aspect was listening to them buzz about which #edtech tool they enjoyed the most!

See PSA Presentation for Students

Digital Presentations

So, I’ll admit, I’m having a bit of a love affair with digital flyers, and when I present #makerspaces at SXSWedu in a couple of weeks, I bet you can guess what I’ll be using?

Check back soon for that presentation!