It is hard to believe that CEP811 is finishing. I have truly enjoyed this class and have learned far more than I could have imagined. When the class first started, I was hesitant- I had no idea what the Maker Movement really was and I wasn't sure if it would make sense in my own classroom. I went in with an open mind though, as I love to learn new things and try to find ways that my students can benefit from what I learn.
Below is a brief video that shows an aggregation of my blog posts with what I learned or experienced that week.
Below is a brief video that shows an aggregation of my blog posts with what I learned or experienced that week.
Week 1: I learned what the movement was about |
One of the biggest things I learned this week is that the Maker Movement is about people and their ideas. It truly centers around giving people, and students, the opportunity to explore their ideas, to share them, and to use those ideas to create new and exciting things. As I thought about my own classroom during week 1, I began to see how Maker Ed could change my class. If I provide those opportunities to create and utilize ideas, my students would be able to grow more than I could have ever imagined.
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Week 2: I tried my hand at Making |
This week had me nervous. I had never used anything like my Makey Makey and that seemed overwhelming. I realized though, I felt exactly how my students would feel when I introduced MakerEd to them. They would be overwhelmed, nervous, and perhaps afraid to fail. These are things that I would need to overcome with my students, but as I learned, the best way to do this is to allow them to fail and learn from those mistakes. I know that I did!
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Week 3: I thought about how MakerEd personalizes student learning |
One of my constant struggles is to personalize learning for my students. They come to me with different strengths, different passions, and different learning styles. I realized this week that MakerEd would not make my classroom more difficult to manage, but would allow me more opportunities to differentiate learning for each of my students. The true goal of the Maker Movement is all about the students and giving them opportunities to grow. In embracing MakerEd in my own classroom I will be providing my students more ways to access material, more ways to understand material, and most importantly ways for them to explore their own thinking.
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Week 4: I integrated MakerEd into my own lesson |
At this point, it was all starting to come together for me. I had learned what the movement was about, tried it for myself, and thought critically about why I would want a MakerEd classroom. Putting all of those pieces together I was able to create my own Maker lesson plan. I realized that as I plan on integrating this into my own classroom, there will be a great deal of planning and thinking required on my part. I need to make sure that the learning is centered on the students and their ideas, as well as making sure that their individual needs are all met. I learned that this all can be challenging, however the outcome for students is more than worth the challenge.
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Week 5: I imagined my own Maker Space-my classroom |
I dreamt big this week, reimagining my own classroom into a Maker Space. While all my goals this week were lofty, it truly got me thinking about how I could encourage the Maker environment in my classroom. MakerEd centers on collaboration, something I am planning on fostering even more in my classroom. While movable desks would be great, simply giving students space that they can work in a group and share ideas embodies the same Maker principles.
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Week 6: I thought about introducing MakerEd to others |
MakerEd is all about taking your own ideas, building off of them, and sharing with others. This week I embodied these aspects in creating an infographic. It was a starting point for anyone new to MakerEd. As I was creating this, I thought it would be a great tool to introduce the ideas to my own colleagues as well as my students. Introducing MakerEd could be overwhelming to some students as it is a departure from "traditional" learning. Having an outline of why and how we would use it in our own classroom would provide a guide for students and for others in my building.
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Week 7: I brought it together thinking about Maker assessment |
At the end of every lesson, after all the learning is complete, you have the assessment. Thinking about assessing learning from the MakerEd perspective is challenging. Students are asked to think creatively, collaborate, and problem solve. I realized this week that just as it is challenging to create a lesson for MakerEd, it is just as challenging to assess it. What I realized though is that these challenges are not a downfall, they are a perk. In forcing myself to think about my own curriculum from a MakerEd perspective, I have opened the doors to a whole new way of seeing my class.
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I leave this class with much more than I could have ever expected, a new way of thinking. MakerEd to me has become more than just being about students making something but it is a way for students to use their own ideas. Their ideas become central to the learning and they learn through trying (and maybe failing). MakerEd can help me to individualize learning so that students are getting the most out of each lesson. It has encouraged me to look at how I teach now and the ways that I can give my students room to be more creative in their learning style. In the end, the best way for me to put it is that...
I've been #MakerEd
Resources
Jen's Art and Soul. (2005) The Dreaded Yellow Thing. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/frazzledjen/234894547
Mario Bellucci. (2005) Question Mark. Retrieved From https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcobellucci/3534516458
I've been #MakerEd
Resources
Jen's Art and Soul. (2005) The Dreaded Yellow Thing. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/frazzledjen/234894547
Mario Bellucci. (2005) Question Mark. Retrieved From https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcobellucci/3534516458