5 We Are All Makers!

I've been meaning to write a post about our progress so far on trying to create a makerspace at our school and now I have too many reasons to put it off any longer!  (If you're interested in seeing our progress and what our space looks like via an interactive photo, visit my makerspace page here.)

Here are a few reasons why this post has finally come to fruition:

1. I recently did an interview with the EduAllStars team where I talked a bit about our makerspace and making in general.
2. I was asked while I was at ISTE to do a video on makerspaces for the Summer Learning Series (#SummerLS) that is being led by Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd)
3. I'm part of the Connected Learning MOOC that is happening right now that is investigating making and it's many forms all summer long

Well, if those aren't enough reasons to get started than what is?!  

So, I'll first start by posting my personal example of making/ hacking which is my challenge for this week from my MOOC on making.  We needed to hack writing in some way to transform analog into digital.  I decided to focus on the makerspace at our school and create a sign that will inspire others to join the maker movement.  Let's be clear... I am not a hacker.  I'm fine with my phone the way it is and happy to only use the fonts and other websites the way the templates provided afford me.  However, I worked with a hacker (@TechGeekFest I'm talking to you!) and am now able to appreciate the mentality behind hacking.  It's being involved with your environment and interacting with it the way that you want to.  It's having a say in what you use and how those tools help you in your daily life.  I was able to appreciate the history of hacking as well after reading the book Invent to Learn which is a great book to read if you are interested in getting started with makerspaces at your school. 

Here is my example of my analog/ digital mashup or hack allowing me to take the language of my environment from books, papers, signs, etc. and re-purpose them for an inspiring sign on making for our makerspace.  I took photos of words around my house to make the saying that I wanted and then made the collage in Google Drawing.

With that example to inspire us, here is the video I made for the Summer Learning Series that encourages teachers to learn something new each week during their summer vacation and think of ways to apply it to the next school year.

So, to reiterate, if you are interested in joining the challenge, here's what you can do to get started in feeling the spirit of the maker movement. 

1. Go to the Invent to Learn website and learn more about the book and the leaders behind the book.
2. Go to the Instructables website and find a problem you can solve or something you can hack or something you can make and consciously think about the skills and abilities you are employing as well as your attitude while you are completeing your project.
3. Reflect on your learning and post on your blog or twitter about your foray into the maker movement and how you see it being connected to your teaching and learning context for the next school year.

Good luck with your making!  

Looking forward to your thoughts!

Jessica :)

1 ISTE: Catalyst for Action

CATALYST:  A person or event that quickly causes change or action.  

A spark, an incitement, an impetus.

Another year has passed and I'm invigorated and ready to reflect on another great ISTE experience.  This year, my biggest #ISTEtakeaway is- "Be a catalyst!"  Taken from the motivating keynote speech by Kevin Carroll, I think it best sums up what I was hearing, researching, and learning during my five days at the conference.  You can get a sense of everything I was learning and doing through my two storify posts: ISTE Favorites Collection and ISTE @jessievaz12 Collection.

I can sum up everything I was learning into three distinct statements-

1.  Be a catalyst of action by changing student learning through making and creativity.
I've been a long time advocate of #making and #makered and have been working toward making a #makerspace in our school for quite some time.  (You can read about our progress here.)  It was so validating to see that we're on the correct path.  After listening to Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez talk about their theories from their fantastic Invent to Learn book, speaking to many great educators during HackEducation14 such as @teambond and @amboe_k who are also on a making journey, and hearing the great work that is happening in afterschool makerspaces such as the Digital Harbor Foundation, it impressed me how important it is for us to share this message passionately.  Students today need to be involved with their learning through creativity and making as a way to build personal resilience in the face of challenge, independence in learning, and working cooperatively to solve problems and challenges.  Every educator I met that is on this same journey shared the same feedback, "There are never problems with engagement or behaviour when students are making.  They are learning and having fun at the same time."  Isn't that what education is all about?  I challenge you to be a catalyst at your school by going to the Maker Education Initiative site and seeing how you can help bring the movement forward or going to Instructables and make something today as a way to tap into that forgotten love of making that everyone has dormant inside them.

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6 Yes they can! Kindy kids and iPads!

Last week I wrote a post about how we've been using our imagine lab (makerspace) with our grade 5 students to learn more about circuits which was a great experience that I was able to team teach.  This week, I went to kindergarten to see how the teachers were using the iPads with the younger students in kindergarten.  Wow... what a surprise I had awaiting me!

The kindergarten teachers wanted help using "a video app" to help the kids record their summative assessment posters and the explanations behind them.  When I arrived, they were trying to use videolicious to record in under 1 minute what a group of 6 students had learned.  While this was not a bad approach, we quickly realised that it wasn't what they wanted.  After a few minutes of discussion with the teachers, we decided that the students really just needed to use the camera app to video the explanations.  Quickly, the teachers started organising the kids into groups to start videoing the students themselves while the others watched.  Happily, these teachers were AMAZING, open-minded, risk-takers and took to my suggestion to let the students do the filming.  With eyes wide open, they hesistantly agreed and we began watching the magic unfold!  In that moment, the teachers went from substituting the video for an oral presentation to bravely modifying the learning in their classroom. (SAMR model)

The teachers gave the groups of students an iPad and asked them to practice filming one another.  We reviewed the basic rules of iPad use such as hold it carefully and share with the other students.  Off they went and soon there was a flurry of action as the kids went around filming themselves in all sorts of activities around the room.

Kindergarten students exploring how to take video with iPads via Instagram http://ift.tt/TCsFw9

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2 Gr5 Inquiring About Circuits with Makey Makey!

Today was a new chapter in the development of our makerspace at our school!  Prior to today, we've been using it to stimulate creativity in our school utilizing recycled materials to create prototypes and design projects.  It's a great space and it is working really well with our English department in helping students think "outside the box" on their assignments.  However, now that the space is about to celebrate it's first birthday, we felt we needed to push it even more by jumping feet first with programming and designing.

We bought some Makey Makey kits last year and have been looking for ways to thoughtfully incorporate them into our curriculum.  We've identified a unit in grade 8 where the students will be using them to make games/ interactive programs with Scratch.  To get the grade 8 students ready, we created a display about Makey Makey and Scratch in a common space in our Learning Center.  The students have been investigating this display for about 2 weeks.  Recently a grade 5 teacher asked if we could use the Makey Makey kits to explore circuits for the electricity unit starting this week.  We've identified this as a unit that we wanted to integrate technology into so it was great to see that we were in the same line of thinking as the grade 5 team.  We met with the teachers and soon decided that Makey Makey would be an excellent provocation into the world of circuits to help students understand insulators and conductors.

We started the session letting the students explore the Makey Makey boards with the purpose of answering the question "What will make Makey Makey work?".  We had set up the computers ahead of time with three different examples of Scratch programs: Makey Makey DJ, Makey Makey Piano, and Makey Makey Drum Kit.  Each group was asked to find materials around the lab that would get the program to run.  When they found something that worked, they had to send someone to the front to write the item(s) on the board for others to see and test as well.  The only "clues" they were given were that one cable needed to be grounded to the Earth part of the Makey Makey and that the other end of that cable needed to be in their hand.

Students investigating what makes a Makey Makey work with found materials in our Imagine Lab via Instagram http://ift.tt/1m5TGyQ

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1 What ISTE13 Taught Me

It's been a week since I left #ISTE13 and I'm just now starting to process all of the information and experiences that I had while I was there.  It was a great experience to share with my colleagues that went with me which you can read in my blog post for the official ISTE blog here.

Along with that initial post, there is another view that has been shared by many that I feel compelled to expand upon.  I've been reading many "ISTE reflection posts" this week and they all have a common theme: relationships.  Amanda Dykes (@amandacdykes) mentions in her refection blog post that the most important tool she found was people.  Steven Anderson (@web20classroom) in his guest blog post for the ISTE Connects blog highlighted the fact that connections matter more than the information that we gain.  Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd) and Drew Minock (@TechMinock) both list the amazing people that they met at ISTE in their reflection blog posts and how it has inspired them to continue to build their personal learning networks.  And Maggie Hos-Mcgrane (@MumbaiMaggie) explored in her ISTE post the information from the Steven Johnson keynote on liquid networks and how that connects with the relationships that we develop online through twitter.

And yes, relationships and connections do matter long after ISTE is over.  This year at ISTE I was able to organise possible projects with many different people as a way of continuing our learning through relationships.  We're hoping to have skype chats with my colleague Sofia (@sophiesofiamb) and some of the teachers she met like Erin Klein (@kleinerin), Heather Davis (@heatherd1951), and Martha Lackey (@lackeymartha).  I've volunteered to help test the new augmented reality app that Drew Minock (@TechMinock) and Brad Waid (@TechBradWaid) helped create with our 3rd grade teachers.  I made connections with gamification experts like Rory Newcomb (@roryelieen) and Diane Main (@dowbiggin) to help my colleague Julie (@TechGeekFest) get gaming and minecraft started as an afterschool project and inspire our science team.  I introduced my other colleague at ISTE, Renato (@rhamelalonso), to middle school teachers like Lisa Butler (@srtalisa) to try and build social studies connections using our geographical distances as a platform.  And for me, I was able to make many personal connections with leaders like William King (@wkingbg), Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy) and George Couros (@gcouros) to help me bring the message of connected leadership to my school via future skype sessions.

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0 Observing and Learning: TLL and LLL

I've been quiet. I should have been posting to my blog all these months but I've realized, I'm in my "quiet phase". You know, just like the ELL students in your classes. I changed jobs in March this year, from PYP Curriculum Coordinator in elementary school to Director of Educational Technology across the whole school. I recognize now that I am a TLL (Technology Language Learner) and a LLL (Leadership Language Learner) and am replicating similar steps as ELL students.

According to Judie Haynes at EverythingESL, there are five phases of ESL acquisition: Preproduction, Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency, and Advanced Fluency. I am in my Intermediate Fluency phase as a TLL since I "use strategies from [my] native language to learn content in [technology]," meaning that I am able to take my background in curriculum and translate that through technology. I have the ability to put the two together in exciting, relevant and challenging ways.

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3 Too Many Hats?

I'm writing this blog post as a response to the many different references to "wearing many hats" in the introduction section of my current online course that I am teaching.  Nearly every participant in the introductory module mentioned that they had many different roles and responsibilities within the context of their school or educational environment.

This has me thinking... while I understand the need to give various roles to the same person as a way to preserve management and money in a school, I wonder what is the impact of having all those different hats?  Is there a point of "too many hats"?  Is "many hats" a positive situation or a negative one?

According to Karen Susman in her blog post on blanace, she points out that balance is the key in everything we do in our personal and educational lives.  This, of course, I believe in deeply as it is one of the attributes of the learner profile that we use in the PYP curiculum.  But how do we achieve balance especially when wearing many hats is a necessary part of the job we have been assigned?  

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2 What Makes a 21st Century Leader?

I asked and you delivered! About a week ago I worked on a project with my Headmistress to help her create a presentation for an upcoming IB conference.  She was asked to speak to the Heads Council on leadership and she wanted to know how the IB Learner Profile fit with leadership in the 21st Century.  So, who better to ask than the Twitterverse to find out if the qualities of the profile really reflected the components of successful leadership in the 21st century?

The results are fascinating! First, I want to thank everyone from my PLN who answered the survey and retweeted it so that we could get a more extensive picture of what leadership in the 21st century looks like around the world.  While we could always get more answers, we did get a fair amount and we were able to make some interesting conclusions.

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3 Standardized Testing: One Small Change?

Today was a pretty yucky day at my school: Standardized Test Day. Here in Chile there are standardized tests that all fourth and eighth grade students must take called the SIMCE.  These tests are like the ones in the USA where the information is used to rank the performance of the schools around the country.  Along with the SIMCE in grade 4 today, our students also took the ISA tests in grades 3 and 5.  These tests help us compare our students with comparable International schools around the world.  In general, it was a pretty test-y day.

As the coordinator organising the administration of the tests, it occurred to me that not one of the students taking the tests really have any idea why they are taking them.  Yes, they know that they are important and that parents and schools put a lot of emphasis on the results, but I really don't think the students ever make the connection that it is THEIR results that we are looking at.  From a student perspective the whole process is so far removed that it is impossible for them to really gain any meaning from the results.  Why? Because we won't know the results of either of the tests until February or March of 2012.  At least 6 months from now.

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3 A Steve Jobs Moment Ahead?

We've all been affected by the loss of Steve Jobs and the hole in the creativity universe today.  Like many of you, I've been looking at websites and reading more about him and his life and, most importantly, his leadership of one of the most well known companies in the world.

What I've learned from many sites like wikipedia, the Wall Street Journal and All About Steve Jobs is that he was more than a leader; he was a visionary.  We all knew that but once you start reading, you realise just how deep that really went. What stuck me in particular is that he made mistakes along the way ( the infamous firing from Apple) and was able to reinvent himself to make one of the greatest come backs in business history.

After months of reflecting on my performance here at my school I feel like perhaps I need a "Steve Jobs Moment" myself.  I've been struggling with the realisation that I am not the leader that I thought or hoped I would be.  I have only been in a coordinator position for 3 years but as I have been reflecting, that road hasn't been what I wanted.

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9 Lifelong Learners: A Dangerous Assumption

"Teachers are lifelong learners, that's why they teach students to learn."

Have you heard this before? Have you thought this before? Have you said this before?

I have...and now I realise that it's a dangerous assumption to make; in fact, one that may be getting many of us in trouble without realising it.  You see, all this time I've been thinking that the majority of the teachers in the world WANT to improve education and WANT to be up to date and relevant in their professional practice but don't have access to the resources that they need to implement the change.  I've been angry at districts and school boards for not giving teachers the resources needed to make change happen.  Unfortunately, I never stopped to ask myself if the teachers really WANTED to learn anything new or LIKED learning new things to make the change happen.  I had assumed, as I mentioned above, that they were inherently lifelong learners who were just in a situation that didn't allow them access to resources.

The realisation that this is a dangerous assumption hit me after a number of recent surveys with teachers alluded to the fact that they didn't have extra personal time, didn't want to give their personal time or thought it was inappropriate to give their personal time to learn anything new for work outside their contract hours.  In addition, I had a few teacher comments indirectly imply that "at their age they couldn't learn anything new, or at least it would be a lot more difficult and probably not worth the time."  I was disappointed when it finally occurred to me that what these survey results were really saying was that these teachers weren't interested in being professional learners.  For these teachers, no amount of curated internet resources, professional articles, personal learning networks or free webinars are going to make a difference since their inherent desire to learn as a professional is diminished.

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2 Developing Passion Based Teachers: Midwifing?

I've been reflecting a lot lately on leadership, change and passion based teaching as is evident in the various blog posts over the last month.  Precisely, I'm in the midst of reflecting on what I can do to be a better leader for the teachers that I help; where can I let go and where can I lead.  Luckily, every once in a while, something comes along that gives you that little push that you need to get up and get going on a new path.  Thanks to @ktenkely and her latest blog post I received that passion-filled push that I was requiring!

On her post she placed the video that I also posted above.  While the message of creativity and passion are resoundingly clear, it was the part at the 12:00 mark that peaked my interest.  I encourage you to watch the entire video on this amazing school called High Tech High, but would ask that you pay particular attention to the final few minutes.

Here's a list of the points/quotes that I'm interested in with respect to leading my teachers toward becoming passion filled educators:

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3 Stanford Needs IB Students

I read an article yesterday that has been rattling around inside my head all day today.  I read about a family who is receiving legal assistance from the Mills Legal Clinic which is a part of Standford University's School of Law. While the case itself is interesting and I encourage you to read it (especially if you are interested in special education), what caught my attention was a quote from Stanford Law Professor Lawrence C. Marshall, associate dean for clinical education.  Regarding the skills that law students need to have to succeed as lawyers, he responded "Part of what we need to do is to get them into the habit [of reflective lawyering] and develop the skills to be able to look back on a day of practice and figure out what they can learn from what happened that day."


This struck a chord with me because my first reaction was 'Well then he should find IB graduates!' I found it interesting that he mentioned that he needs to teach that skill to his law students so that they can be successful lawyers in the future.  Imagine my excitement when I realised that we, at my IB PYP school, are already teaching our students these skills starting from kindergarten! Our entire curriculum is based on the idea that learning requires reflection.  Peer, self, group, class, teacher, and school reflection.  What I wouldn't give to find out if the students that are the most successful at the Mills Legal Clinic are students from schools that have simliar curriculums to the IB; Curriculums based on skills and 21st century practices and not just content or tests.

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