Ready, Set, Make #ELWave15

I held my first making presentation yesterday as well as co-moderated #CTedu chat on Makerspaces. It was a crazy day, but I really walked away having learned so much from amazing teachers. Here are some of the things I took away after the day was over and I had some time to reflect.

When it comes to Making, we do not have to look much farther than our own children. They are making all of the time. They do not understand the concept of "can't". We instill that into our kids and we need to be better than that. We need to encourage them to explore and create.

Ninja Warrior Course designed by Leo Provenzano

Leo Provenzano excited to play with the TIE Fighter

When I come to Lafayette, I love to walk around the town. It's a beautiful town with great people. I shop at the independent bookstore and just love checking out everything the downtown area has to offer. This year, I found art in the ally ways.

Using the hashtag #SmallPlacesLafayette with all of the art, I loved the beauty of art throughout the city. When I asked people why the art was put up, I was told it was an effort to spruce up some of the "Small Places" in Lafayette. I just loved this idea. Again, the Making spirit can be seen in the beauty of the art. Give people a blank canvas and they will create beautiful things. We need to give our students more "Small Spaces" to create.

For my session, I wanted teachers to make before we talked Making. Here are some great pictures of people having fun and making.

Paper Airplane competition

Marshmallow Tower Building

Bacon, Donut, and Coffee made with Playdoh

Playdoh Emoji

Building with Lego 

Making beautiful art

It was so fun to see all of the smiles and hear all of the laughter as teachers made things. It set the right tone on what the entire session was supposed to be about. Getting teachers excited about making will hopefully get them thinking about giving their students time to make as well. 

It was a good time with great teachers that were excited to try some new things in a session. I'm excited about where Making is heading in the classroom and I encourage all of you to look into Making and bringing it to your students.