Bringing out the Makers

I've been a big fan of the maker movement ever since I saw MAKE: television Episode 1: Bicycle Rodeo & VCR Powered Cat Feeder several years ago. Have you seen some of the cool things these people make? Makers rock! The concept learning, creating, tinkering, and innovating with everyday things called to me. But better yet, I was convinced that it would also call to the many hard-to-engage, seemingly apathetic (but likely hosts of dormant brilliance) kids that bless my days but keep me awake at night.

Last year, I invited James Carlson from The School Factory to talk with our staff about the concept of makerspaces. His visit ignited conversations about what could be, shaping dreams of a multi-generational collaborative learning space in our community. But when teachers returned to their classrooms the following day, the reality of our time-sucking, back-to-the-grind routine sunk in. While the immediate needs of our (sometimes) very needy students screamed for our time and attention, the prospect of a community makerspace seemed too distant to reach. Rather than throwing in the towel, or biting off more than we could reasonable chew, we adopted a "what can we do right now?" approach and the STEM Studio (our mini makerspace) was born. Almost a year later, we're celebrating how a few really cool projects have brought out the makers in our kids.

Last week visitors from the Herald Times Reporter, our local newspaper, visited the STEM Studio, and published a nice article honoring our budding makers:
McKinley Academy students get hands on with old tech | HTR Media | htrnews.com

I'm excited to explore next steps to further tap into that dormant brilliance of our kids!

Always Learning

I recently participated in the eCourse Educational Leadership in the Digital Age. The course is offered from Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) and was instructed by Lyn Hilt @lynhilt who serves as an elementary technology integrator in Pennsylvania. Although the course is officially done, I am still immersing myself in the vast sea of resources and ideas that we explored over the past five weeks. Here are my top (in no particular order) take-aways from from those five, very fast but very fruitful, weeks:

1. Educational leadership in the digital age is less about leading and more about learning. How I build my own PLC, how I connect with others and contribute to the collective knowledge of teaching and learning, how I ask questions and explore curiosities, how I use technologies in a way that transforms my work, how I share & collaborate with others, how I stretch myself...it all really is leading, in that it models and contributes to a culture of learning that can move others toward a vision. 
2. Good content curation tools will save a ton of time, and maybe your marriage!
3. Connecting is powerful. Being connected educators allows us to consider and contribute to emerging ideas in ways not possible earlier in my career. I truly enjoy learning from people whose ideas challenge and inspire me and whose thoughts I admire. 
4. No matter how many great apps and tools you know and use, there are more even better ones! 
5. Regardless of the technology integration framework used, technology becomes a regular, integral, and transparent part of the learning process when technology integration is learning-focused. 
6. I'm always learning.

I have been in three different administrative positions over the past 15 years, but as a first year instructional technology coordinator, I found this course to be very helpful in looking at technology & leadership through new lenses as well as increasing my resources and connections to great ed tech minds. Lyn Hilt did a fabulous job creating a welcoming, encouraging, collaborative, and inspiring "classroom" for those of us seeking to be better leaders and learners in our digital age!

Radical Hospitality for Learning

At a recent administrative meeting, our superintendent introduced the concept of radical hospitality. She described a personal haircut experience at salon which offered wine, shoulder/neck massage while waiting, and someone to warm her car up while she paid. Although wine and massages might seem a bit exotic at IEP meetings or parent-teacher conferences, the concept of radical hospitality is highly applicable to our work with the students and families we serve. In fact, many principals in the room immediately grasped the connection and began share their examples of their own "radical hospitality" - personalized notes & phone calls, rides to meetings, "We miss you!" postcards to truant students, etc. The room became flooded with strategies to make our families and students feel welcome, wanted, and valued in our schools. I left the meeting feeling proud of many of the examples and ideas shared.

I also wondered what practices of ours turn people away? What do we do that tells students they aren't heard, valued, or wanted? In what ways is our system stifling learning, individuality, and community rather than fostering them? I can’t help wonder about taking the concept of radical hospitality and applying it further…permeate our classrooms with it in way that truly transforms teaching and learning.


When I fuse “radical” with “hospitality” with “learning” I’m pulled to a depth of meaningful, personalized learning that is not yet common in our K12 world. It's exciting just thinking about it. I'm inspired by what's happening at Thompson School District's Innovation Lab (Be You House) in Loveland, CO and Lakewood City Schools' developing school Makerspace in Cleveland, OH. There are many more and their approaches have these common elements:

• Learning is sparked by individual passions and interests
• Learning is the focus (not content, not standards, not coverage)
• Authentic learning communities
• Meaningful and vital connections beyond school walls
• Structure but flexibility to foster freedom and remove learning boundaries  

To me, these scream radical hospitality for the mind, radical hospitality for community, radical hospitality for learning. And that's our challenge!