What would you need to coordinate a “Maker Day” for your school?

There is an incredible amount of planning and preparation that goes into holding a Maker Day, so much so that I believe you probably don’t even realize everything you need until you just dive in. To begin with you need support. That support is going to come in many different forms. It will hopefully be support from your families, administrators, and community. In Invent To Learn, they give a whole list of scenarios and possible ways you could answer questions or respond to comments. This gives a taste of how difficult it might actually be to get support for a Maker Day. There are many ways to go about approaching parents and administrators about a Maker Day. I think I would begin my talking to my students and getting them excited about the idea. It might be helpful to have their encouraging words whispered in their parent’s ears when I go to approach the parents with the idea. I would then speak to my administrators. Luckily, my school has been very open about any new hands on learning activities that have been presented lately. They are creating after school clubs and e-sports teams. This gives me some reassurance that they will be open to the idea. I would simply ask them for permission to use a space ( this is going to be tricky because we are a k-12 building and space is limited right now), as well as explain the idea behind a Maker Day and ask for their support and approval. I am currently a member of our Technology Committee and would also mention this idea to them. I think it would be a great way to advance the schools use of technology.

The next step in my planning would be to determine how to get the funding for the Maker Day. I am hoping to only have to purchase some circuit kits and maybe some extra glue, paint, and maybe some Legos. Last year after learning about different communities around the world my students wanted to donate money to an organization that could help one of these communities. To do so we brainstormed possible ways to make the money and ended up holding a weeklong bottle/can drive in our classroom. It was amazing to see how supportive the parent and community were. I had community members donate twenty-dollar bills to our fund and parents sending in bags full of cans and bottles each day. This was a huge success and we ended up making over 100 dollars! So, after that experience I would definitely like to try this method for gaining funds for the Maker Day. I would also begin at the start of the school year asking parents to send in any of the recyclable type materials for us to begin compiling some things for our Maker Day.

Pinterest has so many awesome Maker Day ideas. I would like it to be a day where parents and students can work together on a project. Spencer recommends that teachers who are new to the making process should stick to the entire class doing the same project or limiting it to a few in different spaces.  I think my first one I would start out simply laying out all of the materials we have and seeing what they create! I know this is probably crazy and will be mass chaos, but I don’t want to decide what they have to make, I want to see where their imaginations take them! Overall, I would like my students to end up creating one piece by the end of the given time. I would like to incorporate some time for them to share their work at the end to make it all worth while. I know I have so much more to think about and I value your input!

Resources

https://www.pinterest.com/brassyj/maker-day-activities/?autologin=true

What is the Point of a Makerspace (general and inexpensive making ideas)

Martinez, S. & Stager, G. (2019). Invent to learn: making, tinkering and engineering in the classroom (2nd ed.). Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press.