For a long time, I have been teaching classes at co-ops that were considered by my children as their absolute favorite. I didn't have a special name for it; I just called it creative teamwork. Little did I know that this would become a big trend in 2017-18 and it would be called "Makerspace".
I would simply take a large box of "stuff" that I had sitting around my house to
co-op each week. I would give it to the kids and tell them to make something from it. They were always given typical school tools: glue, scissors, pencils and crayons. Then they were given the special materials that I brought in for the week.
One day, I had a large load of newspaper waiting to go to the recycle center. Instead, it went to the classroom. The children were told to design costumes out of it and to perform a short "play" for us. Another day they were given all kinds of rope, string, rubber bands and a variety of plastic and wooden pieces and told to create a machine to carry a small stuffed animal across the room. My oldest were in 6th and 8th grade the last time I did this as a formal co-op class. Now in college, they still tell me it was their favorite class ever. Little did I know that I was ahead of my time.
Now Makerspaces are creeping up everywhere. You can pay to go to special Makerspaces that have all kinds of specialty equipment like welding materials and 3-d printers. Public libraries are setting up Makerspaces in spare rooms for the public to use. And school rooms across the United States are jumping in as well. And why not? It is a great way to occupy time. Kids are curious by nature. They need more unstructured time to be creative. And it allows teachers to recycle all kinds of materials that they already have or can get from parents.
Keep watching my posts to see how I'll be using Makerspace, or "creative teamwork" with my students and kids this year.
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