00;00;00;18 - 00;00;24;17 Anna Delia And that was my first time really working deeply in that kind of an experience and thinking like, wow, this is a big potential to take not just my students, but me as a consumer of displays at museums and the way things are made, and a person who purchases and move us more toward a mindset of, I can do that, I can make that, I can backwards design that, I could fix that, I could make it better. 00;00;24;19 - 00;00;40;10 Molly Buckley-Marudas Welcome to Chalk Talk with CLE teaching. We're coming to you live from Cleveland State University. I am Molly Buckley-Marudas co-host of Chalk Talk and Associate Professor of Adolescent and Young Adult Literacy in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education. 00;00;40;12 - 00;01;00;16 Shelley Rose And I'm Shelley Rose, Associate Professor of History in Women's and Gender Studies in the College of Arts Sciences at Cleveland State University. Chalk Talk is a production of the Cleveland Teaching Collaborative. We founded the collaborative in May 2020, and it is now an award winning working group for research, reflection and support for pre-kindergarten through higher education instructors in Northeast Ohio. 00;01;00;19 - 00;01;14;11 Molly Buckley-Marudas In this episode, Artifacts of Making, Artifacts of Learning, we sit down with four special guests who will share some of the innovative ways that they are working with makerspaces and expanding the potential for maker teaching and learning in schools. 00;01;14;13 - 00;01;26;13 Shelley Rose Let's introduce today's guests. We have four maker educators. First, Tina Kovach from Tremont Montessori and three maker educators from Hawken School, and Anna Delia Nick DiGiorgio and Kara Gehring. 00;01;26;15 - 00;01;32;22 Molly Buckley-Marudas You're gonna love this conversation. 00;01;32;24 - 00;01;37;10 Shelley Rose So, first of all, can one of you give us a brief description of what a makerspace is? 00;01;37;13 - 00;02;22;16 Nick DiGiorgio Yeah, well, I, I love sort of this, kind of attempt at answering this question. I believe it's anywhere you can exercise a maker spirit. So it could be a garage. It can be your kitchen table. It could be a classroom. It could be a library. and then kind of going all the way to the other end of the spectrum, it can be a lab or what we call our fabrication lab or a Fab Lab. So I think it's anywhere. And it could be, you know, on the floor with your kids. when you're playing or you're tinkering, I think a makerspace is a is a place where you can exercise and elevate and just try something new and build and construct and tinker and feel good about that. So we use the term maker empowerment a lot. 00;02;22;19 - 00;03;06;11 Anna Delia In our spaces, we're fortunate to have some, machines and equipment that go along with the standard fabrication lab. So in our labs we have laser cutters, we have 3D printers, we have vinyl cutters, sewing machines, embroidery, a bunch of hand tools and, low tech as well as some high tech. We have soldering irons, scissors, craft materials, pipe cleaners, different kinds of glues, lots of materials for students to engage with to build a small prototype all the way to a refined kind of final product of an idea that they might be interested in making. It could go along with a class already in, or it could be just a personal project or something they're interested in working on. 00;03;06;13 - 00;03;47;03 Tina Kovach In CMSD, Verizon and Goodyear started donating makerspaces to different schools, not to ours. Ours is, our buildings too old. So we're completely self-funded. But I've been training with the great people of Hawkins for five years, and every time I go, I take pictures and I try to make my tiny space of Hawken in my classroom and try to give my students that same experience. And we do have a laser. We do have, digital fabrication. We have a computer lab, we have some hand tools. They have a whole room of hand tools. It's amazing, amazing space. And they, and we're not that far unless you count all of our cardboard tools. 00;03;47;05 - 00;04;19;20 Nick DiGiorgio I think, I think your space is amazing. and what you've done like to raise that money on your own, right, to like, bring in tools and resources by doing GoFundMe pages. Whatever you've done is amazing, Tina. Like just the fact that you've kind of come to this place without some sort of giant funding. And I think that's also important, probably for the listeners to hear, like they can build out their space over time with the start of scissors and glue, but then rolling into the opportunities to use other fabrication tools and machines. 00;04;19;22 - 00;04;20;15 Tina Kovach Right. Yeah. 00;04;20;15 - 00;04;47;18 Kara Gehring I was going to say to that another important part for us is the mindset piece of really having students feel empowered. So like Nick said, you could, you know, be in a garage, you could be in a library, you could be at your house. But it's more of having your child or your student, you know, feel moved or passionate about what they're working on and believe in themselves that, hey, if I want to design and prototype and make something, I can do it. 00;04;47;21 - 00;05;04;26 Shelley Rose That's awesome. So makerspaces can be anywhere. Yeah. This is what we've we're learning. It would be great for each of you to share with us if there was a specific moment or experience or project that got you into makerspace teaching and learning, or maker empowerment. 00;05;04;28 - 00;06;54;06 Nick DiGiorgio I mean, I can start where I think the movement, kind of started to take shape in Cleveland at least. I was working at a Cleveland Metropolitan School District called MC2 STEM High School. one of the founding faculty members at that school and part of the model of the school was to ensure, kids are are learning about STEM, right? But they're also applying that learning. And so we were partnered with MIT Center for Bits and Atoms and they're like, hey, you need a Fab Lab. And we're like, what's a Fab Lab? But this is like the first time the word, anybody ever heard the word Fab Lab. And so I was the, visual arts teacher at the time. And one of the things I love to do is collaborate with, with the talent of the other teachers and, and work side by side with project planning and create these learning experiences for the kids. And I just started gravitating towards these machines that just happened to be showing up at our school, became really, connected with our laser cutter, our 3D printers. My background is visual arts and graphic design. So those machines became, really easy for me to learn. And then that's kind of how the Fab Lab in school started to take shape. and it was at MC2, STEM High School here in Cleveland. and then from there, I think, you know, the success of that program grew into, hey, how how can we expand this to other schools? So we got a grant from, the state to put all these machines in a trailer and drive it around Cleveland. So that was my lucky job after I, you know, like, being in the classroom. We did, you know, we just did some amazing, projects, during that time. And then, you know, the, Cleveland wanted to figure out how we can expand that. So we did some work in K-8 schools. I'm not sure if we ever came to your school, Tina. 00;06;54;12 - 00;07;47;19 Tina Kovach I don't, but no, but I met Nick through Rock Your World with STEAM. So there's this big festival. at the end of every year, in collaboration with the Science Center and the Rock Hall. And Nick was in charge of it, so we'd be in the basement, trying to set up for this big, elaborate, display. So that's where I first got inspired to start making things that, I would work with Nick at these Rock Your World STEAM events and, see different things and think, well, wow, we could do that. And then I'd go in to my funding sources, which is mostly Donors Choose or the fabulous Doug Wang. And, we would build on that, like the first time we got a 3D printer. He goes, I don't know what a 3D printer is, but here's your 3D printer. And he just. Like, gave it to us as like, this amazing person that has really helped us along. 00;07;47;21 - 00;07;56;28 Molly Buckley-Marudas Nice. Thank you. Nick and Tina, Anna or Kara, do you want to share with us how you got into maker teaching and learning? 00;07;57;00 - 00;09;22;08 Anna Delia Yeah, sure. I, I mean, I'd love to. I was I was thinking about this question, and, as a former science teacher, I think I had some examples of being very engaged with my students, seeing my students most engaged when, you know, we'd start class with an experience or a chance to make observations, a chance to ask questions, a chance to sort of experience something instead of just like rote information being given to them. So I kind of evolved my teaching along the way with thinking of different ways to get students hands-on with the material and what they were learning, and then that kind of fed into this program that I was doing at the time with, Hawken Middle School called Insights, and that was a one week class where our students could sign up for a special interest and teachers would lead it for the whole week, sixth, seventh and eighth grade mixed together. And we'd be out on a lot of excursions around Cleveland. And I kind of iterated on that class a few times with different colleagues of mine, and eventually landed on this project to connect with NASA and do something with space. And at that point, Nick had started to work at Hawken, and we were talking about possible projects that our students could do during this Insights week. And, I think we still have the sketch somewhere, but Nick had been to a children's museum and saw a display on the wall that was interactive and had a chance for kids to kind of push buttons and information would display and things would light up. And he said, you know, you can make this with your class. And at that time I was like, there's absolutely no way that I can, like, make this. There's no way. 00;09;22;10 - 00;09;24;01 Nick DiGiorgio Proved it on a napkin. 00;09;24;03 - 00;11;13;12 Anna Delia It's an excellent drawing of what it could be. And of course, at that moment I had been thinking more traditionally about like, maybe they could make a mobile or have a planet diorama type project. And, he was like, you know, that's not going to be worth the time they’re going to put in for something that maybe could live on much longer beyond like the space of the project. So, I like famously tell people that despite going to college and having a science degree, I never had to build a circuit that actually worked until I did that project with Nick. And it was like, the parents are coming tomorrow and it's going to be up on the wall, and it better work, and. We want to. Make sure that everything is good. So there we were, you know, like Sunday evening with a bunch of very interested students and my co-teacher in the Fab Lab at Hawken soldering this big board together. and that was my first time really working deeply in that kind of an experience and thinking like, this has a wow, this is a big potential to take, you know, not just my students, but me as a consumer of, you know, displays at museums and the way things are made and a person who purchases and move us more toward, you know, a mindset of, I can do that, I can make that. I can backwards design that, I could fix that. I could make it better. So it wasn't just like, I hope the kids walk away from this project having learned how to build a circuit. but more like we're going to make something that is more substantial, that could kind of be part of our school that, we previously might have considered like, oh, we could only get that if we bought it from somebody. If we paid some high-level artist who's been working on our craft for 30 years to make it for us. So that was kind of my first time really completing something in a fabrication lab where I thought, like, this is going to be impactful, not just on the basic skills that we are trying to convey in science that week, but on the mindset of our learners. 00;11;13;14 - 00;11;19;17 Molly Buckley-Marudas That's amazing. That’s so cool. Yeah, yeah, it and it's still there. 00;11;19;20 - 00;11;21;14 Anna Delia I learned all kinds of things with that. 00;11;21;16 - 00;11;24;28 Tina Kovach Just like the ghost of Nick still remained... 00;11;25;00 - 00;11;27;19 Nick DiGiorgio I’m right here! 00;11;27;21 - 00;12;42;19 Tina Kovach But the ghost, the. Ghost of Nick still remains at CMSD. So like, all the things that. He sort of started with, with. That, the mobile fab lab is still I mean, it's still active and it's running. And then Sarah, Sarah Wallace picked up the the mobile fab lab, and now she has a fab lab at East Professional Center. And then she started doing these classes and they're like, hey, do you want, silhouette cutter and all you have to do is come and let me teach you how to use it. So then I went to all those classes and she had a fellowship where you can apply and you can be a fab lab fellow, and you would learn each of the machines, and then she would, put them into your classroom. They were donated by Goodyear, and then you had them in your room and they were yours, and your kids could make whatever. And then she still had the traveling fab lab with the bigger lasers if you needed it. And you wanted to do projects like that. But I took every class that she's had. And, then I would go to the Hawnken Fab Play and see what they had, and then I would come back and say, hey, Sarah, I want one of those. And then we would write grants and get that and if you saw my room, it's like everything is just sort of like crammed in this tiny space, but it somehow works. 00;12;42;21 - 00;12;45;22 Molly Buckley-Marudas Well, you'll have to send us some. We're going to need some pictures. 00;12;45;25 - 00;12;46;11 Shelley Rose For the show notes. 00;12;46;14 - 00;13;07;08 Molly Buckley-Marudas So that folks can can see associated images. And we will be Sarah will be coming next week. So nice little preview for that. But Kara, we didn't hear how you got interested in this. 00;13;07;10 - 00;13;07;21 Kara Gehring Yeah. you know, I, I really have to say it’s it’s Anna and I’ve told, 00;13;07;21 - 00;13;07;21 Molly Buckley-Marudas Domino. 00;13;07;21 - 00;15;56;24 Kara Gehring I’ve told Anna this before. I was, like.And I also have a teaching background in science, and, you know, five years ago was when we opened our lab on our Lyndhurst campus. And, you know, people were really excited. There was a lot of buzz. I didn't really understand what it was. Sounded cool. You know, we were kind of going through the motions of how it would affect us and our students and all of, you know, these endless possibilities of of things and projects we could do in there. And, it wasn't until it opened and I started bringing my science students down in our space that I really, as an educator, kind of had this moment where I saw how engaged and passionate our students were and kind of how inspired they would be to be in this space, kind of having this empowerment to do what they, you know, wanted to do. And I was like. Wow, this is cool. It just kind of stuck with me in a way that nothing else had as a teacher. I had taught second and third grade and loved it. But there was just something about being in that space that moved me as a person and as a teacher and everything I've learned about, you know, our lab and makerspaces in general are from Anna and Nick. I know, you know, I'm still learning. This is my third year and this role that I'm currently in. So I still have a lot of growing that I want to do and learning I want to do. But, you know, one of my things I love so much about that space is you're learning along with your students. Yeah, for sure. there are so many times, you know, someone will say, well, I really want to do this, but I don't know how when I'll say, well, I don't know how either, but we'll figure it out. And that's what's so great about that space. It's, you know, the possibilities really are endless. I think about, I have a former student who is a sixth grader now, and I had her in third grade during Covid, and she and I really kind of bonded. And, you know, she's still a regular visitor of mine. But last year, she was like, Mrs. Gehring, I really want to make a doghouse. And I was like, all right, that's cool. Yeah, let's make a doghouse. You know, let's carve out some time during a recess or, you know, so long story short, she started last year, and she designed and prototyped to scale a doghouse that she was hoping to build. We found her recycled pallets. She took all of the wood apart, sanded it herself. and she's almost done. She doesn't have as much time as a sixth grade student, as far as recess that she did when she was a lower school student, but we're working on getting it done. And it's just an example of, you know, a student who is really passionate about something and wanted to do it. And that's what I like about this space. It's I, I've never told a student no, we can't do that. It's more like, okay, let's figure out how,. 00;15;56;26 - 00;16;53;26 Nick DiGiorgio Yeah, there's there's a lot of learning together. And I think, you know, there's also a ton of projects that don't require any machines at all. And I think, like, right now that's our big push. Is this maker empowerment piece. It's the spirit of I can do it, I can fix it. I don't know, but I'll figure it out. that's like I think that's the feeling that you'll have in the space when you walk in, in our students who feel really confident in that space, they're not, like, afraid of the machines, they're, they're really kind of like, I know where this is. I don't, I don't know how to do this, but I know somebody who can help me or I know how to figure it out. And those are the things that are really important for, I think what we're trying to to, to develop in our students as these skills. It’s not really about the 3D printer or the laser cutter. I think that's really important. And in fact, you know, I think a lot of our successes for many of our kids all the way, you know, from preschool all the way on up, it's it doesn't really you usually have to be a tech tool at all. It’s about the confidence that they get once they've accomplished something. 00;16;53;26 - 00;17;05;00 Tina Kovach Right. We're giving toilet paper rolls, haircuts today and Pre-K. I mean, they're just learning scissor skills. So yeah, I mean, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. 00;17;05;00 - 00;18;06;17 Kara Gehring No. Yeah. We had, a family visiting our campus yesterday that was touring, and the mother asked me a question and just said, you know, have you what do you do when you have a student in this space that says, I can't do this or I don't want to do this? And I said to be honest with you, I've never heard that. I've never had a student in one of our spaces say, I don't want to do this. It’s, it's also great because I feel like it appeals to all types of learners. And that's really great as an educator to see, you know, it's like, especially after us having our lab at our Lyndhurst campus now for five years, we've gotten to this point where now coming out of Covid, I feel like this is really the first year that I've been in this role, that it's operating the way that I hoped it would operate. We’re getting the population and, you know, the numbers in that we wanted to have in, I think kids want to try and they're not afraid to try. And now that they've had the scaffolding of skills over the years, you know, our kids come in knowing how to use the space. And that's really great. 00;18;06;19 - 00;18;52;09 Nick DiGiorgio Yeah. Can I add on, because, you know, we, I teach at the upper school in our fab lab, which, has a different, take on, on unlike what the students are doing in that class, I teach a art, fundamentals class through the use of the machines, but I also teach an innovation studio class, which is you've got a great project to celebrate. You know, that interest. And let's figure things out together. I think one of the neat models at our lower school is the science. is taught in art innovation space. I don't know if you want to kind of like, talk a little bit about what that looks like because it's a it's a natural overlap and it's an, an incredible opportunity for those kids to be in the space learning science and and like working hands on. 00;18;52;09 - 00;19;55;25 Kara Gehring Right. Yeah. So we have two science classrooms that are really just right outside of our, our lab. And right now how our current schedule is set is that every student K through five has science every other day. and I collaborate and work really closely with our two wonderful lower school science teachers, Jamie and Carrie. and we try and, you know, embed innovation as often as we can in our science curriculum. an example of that is we just had our fourth graders finishing up a unit on electricity. They were actively working in our lab, building something called an art bot, which is a really simple robot that you can make with a cup and markers and a motor and a battery. They were exploring snap circuits. We did a lab where they, you know, took apart holiday lights, figured out about parallel circuits and series circuits, but, you know, like Nick mentioned, yeah, there's there's tons of opportunities for our students to be in that space through science, and also through other project-based work that they might be doing in their classrooms. 00;19;55;27 - 00;20;04;27 Tina Kovach I think you should describe your space because it's so amazing at the lower school. It's two story. It's an old gym. I'm like really set the picture. 00;20;04;27 - 00;21;04;07 Kara Gehring Sure. Yeah. I mean, the space itself is over 100 years old. Our lab, as I mentioned, is five. But yeah, it was kind of this underutilized gym on our campus that, you know, luckily, we, you know, we're given permission to, you know, and the funding to build this incredible space. But as Tina mentioned, yeah, it's two levels. We have a loft area that's opened down to the floor below. but yeah, it's it's incredible. you you walk in and we have our woodshop on the right and one of our science classrooms on the left. It's really open with big, beautiful glass windows. There’s kind of a really nice, tie in of the old and the new. our ceilings are still original from 100 years ago. And the brick, that you, when you walk in, in you're facing is still original as well. So I mean, and a really designed that space. So, they did a beautiful job. But, yeah, it is incredible. It's one of those things when you walk in, you're like, oh, wow. We’re incredibly lucky to have that space. 00;21;04;10 - 00;21;08;26 Tina Kovach They also have a tool management system that has color coded that they should tell you about. 00;21;08;29 - 00;21;10;04 Kara Gehring Oh yeah. Yeah. 00;21;10;06 - 00;21;17;25 Anna Delia I think in, wow, in our particular, I'm sure we will happily give you some pictures to, include in. 00;21;17;25 - 00;21;21;09 Nick DiGiorgio Open invitation all the time. For any, any teacher that wants to come. 00;21;21;10 - 00;25;04;04 Anna Delia Absolutely. Yeah. We do tours all the time. We host people for the day that are interested in, maker work at their school. And also we have a summer conference every year that we run in June. For anybody who's interested in major education to come and actually learn in our physical space with us, which would be Fab Play Institute. So the green, yellow, red dot system was we went on a couple different learning tours to go around and visit other schools that had makerspaces or maker programing. Saw a lot of schools in California and kind of brought back like the best little practices of all those spaces to make our space run efficiently, but also meet our underlying philosophy, which for us is about open access, keeping in a spirit of really when fabrication labs were starting. It's about distributed production. It's about everybody can make this. So we didn't want to create a room or a system where, you know, a student has to ask for a ton of permission. So even backing that up further, like someone advised me to walk around the school and do kind of like a permission check, which is just a great creative exercise. I always tell any teacher who's interested in kind of, building out more creativity in their classroom, but, you know, we learned that for a student in the middle school to maybe work in a creative space, you know, they might have to first have the project given to them. They might have to check in with that individual teacher, let them know where they were going. They then walked down the hall, maybe check in with me, let me know what they needed. Then they'd have to get it out of the closet. And so it ends up being like 6 to 7 different check points before they could actually get to physically making something. And that kind of that just erodes the creative process for a student. it's going to eliminate your quieter students. It's going to eliminate a kid who doesn't quite know what they need yet, or somebody who just, like, isn't interested to really, like, pursue their idea far enough that 10 to 15 minutes later is when they actually get the, you know, materials in their hand to make the thing that they're interested in doing. So when we started the Lyndhurst lab in particular, we were really interested in serving, you know, over 600 students, hundreds of projects a year, 80 different faculty and making sure the doors were always open. So the mindset is that there's always a resource person here for you to assist you if you come into the room and if someone's not here or they're occupied with something else, you can still get to what you need without having to stop and ask for permission. So the space is set up intentionally with no closets. Everything is out. Everything's make ready, all the materials are visible, and then we, spend a lot of time the first year or two, actually working with a group of students to design a system that would be pretty clear for all visitors coming in. So items that are labeled with a green dot are things that students can just use without checking with us, without telling us what they're doing, without asking for any permission. Items labeled labeled with a yellow dot are something that we say. Let us know your setup, like communicate your plan to the adult in the room. So again, it's not like pick up that you know, Sharpie marker and ask for permission. It's more about I'm going to use this over here on these workbenches, not on the like fancy white board table top right. So the student just like, has to kind of communicate what they're planning to do with the yellow dot item. And then red means that's for, adult use with student to assist us or stand nearby or watch or maybe as they get a little older, that would be a student hands on with that machine or tool or material and we would hands on assist them. So that's really made like the it's looking all the way back at the beginning until now. Like that's just enabled so many more students to get their hands on in our space. and a lot less questions that have to funnel through one resource person, which is definitely something we're trying to eliminate. 00;25;04;06 - 00;25;23;27 Shelley Rose That's awesome. And thank you for sharing the projects and the spaces visually. And, you know, oral, you know, ad hoc and and I'm wondering, Tina, if you have a specific project that you can tell us about that you make in your space with your students and what kind of outcomes you expect or maybe happen without you expecting them? 00;25;23;29 - 00;26;45;19 Tina Kovach Well, our space is a little unique because we're a Montessori school. So we teach in grade bands like Pre-K and care together for second and third. 4 or 5 and 6 are together and 7 and 8. So it's multi age. And I also have an unusual schedule where I see a group of kids every day for a week, and then I won't see them again for a month. But we scheduled it that way so that if we start a project on a Monday, then we can follow through and finish it. So we're not storing like have done projects or losing pieces. And it also helps cut down and a lot of wasted time, like going back over rules or directions or what you're going to do. So a lot of the work I do is from the child, I follow the child, and they'll come up and they'll go, hey, this is what I feel like doing. So where how can gets there more focused in their area and maker space? We also have robotics and makerspace and computer science and typing skills and all of that sort of in one space and try to balance all of that together. So I don't have one favorite thing, because I really love my job. And like every day there's just something that amazing happens in this space that is student-centered and opened and ready for them. 00;26;45;22 - 00;26;54;22 Molly Buckley-Marudas Nice. Well, I am very curious to hear because we've heard a lot of great examples, the doghouse. And then I'm looking at a crochet chicken. 00;26;54;26 - 00;26;56;05 Tina Kovach That's our robotics chicken. 00;26;56;05 - 00;26;57;09 Molly Buckley-Marudas This is a robotics chicken. 00;26;57;09 - 00;29;07;01 Tina Kovach I can tell you about their project. So like that. Yeah. Every year with First Lego League. you have the ro, you design a robot, you have to get points and, 2.5 minutes with your robot over a course, you have to treat your team members kindly and you have to have a project that you share. And there's a lot of outreach. In fact, we'll be back at CSU next Friday doing outreach, outreach for the high school, robotics tournament. But, this year it was to share a hobby. And at the end of last year, half of our team just decided that they were all going to learn to crochet. And we didn't care what the rest of the team thought. This is what we're doing. And so they just like, adamantly started teaching each other. And then when they announced the project in August and they could do crochet, they're like, oh my gosh, we could do crochet. So, so, like we went into these chickens, we made these, crocheted plants. We, taught everybody 4 to 8 in the school of crochet. I bought, 400 crochet hooks from TEMU. Like like like just crazy that the amount of interest in it. We made these really cool phone lanyards where everybody made that, with these, toggles, and everybody loved those. And now the robotics team actually took those. That project made a kit. They did, what's it called? Oh, my God, a TikTok. They did a TikTok of how to assemble the kit, how to make the lanyard. They also did a YouTube video of how to make it. And then they also created a app where you can go on and you can see our students teaching you how to crochet. And then there's a gamified, portion of it that Haitham will tell you about. But and then there's another part where they just, if you know, these stitches now, you can make this project and like, so they're just something that happened that was just student centered, that just blew up and went on and has like a mind of its own. And now you're holding an emotional support chicken. 00;29;07;04 - 00;30;14;03 Molly Buckley-Marudas Well, it's amazing to hear. And you can hear it in all the examples that would come up. But the amount of, sort of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary projects and the layering of, my backgrounds, literacy. But I think of all of the different literacy practices that are layered, like in every step of this project. So the digital literacies, the audio literacies, the communication skills, and you really did light up as you described this adorable chicken and all the steps. So I'm curious if there's a project from our other three guests that makes you light up like when that came to life. Just give our audience like a quick description of that particular project. 00;30;14;06 - 00;31;50;06 Kara Gehring It actually just happened last night. I was waiting to when it went really well, I, our third graders usually do this annual wax museum, experience where, through their language arts program, they, they research and practice nonfiction skills, and they choose someone of interest to study and then represent in a wax museum in our, wonderful third grade teachers, kind of rethought it this year, and they had a, a “Night at the Museum” type of theme. And the kids get really excited and they dress up and they have a speech and it's great, but we wanted to, innovate it and incorporate some really great projects, with the students this year. So what we did is we, you know, what's important to us at Hawken is to always have the students have some sort of element of choice. So we got all of our third graders together in the beginning of this process and had them brainstorm some projects that they were interested in maybe doing. I showed them some stuff, and then they chose three, final three choices that anyone in third grade could choose from. So, the one that was probably the most popular was creating a diorama using a Makey Makey, where they would code facts or different sounds that, you know, represented their person or their scene or whatever they built with their diorama. and I had never used a Makey Makey before, and it was super fun and easy and I loved how excited the kids got about it and love showing their families. and yeah, it was just it was a really great experience. It was fun trying something new. I loved I think our kids, especially from what I can tell, are really interested in coding. and so that's something that we had noticed as well. And we are, also trying to incorporate more coding right now in our science curriculum. But anyway, so yeah, I, for me, it was using a Makey Makey with our students and having them, you know, innovate their, their diorama work that way. 00;31;50;08 - 00;33;03;15 Nick DiGiorgio I was, I was passing around a photo because one of the, one of the other like pieces we always incorporate in our project is the plan for it. Right? There's this design process. And so looking through the pictures, I took a photograph of the students, sketch of what they're looking to create and build. And then and then, you know, had a conversation with her and then starts to, like, shape up and come to life. It was incredible. and then it's not just a shoe box or a diorama. It's like it lights up or it, like, talks to you, right? Like it's interactive. So imagine that parent coming by and sort of hearing from their from their son or daughter about this experience that they had, which was a little bit of science, right? A little bit of history, humanities, I mean, and and the presentation part of it is, is just as important. So it's a, it's a wonderful project and we have probably another dozen that we can talk about for each grade level. But that one, is I think has grown, a lot since, you know, with the opportunity that the teachers have in collaboration with the team here, in the spaces. It just sort of enhances and reinforces the learning and creates a whole different experience for the kids that's more memorable than, like, your typical shoebox project. 00;33;03;17 - 00;33;04;17 Kara Gehring 00;33;04;20 - 00;33;11;25 Shelley Rose And it's amazing because it's student-centered. Every single one of you has said that you let the student come in and. 00;33;11;27 - 00;33;12;15 Molly Buckley-Marudas Oh, yeah. 00;33;12;18 - 00;33;29;17 Tina Kovach I also love how how can we'll have like, you'll have your big projects and you turn them into books and like, they're storybooks and they're on a shelf and you can go and look and be like, oh my gosh, this is the story of how they build that outdoor learning center. I think it's amazing how they catalog their work. 00;33;29;20 - 00;33;31;16 Kara Gehring 00;33;31;19 - 00;34;19;18 Anna Delia It's a big part of our, our colleagues, especially in our early childhood center, follow the Reggio Emilia approach which involves a lot of documentation of process. So that's something I think having these labs has helped us kind of build in all the way through is that we often talk about the process and how we document the process and how we share artifacts of our process. We still care about products. We care about the final piece working and looking great. Although not every single project gets to that final shiny stage where you know it can go on the mantel of their home, just because of time, or maybe the students interests have changed, you know? But we do try to really focus on how we document their process and share that out publicly more than sometimes, and we want to share the product out. I have a project. 00;34;19;18 - 00;34;23;20 Molly Buckley-Marudas Project I was going to ask. Yeah, yeah. Favorite project or memorable? 00;34;23;21 - 00;38;54;01 Anna Delia I’m going to talk about this one. So I would like to talk about Breaker Space. This is a, like, learning experience. We've kind of refined and defined over the last few years. It's just a beautiful way for our students to learn. So I mentioned one of those learning tours we were on, I think, Nick and I were observing a school in San Francisco. It was a girls school, and we went in to see a kindergarten class in their Makery Their teacher, Jenny Howland, who since, retired, had some images up on the screen of, cars and bicycles and typewriters that had been taken apart. They're all pictures from this book by, photographer Todd McClellan of Things Come Apart. And, so she had the students guess, like, what do you think this is? What do you think this is, how many pieces and parts go into it, etc.? And it was kind of this, like, you could kind of feel like the magic settling over the room as these girls were so engaged with trying to guess what was in the pictures and what different parts were for, and how a chainsaw engine comes together, and what are all the components of it. And then they went and started taking apart various old electronics that had been provided to the class from this, from their technology department. And it was just a really cool lesson to see. So, we kind of brought that same concept back to our, school and started it with younger students. We tried this out with our Pre-K. Those are 4 or 5 year olds. And, there's a teacher that teaches kindergarten at our school, Erin Gilbride, who brought her class. And and she said something like, sometimes this is called the makerspace, and sometimes it's called the breaker space. And it's like. There it is. So breaker space is an ongoing activity that we we often have this just as an open option in our class. some teachers have even incorporated into their classroom. Sometimes we do it as just a wholesale unit, and we are often using it to kind of kick off early, in fourth grade, when they're learning their electricity unit, we sort of use it to introduce the unit. So it's an exploration where students might take apart an old electronic from home, or one that we've been able to kind of scrounge up within our community. Lots of people are willing to offload all of their old tech stuff. So we've never been without, things. But, you know, an old toy to learn about how gears work or a speaker might be incorporated. And so we really like we saw how excited our students were for the physical taking a part of something, and then they catalog and document what's inside of a machine or an object to kind of learn about different parts. We recycle those parts back into the lab, so we use those gears and other projects. We then can try to fix it if it was broken or we're just, you know, taking it apart to kind of, document. And what we realized is this really pulls in some of the greater philosophy we are trying to get at, which we learned from, Harvard University Agency by Design, part of Project Zero work with our researcher Edward Clapp and these different thinking routines. So we're trying to build critical thinkers. We're trying to build creative collaborators and problem solvers. And so some of this mindset around the way that this work is done is in looking closely, is in noticing, it's in paying attention, it's making good observations. And then this idea of parts, purposes and complexity. So what are the parts that make something up? What are the purposes of those parts? How is it complex and how do they interact and breaker spaces an awesome place to kind of practice that. But that's a thinking strategy that our students could learn, could learn to use in in an entrepreneurship class. That's a thinking strategy they could use in an economics class. Parts, purposes and complexities. So then, you know, once that's all over, they often take these beautiful photographs of the documented, you know, electronic or, or toy or item and then, then they kick off, you know, going into their electricity unit and they build a circuit, or they create a new machine, or they make a new invention or they build a simple machine. So we found that all ages love this. We've taught it at our Fab Play Institute with adults. And, it's just a really engaging activity. We have a write up about it on our, website, this free material for everybody to take a look at and use. So that's kind of one of those projects. It's like if I was going to just walk into a room and come up with a maker activity, I'd probably start with that. 00;38;54;03 - 00;38;56;19 Shelley Rose That's awesome. That's so cool. Thank you. Great. 00;38;56;21 - 00;38;58;29 Anna Delia It's a great weekend activity. 00;38;59;01 - 00;39;00;13 Shelley Rose Yeah. 00;39;00;17 - 00;39;11;08 Anna Delia Lots of I've heard like lots of our kids are spending a rainy Saturday taking apart an your old computer keyboard. Yeah. 00;39;11;10 - 00;39;26;23 Molly Buckley-Marudas Well thank you all so much. Those examples are amazing. And unfortunately we have reached the end of our time together. But we want to make sure that you have one last chance. If there was something you really wanted to share with the audience that you haven't been able to share yet, we're going to turn the floor over to you for that. 00;39;26;25 - 00;40;16;29 Tina Kovach My entire room is funded through Donors Choose. So I have some very generous people that donate to my classroom monthly. And then I have people that donate any time I need something. And I'm just watching and waiting. So we're very, very fortunate to be able to follow the children at Tremont and have them do whatever they want to do, and to make that little space of creativity and safety for them because of the people that have supported us, especially, Doug Wang, Jimmy Yeagley and the Cleveland Fab Lab with Sarah Pendergrass and Rita Makita who also take very good care of us. And we are also very happy to work with Hawken very closely. They're very generous with their time and their knowledge, and they're always there if we need something from them. 00;40;17;01 - 00;41;07;22 Nick DiGiorgio Well, thank thank you. Tina. you know, that's sort of an invitation if I can. June 11th through 14th, we're holding our sixth annual, Maker Educators Institute. It's called Fab Play. We invite you to either pop by or register. It’s four days long. It's really hands on. It's kind of this unconference like experience, where you can dive into a single machine that you want to use. Or if you are interested in learning how to integrate your curriculum across different, content areas, or if you just want to hang out with us and other great people like Tina that are coming to this space sharing wonderful ideas and sort of enhancing and building out, possibilities with their spaces. If you're new to makerspaces, is a great place to start. the website for this, what is it? 00;41;07;23 - 00;41;14;25 Anna Delia fablab.hawken.edu/institute. 00;41;15;01 - 00;41;15;15 Nick DiGiorgio That's right. 00;41;15;15 - 00;41;16;22 Kara Gehring 00;41;16;22 - 00;41;17;27 Shelley Rose And we’ll link it in the show notes. 00;41;18;02 - 00;41;21;05 Kara Gehring Right. Oh, Nick. 00;41;21;07 - 00;41;28;06 Kara Gehring Nick, you know, designs all of our graphics and runs the whole website. So maybe you have it's been a long time, since you've probably gotten... 00;41;28;08 - 00;41;35;23 Nick DiGiorgio There's a few there's a few websites there. 00;41;35;25 - 00;41;55;22 Shelley Rose Excellent. Well, thank you all for your experiences and for sharing with us today. This is really amazing. And to hear about the amazing support you have for this creative teaching is also pretty amazing. So especially Tina’s group. So now it's time to “Chalk N’ Roll”, which is our rapid question and answer segment. So are we ready to Chalk N’ Roll? 00;41;55;25 - 00;41;57;24 Molly Buckley-Marudas Yes. 00;41;57;27 - 00;42;04;00 Shelley Rose Tina can go first. So question one what is your favorite spot in Cleveland or in Northeast Ohio? 00;42;04;02 - 00;42;09;06 Tina Kovach Right now it is the Great Lakes Science Center with the fabulous John Bradshaw. 00;42;09;09 - 00;42;17;02 Shelley Rose Nice. And question two, what's one podcast or book or any media that you're loving right now? 00;42;17;04 - 00;42;35;22 Tina Kovach The Kelsey Brothers is the only podcasts I've ever seen. I don't. I don't, I don't really like, read or see anything during the school year. I know because I'm always working. So, yeah, I don't have I like complete silence. 00;42;35;25 - 00;42;46;15 Shelley Rose Okay. Cool. And what is your favorite resource for maker education or your favorite way to connect with other maker educators? 00;42;46;17 - 00;42;56;00 Tina Kovach Hawking family. It's a best, hands down, best thing I've ever been to. I go every year. Everybody should go. 00;42;56;02 - 00;42;56;26 Anna Delia Thank you. Tina. We love you. 00;42;56;26 - 00;43;00;08 Kara Gehring We love that you come. 00;43;00;10 - 00;43;01;26 Anna Delia Yeah, it wouldn't be the same without you. That's right. 00;43;02;00 - 00;43;08;10 Molly Buckley-Marudas Thanks, Tina. There's a great collaborative spirit here. So let's move on to Kara. You ready? 00;43;08;16 - 00;43;09;01 Kara Gehring I'm ready. 00;43;09;04 - 00;43;13;05 Molly Buckley-Marudas All right, so what's your favorite spot in Cleveland or northeast Ohio? 00;43;13;08 - 00;43;18;10 Kara Gehring Ooh, I'm going to have to say Van Aken. in Shaker Heights. I go there a lot with my family. 00;43;18;17 - 00;43;20;13 Molly Buckley-Marudas Nice. Which spot in Van Aken? 00;43;20;15 - 00;43;33;13 Kara Gehring Well, we are most probably Mitchell's. is the most popular spot, but I love it all. I really like Brassica. Yeah. Craft Collective, Northstar. Yeah, it's all good. Nice. 00;43;33;13 - 00;43;37;25 Molly Buckley-Marudas Stopped by Mitchell's last night. All right. What's one podcast book you're loving right now? 00;43;37;25 - 00;43;53;06 Kara Gehring I mean, I have to say New Heights. I know that's so, like, lame. Maybe. I don't know, but I do. I do listen to that. I don't know why. But I like that. I also like, educationally, I like, a podcast called Teachers Need Teachers. 00;43;53;09 - 00;44;00;14 Molly Buckley-Marudas Excellent. Great. And third, what is your favorite resource for maker education or your favorite way to connect with other makers? 00;44;00;17 - 00;44;23;09 Kara Gehring I would agree with Tina. I think our Fab Play Institute for sure, hands down. But I also think Instagram, I've been able to connect with other maker educators, especially one, his name's Lee. He works in North Carolina at Cannon School. What's up? Lee? Lee and I chat a lot about what he's working on and what I'm working on, and we try and zoom, like, once a month with each other, just, you know, share. 00;44;23;09 - 00;44;27;20 Molly Buckley-Marudas So, yeah, I would say our, our our institute and Instagram. 00;44;27;22 - 00;44;31;16 Shelley Rose Awesome. Great. Nick, it's your turn to Chalk N’ Roll. 00;44;31;16 - 00;44;32;16 Nick DiGiorgio Yeah. Let's do it. 00;44;32;16 - 00;44;35;21 Shelley Rose All right. What's your favorite spot in Cleveland or Northeast Ohio? 00;44;35;23 - 00;44;40;26 Nick DiGiorgio You know I need to be outdoors. So it's the Metroparks. 00;44;40;29 - 00;44;43;15 Kara Gehring Yeah. Sorry to say it again. 00;44;43;21 - 00;44;58;09 Nick DiGiorgio It's like being outside, with the kids in the family on the weekends. It's just a way to kind of, break free of, of all the other distractions and just be in the moment. We go to the South Chagrin Reservation right now, quite a bit. Even in the snow. It's just pleasant and peaceful. 00;44;58;12 - 00;44;59;25 Kara Gehring I love that space. 00;44;59;28 - 00;45;04;23 Shelley Rose Awesome. So what's one podcast or book that you're liking right now? 00;45;04;25 - 00;45;26;20 Nick DiGiorgio I'm listening to a podcast called, Rewatchables. It's a bunch of people talking about old movies that we were once watching in the 80s. Anything from like Rocky IV, to Commando, to Under Siege like these just crazy old, movies that, that everybody's just talking about in this, in this podcast. 00;45;26;26 - 00;45;33;17 Shelley Rose Cool. And what is your favorite resource for maker education or a favorite way to connect with other makers? 00;45;33;19 - 00;46;16;09 Nick DiGiorgio Yeah. I just love kind of just sharing ideas. I have a few friends that I, sort of text back and forth with that are doing. Hey, Nick, look at what I just made in the garage. Right? Or, I send them some things that I think, you know, would appeal to, to to them in their own makerspaces. But there's this great party that happens June 11th through the 14th. That is the best way to, like, have those, informal chats and conversations. We do a social evening as well. and just you're just surrounded by other people that love to share and make. So it's, it's I think you get a lot in, in that one hour. Well those four days, enough to fill you for the rest of the year. And so that's the one place. Yeah. 00;46;16;12 - 00;46;18;24 Molly Buckley-Marudas Great. Thanks, Nick. All right. Anna. 00;46;18;26 - 00;46;19;11 Anna Delia Okay. 00;46;19;13 - 00;46;23;01 Molly Buckley-Marudas Here we go. What is your favorite spot in Cleveland or northeast Ohio? 00;46;23;08 - 00;46;47;26 Anna Delia Mine is also the Metroparks. I wrote that on my sheet right here. I'm a West sider, so, and my, one of my children has been fortunate enough to go to the Cleveland Metroparks Nature Preschool. So we spent a lot of time. yeah, actually, almost daily. We're in the Metroparks. We love Huntington Beach. and we love Fort Hill behind the Rocky River Nature Center. It's just one of the best views, potentially in the whole state. 00;46;47;28 - 00;46;52;24 Molly Buckley-Marudas Awesome. Thanks. What's one podcast or book that you're loving right now? 00;46;52;26 - 00;47;29;11 Anna Delia I really like the New View Edu podcast. It's by Tim Fish, who's the chief innovation officer for the National Association of Independent Schools, which is our greater accrediting body that our school, Hawken School, is part of. So Tim travels around and meets with teachers who are doing innovative things or school leaders that are trying innovative leadership practices. And once a week puts out a podcast to kind of, review what he's learned and what they're doing at their school. And I just find it's like a really interesting way to network with other independent schools without having to attend a conference. 00;47;29;13 - 00;47;37;05 Molly Buckley-Marudas That's great. Thank you. And finally, what's your favorite resource for maker education or a favorite way to connect with other makers? 00;47;37;05 - 00;48;44;27 Anna Delia Yeah. echoing what everyone else said here, I do do a lot of that kind of online connection. I think Instagram gives us some really great visuals. I encourage students to Google the project they'd like to make with a machine they'd like to use. So, for example, lamp, embroidery, lamp, laser cutter, lamp, vinyl cutter, and get some really good Google images to make an inspiration board that we can then backwards design from. And we love the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Their website has so many good resources I've pulled from to do, class lesson plans. Instructables has really good lesson plans to kind of, get closer to some of the projects that we talked about today. And then I love when my colleagues do come to Fab Play and we do these rapid shares of great work from the year before, and we see some, like Tina's amazing projects that she's doing with her students. We see what Sarah Wallace has been doing with CMSD. We see what a teacher coming from New York has been able to do in New York City. I think we get a lot of inspiration from that to try that out in our classrooms the next year. 00;48;44;29 - 00;48;47;15 Shelley Rose Cool. And you have teachers from all over. It sounds like. 00;48;47;23 - 00;49;28;03 Anna Delia We do. You know, this this, institute started as kind of I joke for them like it was, you know, casually called Nick and friends the first year, but it was like, are we just having, like, everyone Nick knows in Cleveland get together and we're all just kind of jam and share best practices. And so that's what we did. And then, coming out of Covid, we had interest from other areas and other regions and people kind of had heard about us. And I think we're we're growing, you know, in a good way and kind of spreading this, philosophy and our resources and ideas a little bit further. So, yeah, it sounds like, probably for the summer, we'll have some teachers coming in from out of town, which is great, great. 00;49;28;07 - 00;49;29;28 Tina Kovach There are out of town people last year. 00;49;29;28 - 00;49;34;08 Anna Delia Yeah, yeah, there have been out of town, folks, for the last couple of years. 00;49;34;10 - 00;49;36;04 Nick DiGiorgio This might be our first year out of country. 00;49;36;04 - 00;49;40;19 Anna Delia But we may, yeah, we're we're we have a participant potentially coming from India. 00;49;40;21 - 00;49;42;07 Shelley Rose Wow. Awesome. 00;49;42;13 - 00;49;43;08 Kara Gehring That is awesome. 00;49;43;11 - 00;49;51;20 Molly Buckley-Marudas A special thanks to our guests for joining us. Thank you, Tina, Anna, Nick and Kara. And thank you, Chalk Talk listeners for tuning in. 00;49;51;26 - 00;49;58;02 Shelley Rose For links related to this episode and guest bios, visit the show notes at podcast.cleteaching.org. 00;49;58;02 - 00;50;06;26 Molly Buckley-Marudas We hope you'll join us for our next episode, Encouraging Courage, where I we’ll continue this conversation around makerspaces in schools. 00;50;06;26 - 00;50;17;23 Shelley Rose The Chalk Talk Podcast is made possible by a grant funded by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. If you want to learn more about the Jennings Foundation or about the Cleveland Teaching Collaborative, please visit cleteaching.org.