Title: What Makes a Maker Artist: Haley Fraeyman Medium: Powerpoint, iPhone 8 camera
This piece of art depicts the ways that I “make” in my daily life. Examples of making include coaching dance team and creating dances, designing costumes for my dancers, making food for myself and others, arranging houseplants in a new way, styling my bedroom, creating energy by doing yoga, putting together outfits, creating assignments and projects on my computer, making game cards for special events, and creating a learning environment in my classroom. All of these ways that I make things, in turn make me who I am. Some feel like smaller, daily tasks that do not take very much energy or thought. Others are larger projects that I think about for hours, days, or weeks even. By mixing small and large creations, I am able to maintain balance and engage in all types of different things that I enjoy. The small creations and the bigger creations fit together like a puzzle, showcasing the different aspects of my life that make me, me. You may notice that the puzzle pieces appear to be in a random order. That is because in life, my creations happen in a random order (to a degree) I may find inspiration somewhere and feel compelled to create something out of the blue, or I may be tied to a deadline which causes me to create something on a certain day. No matter the case, creations do not typically follow a steady timeline or order, and I wanted that to be reflected in my work.
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As I gear up for the beginning of the school year, the thing that weighs on my mind the most is classroom set up. We had tons of construction done on our school building over the summer, so even though it will only be my second year teaching, I have the opportunity to start totally fresh when I go to set up in the coming weeks. Perfectly timed, this week I explored both room and experience design, thinking of both from an educational lens. Let’s dive into my planned space redesign! The before: Last year I was beyond excited to set up my very first classroom. My first decision (before I even saw the room) was to pick a color scheme. I knew I would be in a younger grade, so I wanted something colorful, but I wanted to be a bit different than the standard primary colors. I chose to go with bright color accents throughout the room, with grey as my “neutral” to keep it from becoming overwhelming. Fraeyman, 2020 Once I got into the classroom and was able to set up furniture, I worked to create separate, well defined spaces for my students. I had the kitchen area, the library section, my teacher workspace, the carpet, and all of the tables in the center of the room. I used tables in my classroom with the idea of community and collaboration, but COVID restrictions put a block on that this year. Instead, each student had their own cubby space and their own supply box at their table spot, and they only were able to work in that spot. This made our learning a lot more individual than I had intended, which is something that I plan to change this year. The thing that bothered me most about my classroom setup this past year was that I didn’t feel like our space was being utilized in the best way. My classroom is an odd shape, and the carpet and tables took up the most valuable real estate in the room. I ended up having to push the kitchen off to the side, and the library to the corner of the room. This sent the message that academics were the only important part of our day, and we would fit in play if we were able, which is not the case in Kindergarten. The after: As I worked to design my new classroom, I created a mix of a realistic and an idealistic room. I wanted my design to be usable in real life, but I also was able to easily change the size of furniture so that it fits nicely in my room – which is definitely not the case in reality. My hope is that my actual classroom furniture will be able to fit in a similar way to my design. Fraeyman, 2021 Fraeyman, 2021 In my dream classroom, I would keep the same color scheme that I have now. Research shows that bright colors are best for young learners, especially those that lean to cool tones (Barrett, et al., 2013). I also would keep the walls clutter free (although a bit more decorated that in this model), only displaying student work and anchor charts or posters that are pertinent to student learning at the time. The biggest change that I made is a total transformation of how I use furniture in my classroom. I worked to create separated areas that are integrated throughout the ENTIRE room, not just the sides. When students are working, I don’t want it to be so obvious where the front of the classroom is. In order to do this, I did have to eliminate some of the traditional tables that I would have in the center. Instead, students will be able to complete their work wherever they choose throughout the classroom. This setup allows for more flexibility and choice while students work – both of which are conducive to learning (Barrett, et al., 2013). This new classroom setup also emphasizes the importance of play for young children. Nearly every work area is right next to a play area, sending the message that play is a part of learning and that we learn through exploration and experience.
References:
Barrett, P., Zhang, Y., Moffat, J., & Kobbacy, K. (2013). A holistic, multi-level analysis identifying the impact of classroom design on on pupils' learning. Building and Environment, 59, 678-689. Chang School. (2010, February 9). Tedde van Gelderen on experience design. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB4VFKn7MA4&feature=emb_logo Fraeyman, H. (2020). Classroom layout. [Image]. Fraeyman, H. (2020). Kitchen. [Image]. Fraeyman, H. (2020). Library. [Image]. Fraeyman, H. (2021). Classroom layout aerial. [Diagram]. Floorplan. Fraeyman, H. (2021). Classroom layout redesign. [Diagram]. Floorplan. Fraeyman, H. (2021). Redesigned rug area. [Diagram]. Floorplan. Fraeyman, H. (2021). Redesigned kitchen. [Diagram]. Floorplan. Fraeyman, H. (2021). Redesigned tables. [Diagram]. Floorplan. Fraeyman, H. (2021). Redesigned library. [Diagram]. Floorplan. Thinking about using innovative technology in a classroom full of Kindergarteners is daunting. Not only is the technology new to my students, but it is new to me as well, and the thought of taking a bunch of 5-year-olds into uncharted territory like that is scary! However, scary as it may be, it also provides a unique opportunity for students to really learn and explore the world of STEM. For my lesson, I used a technology called Squishy Circuits. This technology allows users to build dough models that conduct electricity to complete a circuit – giving power to a light or a buzzer or a motor. While this lesson does relate to the NGSS engineering standards for Kindergarten, the main focus is on cooperation and problem solving to create a working model. After creating my draft lesson plan, I was feeling a bit unsure about it. I didn’t know if my technology was appropriate for Kindergarteners or if my lesson was expansive enough. My natural inclination was to over-complicate it a bit in order to make it seem more “innovative” but that would push it out of my students’ zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). As we began exploring Universal Design for Learning (UDL), I started to feel better about my lesson. This chart was extremely helpful in helping me re-analyze my lesson. I also found that as I was reading my partner’s lesson plan and giving feedback from the UDL lens, it raised questions about my own lesson. I was unintentionally drawing comparisons as I noticed good things my partner included and things that could be improved. The same goes for viewing my partner’s lesson through the intersectionality lens. Intersectionality is something that I think I keep in the back of my mind when planning a lesson, but I often do not explicitly outline accommodations or considerations that I could take if the need arises. Outlining the ways to meet the needs of different learners was difficult in this scenario because I did not have a specific set of students in mind as I would if I were planning a lesson for my class during the school year. I felt like in order to account for different students, I had to keep things both broad enough that they could be accessible to anybody, yet specific enough that I could distinctly identify how needs would be met. It was a difficult balancing act. Below are some screenshots of my draft lesson plan, along with comments from my partner (click the arrows to view the slideshow): After reviewing my partner’s comments on my work, I identified one section of my lesson plan that needed a bit more work: My partner asked what kind of support students would receive in order to learn about electricity, conductors, and insulators. I thought this was an excellent question because I had the same one myself! I knew students would need to have this background information in their schema, but I wasn’t sure how they were going to get it, especially when we don’t cover electricity in our Kindergarten curriculum. I headed to the internet and found a video on Youtube that explained circuits in a way that young children will be able to understand. I then modified my lesson plan to have students view this video before I show them the tools and ask them to draw their plan. This bit of background knowledge, along with my support, should empower students to feel more confident in their creation of their models.
My partner suggested adding another way to check for understanding, but I chose not to do this because I don’t want to overwhelm my students. The main purpose of this lesson is to expose students to STEM learning and to allow them to work cooperatively with one another. If they do not have full understanding of the electricity concepts, that is totally fine with me. My partner also suggested increasing the challenge by giving students a pre-drawn model to build. However, this removes some of the ownership that students have over the project, so I am not sure that I want to offer that. Overall, I am happy with the way my lesson turned out and I look forward to utilizing it this coming school year. References: NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. When designing lessons, it is important to consider both your perspective as an educator, as well as the perspective of the students who will be participating with the content. As a beginning educator, it can be easy to focus so much on the content and the standards that you forget to consider your students as learners and people. On the opposite end, as an experienced educator, it can be easy to fall back on what you “always do” and to forget that each set of students is different and therefore, each time you teach a lesson it should be adapted. To help alleviate some of the difficulty in planning lessons centered around students, I designed a cheat sheet type poster that focuses on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Intersectionality: Fraeyman, H. (2021) Effective lesson design [image]. This poster does not go in depth on description of the concepts, so it would be most beneficial to be used by educators who are at least familiar with both UDL and Intersectionality. However, it does provide a quick reference for teachers to use as they are planning their lessons to ensure that they are including students from different backgrounds and with different needs. I know I will be referring back to these questions as the new school year begins, and I plan on sharing this resource with my principal and coworkers as well!
Resources: CAST (2011). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author. TED. (2016). Kimberle Crenshaw: The urgency of intersectionality [Video]. TED Talk. As I started thinking about my media consumption, I realized that the content that I follow along with the closest is actually a bit more diversified than I thought. However, the way that I interact with it makes it so that I actually only see a few of the accounts that I follow on a regular basis. I notice this to the greatest extent on my Facebook feed. Over the past year I have joined several new groups on Facebook, including a Kindergarten teachers group, a first year teachers group, a phonics group, and a Buy Nothing group. As I scrolled through my newsfeed, I noticed that every other post was from one of these groups. This frustrated me because up until now I hadn’t realized how overpowering these groups were, and my main reason for using Facebook is to stay connected with family and friends. To solve this problem, I chose to silence these groups for now. I didn’t leave them because I do find the information valuable, but I don’t want to see it all the time.
This realization made me really think about how social media can impact our moods on a daily basis, especially as educators. There is often a large emphasis placed on maintaining a work-life balance – and that emphasis is even larger after this past school year – but this can be difficult to do when the resources you are following are constantly in your face (literally). What is meant to be a relaxing break on social media turns into thinking even more about work and school. These algorithms that are designed to cater to your interests also serve to rarely give you a break from them. Maintaining a healthily balanced social media feed takes a lot of conscious effort and monitoring. This week I spent some time learning about media use, remix culture, and copyright. These are no easy concepts to grasp! As educators who are using technology – and teaching students how to use it – it is extremely important to familiarize ourselves with the ethical use of media. We need to be able to model good digital citizenship for our students. To help explain one of these topics, I created this remixed video on what it means to utilize fair use: Now, this video covers a very basic level of understanding. Aside from making sure you are using media the correct way, you also need to ensure that you have permission to use that media in the first place. This is where Creative Commons can come in handy. By searching for items there, you can ensure that the owner has granted permission for you to use it.
Using media in this way can feel scary. Even when I feel like I took the necessary precautions, I still get nervous that I am citing something wrong or using it in a way that I don’t have permission to. In my opinion, it is always best to err on the side of caution. If you aren’t completely sure that you are using an image, video, or audio clip in a way that is ethical or legal – skip it and find something else! References: Fraeyman, H. (2021). Attribution iMovie [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/8mFuCJGfrYQ Sutherland (John) Productions in Association With Film Counselors, Inc. (1956). Destination Earth [Video file]. Prelinger Archives. Learning, failure, and making - these are all concepts that we are very likely to be familiar with on their own, but how do they work together, and how do they fit in the world of education? Let’s explore: Learning, of course, makes the most sense to talk about when we are thinking of education. The whole purpose of teaching is to facilitate learning. However, besides just ensuring that learning is happening, it is important that educators think about how learning is taking place in their classrooms. Think about your own classroom (or ones that you’ve seen) for a moment. What is happening? How are you interacting with your students, and how are they responding? Do your lessons allow students to directly interact with the material and guide their own learning, or are you simply passing on information for them to memorize? If your classroom falls into the first category, you are utilizing the learning theory of constructionism (Udacity, 2016). Constructionism puts learners at the center of their learning activity and allows them to create (or construct!) their own understandings. Thinking of my own Kindergarten class, this might look like students exploring with straws and clay to discover how to build 2D or 3D shapes. Instead of saying “a square has 4 equal sides and 4 vertices” I could tell my students: “build a square with the straws and clay” and then we could discuss what they built and how it looks. Constructionism is based off of the constructivist learning theory (Piaget and Vygotsky) (Ferguson, 2015), which states that when presented with new information, learners either change or add to their existing knowledge. In my example, I could have students who already know what a square looks like. They would then be adding to that knowledge to understand the defining characteristics of a square. I also could have students who think that a square looks the same as a triangle. In that case, they would be changing their existing knowledge to understand what a square actually looks like. Either way, the students are the ones who are driving the conversation, and I am there to facilitate and guide. Constructionism and constructivism state that people learn best when they are a direct part of the process.
As students (or adults!) are directly participating in their learning, they are also participating in two things – making and failing. As soon as students are presenting with a problem and tasked with finding a solution, they become innovators. They might be making physical models, like my Kindergarteners building squares. They could be using technology to create a simulation. Maybe they are taking an old project and updating it to fit in new information. However students are representing their ideas, they are doing so as a maker and innovator. This can be a frustrating process, but it also allows students the opportunity to see the value in their learning and to bring it to life in a way that is meaningful to them. Making and learning are not always perfect, and that is where failure comes in to play. Failure is a topic that is near and dear to my heart as an educator and a person. Over the past year and a half, I have taken a deep dive into the idea of growth mindset (Dweck, 2016) and teaching children to respond to failure in a positive way. I now see the value is failure as a learning tool and I strive to teach that to my students. In my classroom, we often use the magic word “yet” when we can’t do something. It may not work for us right now, but if we keep trying we will get there. I also try to avoid praising students for being “smart”, and instead focus on the processes and strategies that they used. This helps them understand that we are all capable of success, even if our path looks different from someone else’s. References: Dweck, C. (2016). What having a “growth mindset” actually means. Harvard Business Review, 13, 213-226. Ferguson, J. (2015, August 30). Constructivism (Piaget and Vygotsky) [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi8S4YkZI04 Udacity (2016, June 6). Constructionism [Video]. Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qsiqetMlCg |
AuthorI am a graduate student at Michigan State University and a Kindergarten teacher. ArchivesCategories |