Yesterday was another great day of learning with Shannon Miller. It was all about maker spaces. We started off by visiting campus libraries in our district, one of which was mine. I was thrilled and honored to have Shannon visit my library and make design suggestions. The rest of the day with Shannon was spent learning about her maker spaces and why they are so important to students. Maker spaces give our students voice, problem-solving skills, outlets for creativity, opportunities to collaborate, and so much more. I'm excited to start exploring the options for maker spaces in the Ogg library.
So today, I started working on my space. I took the suggestion of some of my fellow librarians and moved a small desk into the library. This will be my new work station. Behind the big circulation desk, as suggested by Shannon, I will set up a maker space for my students. I don't know yet what is going to be in that space as far as materials for making, but I thought I would follow Shannon's lead and allow the students to give me ideas about what they want in the space. They need to feel some ownership with the space. Since I stepped completely out of my box and gave up my workspace, I took on the challenge of rethinking my teaching space, also. Again using suggestions from my colleagues (this one I owe to Lenise Garratt), I moved my whiteboard back and shifted my teaching area to a new space. And taking suggestions from my friends Michelle Griffith and Bridget Lewellen, I moved the computer tables (which no longer house computers) and made a Chromebook area.
I'm still working on the design for the Ogg library, and I will try to post pictures tomorrow. I'm very excited about how it looks so far and hope that the students will find it an inspirational space.
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