Lessons from a Laughing Librarian: Teachers Make Too

I posted this tweet on my personal Facebook page and got some pretty funny responses from my teachers.

In my mind, I told myself that it was because they were jealous of the students getting to come to makerspace and learning and playing with new things. We thought it might be fun to have a Teacher Makerspace Faculty Meeting and so that happened yesterday!

At first, I was nervous about it. My teachers, like any other, are strapped for time and have a million things to do. I was a little worried they would think it was a waste of time and not be receptive of the idea. So I did what any good presenter does when faced with having a meeting with teachers...

I brought snacks!

I had a handout waiting on the tables when they came in from dismissal and number 1 said

1. MakerSNACK at the snack bar.

I had put out bowls of cheerios, raisins, chocolate chips, goldfish, nuts and pretzels for them to create a snack of their own (get it... makerSPACE - makerSNACK).

Once everyone had their snack, I put on the projector a list of the 5 activities (one for each of our STEAM areas) with a brief description of each one. I told them briefly about each one and about the materials needed (I had materials set up all around the library) and how to get to the resources on my library page. Then I let them go.

I gave them the choice of

Science - Balancing Act

Technology - Augmented Reality and Stop Motion(I couldn't decide)

Engineering - Pipe Cleaner Challenge

Art - Finger Knitting

Math - Fraction Pictures

There was a lot of chatter and a lot of creating going on. Surprisingly the teachers reactions were similar to students. Some were frustrated with the finger knitting. Some picked it up right away. Some were competitive about building the tallest pipe cleaner tower. Others were trying to make the weirdest structure. Some were very serious about their Stop Motion video. Some were being extremely silly. All were super excited when their augmented reality picture came to life.

And then there were these...

Yep the off-task ones!
There's some in every group, right?

Actually, I very rarely see kids off task when they come to makerspace. But these teachers were creating something... just not what I intended. Maybe they are the G/T ones?

Here are more teachers engaged in the different activities...