"Maker Spaces"-Leading the way at Tay Shores PS

      I'm writing this post during a break at the Ontario Library Association's Super Conference in Toronto. This conference gathers school librarians and public librarians from across Ontario and many of the northern States. My mission was to find out more information about "Maker Spaces" and innovation in schools.
      As we prepare to move into our new library at Tay Shores PS, my mission is to make it the most state of the art facility in Simcoe County. To date, I have worked with the planning team from the Board, to ensure that a third of the library will be dedicated to what is called a "Maker Space". With all of the inquiries and innovation that we are expecting from our staff and students, we want to ensure that we are equipped with the space and technology to make it happen. This space will be the highlight of our new library.
       The northern third of our library will be glassed in and will contain three distinct spaces. In the centre we will have a construction (building/creating) centre with various materials, so that students can get creative and 'actualize' their innovations. Off to either side will be a breakout room.
       Within one of the breakout rooms, we will have a robotics/coding lab. This will allow students to use robotic tools and design. It will also allow students to carry out and test their creations through robotic/computer coding. This is an exciting opportunity, as students from Kindergarten to grade 8 will be able to code and manipulate robotic equipment to carry out tasks of increased complexity.
        In the other breakout room, we will have a full video creation and production lab. From animation and clay-mation to green-screen technology, students will be able to creatively demonstrate their learning through a variety of video possibilities.
         With banks of outlets and movable furniture, our "Maker Space" will be designed to handle the current technological demands, as well as be ready to handle the ever-changing face of technology.
        So, while I visit each of the workshops at this conference, I'm thrilled to see that our school will be leading the way in the use of "Maker Spaces". Just this morning, I attended a session put on by the Library Team from the University of Rochester in New York State and I was amazed to see that our space will be very similar to theirs, just on a slightly smaller scale (theirs was 8000 square feet and cost over $3 million dollars). But, like ours, it has opportunities for students to collaborate, create, design, and test their theories. It has breakout rooms for production and for design. It even has a glassed in wall so that people can see the designers, without hearing the noise.
      Tay Shores PS is on the right track. Maybe in the very near future, we will be presenting at this conference to show others how it can be done in an Elementary School?

Student Technology Leaders

         As we start putting our vision ("A school of inquiry, innovation and impact") into action, our librarian (Ms. Gray) and I spent the day working with other educators from around Simcoe County in creating a Student Technology Hub, that will collaborate with each other to provide learning opportunities for our teaching staff.
         Yes, that's right...our students will begin running workshops for our teachers on how to use various technological tools and devices in their teaching. We are flipping education on its head and turning our students into teachers and our teachers into students.
         In its earliest stages, our Student Technology Team will be preparing workshops on a variety of topics from "How to Use Twitter as a Communication Tool" to "How can Minecraft be Utilized as a Teaching Tool for Collaboration and Creativity?" to "How can Students use iMovie to Communicate Their Learning?". In total, our students are able to offer up to 10 selections for teachers. Teachers will be able to select the right workshop for their teaching practice. Workshops will be offered and delivered during various lunch periods.
         This is a real world example of how Tay Shores is innovating its practices in this digital age. We're so excited about launching this program in our school and seeing its impact on our students, teachers and other schools in Simcoe County.

Teacher Inquiry and Innovation

       I just had the opportunity and privilege to work with our teachers and DECEs last week during our first set of PLCs (Professional Learning Communities). During these meetings our Tay Shores Educational Team came up with our vision of what a "School of Inquiry, Innovation and Impact" should look like. It was wonderful to see our entire team collaborating, communicating and creating a real 'vision' for this school.
       Once we came to some common understandings of where we want to take this school, our team then started to brainstorm 'inquiry' questions that would lead to 'innovation' in the classroom. We are looking at some of the common teaching practices that we engage in on a daily basis and inquiring how we can innovate those practices, using the abundance of technology at our school, to better prepare our students for a world of the 6 C's (collaboration, communication, creation, critical thinking, citizenship and character).
       We now have multiple inquiry or research projects happening at our school. Teachers are committed to try to innovate one teaching practice in their classroom, which will help develop those 6 C skills. Please be on the lookout for greater and more effective use of technology in the next few weeks, as our teachers (and ultimately our students) play with these concepts.
       I can't wait to see what comes out these projects, both from the teacher and the student side of things. It's an exciting time to be in education!