When I think of an era that promoted possibilities, I think of handmade items and Woody Guthrie’s American folk anthem, This Land is Your Land. While the song was written as Guthrie’s response to the failed inclusiveness of the American dream, many of us still see the opportunity right in front of us.

Educators still dream and believe all children need access to resources for learning. That dream can become a reality through creating a MakerSpace in your library. Let that legendary folk song serve as inspiration for creating that space and providing more access to resources. The real estate in our libraries is a land of possibilities where the building of a true learning community can take place. New literacies and untold benefits are waiting to be discovered in your library. What can you expect when you open your space to making and tell your students, “This space is my space, this space is your space?”

MakerSpaces have the capacity to become a magnet that pulls kids into a deeper learning that is authentic and user-driven. They seem to lie somewhere between a playground and a toy store as they have items kids want to use, try, examine and evaluate on their own terms. While some things are tremendously popular, others are of a more solitary nature. Like the playground, kids often create new games and rules when the existing ones grow old. The toy store, on the other hand, puts out new items as well as the tried and true, hoping to find the next big success. Kids of all ages still like to make things with their hands and will continue to do so even without a space. Do your students make and wear bracelets?

Not only do MakerSpaces give students the opportunity to discover, they also can give our print collections the authority they deserve. We often refer to school as a learning laboratory, but do we really give students room to flush out the ideas they read about? A library MakerSpace has the benefit of engaging students with print in ways beneficial to all. The deep reading required to apply a set of instructions to a project is a technical skill that will last a lifetime. Teachers searching for an authentic project within their curriculum can match it with a text or set of ideas. Other opportunities to pair items — such electronics kits with a science biography or art books with supplies — are just a few ideas to bring students and their world a little closer.

I see a MakerSpace as “… an endless skyway”—it can become as large or small as your library requires. From a shoebox and a plastic bag to a tabletop and a workbench, MakerSpaces come in all sizes and shapes. Project kits can be stored on shelves in plastic boxes or bags and checked out just like other three-dimensional objects, or just given to the students as take home kits. Remember those bracelets? At the other end of the spectrum are tables full of objects that can be spread out as needed or on a more permanent basis. Some schools keep areas set up as self-service student spaces where common supply items such as poster board and markers are provided. Others have added die cut machines and scrapbooking supplies as these areas have grown in popularity.

Spaces that invite children to explore and imagine a world beyond themselves is part of the creative potential MakerSpaces seek to explore. One sure-fire way to discover creativity is to give kids cameras. Do you only have one iPad®? Why not set up a stop-motion video station with an app like DoInk™ or iMotion™ ? Students can explain their thinking and illustrate concepts, or break down complex tasks into their parts using this type of tool. Perhaps they can even make videos that provide instruction to their peers for everyday tasks, such as how to look up and use a resource. Students can flip instruction for everyone and become invested in the results when they are enabled.

Working together on a public solution or investigation is a synergistic model that illustrates the power of community in solving their own issues. Creating a community of inquiry helps eliminate a lot of other issues that distract from the learning process. When those issues do arise, the community is better prepared to plunge into them with a positive outcome in mind. Learners of all ages will begin to be problem solvers rather than those that are “done to” by some outside force. The idea that everyone is a learner and can learn from one another is a powerful notion. A growing community of experts holds great potential for all its members.

Kids, parents and teachers expect our best efforts, but they also look to us for leadership and direction. Creating a space in your library or school where students can explore and connect their learning will offer many benefits. But perhaps the most important one is about giving them broader access to a world of possibilities. After all, this space was made for you and me.

This blog was originally featured at http://onefollettlearning.tumblr.com/post/104349133822/makerspaces-in-your-library

By Eddie~S (Bully Free Zone Uploaded by Doktory) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

I’ve identified a few key behaviors that I believe are indicative of the Library Bully. These behaviors are often manifested in the two areas most considered to be pillars of our profession: Access and skills instruction.

Do you restrict access to certain materials or certain age ranges? If so, then we might be forcing children to select something they would rather not read. And how one does that matters, too. Is it done verbally and part of the spiel when the kids enter, or are lines taped on the floor or shelves? Or do you verbally discourage and dissuade students from checking out that tome that you know is too difficult. There are alternatives. We often suggest, with great force, that students also check out this title or that one. I’ve even gone as far as locating the book and putting it in the child’s hands on top of that large volume. And so it goes. Even our best intentions can have a bullying effect on our students.

Administrative procedures meant to teach responsibility and protect scarce resources are often times the bully. Does your library assess fines for overdue material and limit checkouts when those go unpaid? How about when materials are missing? These practices do more to limit access than they do to protect resources. What’s worse, a child with a book somewhere under his bed or a child with no print in their life? The world has changed. Families are mobile and often move districts without notice—in the middle of the night. Our admonition to circulate books is not unlike a parent’s admonition to love their children. We can do better.

How about the hours we are open? Teacher and parent checkouts? Accelerated Reader? Fountas & Pinnell or other leveling systems? These are but a few of our common practices that can be used to determine what our patrons are “allowed” to read. Libraries have often been places where readers can wonder and explore and it is up to all of us to continue to advocate for that basic freedom to continue.

How bullyproof is your program in terms of student access? What other potential hazards have you identified?

Next up: Part 2 – Library Bullying & Skills Instruction

I just finished a most interesting read in the April issue of  The Reading Teacher. The article, What Really Matters When Working With Struggling Readers, offers some strong recommendations. The author, Richard L. Allington suggests that it is not a lack of money that keeps us from teaching all our children to read. And that’s a good thing. But, if we could save resources and improve our instruction? Now, he’s talking my language, I’m a conjunction guy.

Here is his list of four options that we can eliminate  from our instructional practice:

Eliminate Workbooks

Eliminate Test Prep

Eliminate Paraprofessionals from Instructional Roles

Eliminate Expenditures for Computer Based Reading Programs

I am impressed, but I fear for his safety. These are bold recommendations that boldly go where few have gone before. In one fell swoop he has alienated an industry and a lot of well intended educators. Good for him. We need the reminder he provides that “struggling readers exist largely because of us.” Do we dare implement  a program that implements research-based interventions instead of continuing to push the easy button with our struggling readers?

Pick one, pick two, or pick them all, just do the right thing.