Innovative educators know the importance of ensuring student learning is real, relevant, hands on and fun. That’s why they also understand the importance of a maker mindset. Teachers with a maker mindset help their students do work that is important to them. They aren’t looking for a specific answer, but rather support students in asking the right questions and finding new answers.
In New York City at PS 96, Manhattan Ed Tech Director along with educator Lliana Villiegas helped a cohort of Manhattan teachers discover how to adopt the maker mindset. They shared and modeled the five steps below that these innovative educators use with their own students.
[The Key to Differentiated Learning - Develop Student Experts]
These enthusiastic teachers jumped right on board becoming the makers they will soon model being for their own students. They selected one of three maker challenge cards: 1) Make it play, 2) Make it fly, or 3) Make it spin.
Over the course of about an hour they went through each of the five steps just like their students will when they return back to school and completed their challenge. You can see how they did in the movie recap below.
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Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.
