This year at our school, we are going to be crafting and creating a Maker Space. To be honest, we are a bit late to the game, but that means we get to learn from those who have come before us, avoiding their mistakes, and drinking from the fountain of their successes. I have seen amazing spaces from Beirut to Singapore, but I am now ready to listen and learn and I think I found my teacher…The Chula Vista Elementary School District.
At a recent EdCamp in Chula Vista – in the San Diego area on the border with Mexico, I found that wealth of knowledge I had been looking for.
This district is doing profound things with Maker Spaces and the way they are going about funding and creating these learning hubs, is a true beacon for me.
First, I learned that under the leadership of Michael Bruder and inspired by @Thinkabit_Lab – Chula Vista is creating and iterating with something they call an Innovation Station.
After sitting in a session and listening to Chris Garcia and Marlys Williamsontalk about how they brought a Maker Space to their respective schools, I was hooked.
What struck me the most is when Marlys Williamson talked about when her school held two parent nights, allowing the parents to come to the space and create. During the experience, the had open, on a nearby computer, a Donor’s Choose project for that Makers Space – that parents fully funded that evening.
So to continue learning from this forward thinking district, I am going to visit Energy Station -a Maker Space built around the theme of clean energy, one of the six labs being crafted by Chula Vista to go with the job markets in the area (how cool is that????).
Thanks to the generosity of Melissa Hughes who runs the Energy Station, I will visit this space soon and show what I learn here and begin to document our vision for the Maker Space and how we will go about it. I hope you will either learn from our journey or offer your advice using the hashtag #infusedclassroom.
If you want to learn with us, make sure to connect with these amazing educators:
People to follow at Chula Vista: