As long as you have the right intentions and priorities that work for you and your students, there isn't a wrong starting list. Everyone starts with different items. As long as you have the right intentions and priorities that work for you and your students, there isn't a wrong starting list. With the grant money I mentioned when I talked about budgeting and planning here, it was important to me to get a balance of tech and non tech items, but I also didn't have a lot of money and needed to be extra frugal. With my starting items, I also wanted to get things students could explore more independently and in the library. This was before I knew I'd be able to turn a computer lab into a designated makerspace, which I'll be undertaking this school year.
The starting list from the grant money:
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I've had a dream of starting a school library makerspace ever since I made the switch from classroom English teacher to school librarian two years ago. I had already heard of them and read about them and thought they sounded AMAZING. Creativity, technology, problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking, and trying new things! What's not to love? So last summer when I attended a summer PD in my district that had a session on grants, I jumped at the chance to learn about grants. I then applied for and got a small grant from my district's education foundation. Fast forward to this past winter, and we had some funds to spend on technology. Some of those funds got allotted for collaboration stations and some for a makerspace. I ordered the items in the spring for us to use this coming school year. In both of these cases I worked to make sure I got the most bang for my buck. When you have a chance to use funding for a makerspace, you want to put money in things that will benefit students and have impact, but you also want to do that as cost effectively as possible to get more. So how do you get the most bang for the buck with provided funds or prepare a grant proposal budget?1. Brainstorm. After scouring blog posts like this one
To begin, begin. I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for months, maybe even a year, but I never did.
Why? Time is certainly a factor. I recently finished my second year in a school library as a Library Media Specialist after five years as an ELA teacher and still feel like I have a lot to learn. Although I think it's a position where I'm always going to feel that way, which I actually love. I also have two young children, the second of whom was just born in late April. But time can't be the only thing holding me back. So why? Eureka! During my second #notatiste (a community that tries to learn from the ISTE conference and each other even though we cannot physically be there), I figured out the problem. I had spent so much time trying to plan and overthinking my theoretical blog instead of just starting one! (Hence the William Wordsworth quote above.) I also realized I am afraid to publicly fail. Failing is one thing, but for others to see me fail professionally is another story. I've taken risks before in my career and lessons as an educator, but if I'm being honest, most of |