I am drawn to making. I don’t know if it’s because I was that kid who would root in my grandma’s sewing box, my dad’s garage, and our basement to find the pieces I needed to create something I was dreaming up in my mind. It’s what led me to education. I was drawn to experiencing the freedom kids display when they are throwing caution to the wind and exploring, discovering, and learning. It’s what’s guided me through integrating technology to power up learning. It’s what’s kept creativity at the forefront of learning. It’s the very thing that has always led me to believe that authentic learning is where the heart of school exists. Gifted education, where creativity is a focus, has only deepened that understanding. I don’t know if I realized this until yesterday. Making is the convergent path of all the learning roads I’ve traveled. It’s the epicenter of it all. The heart. Because it’s about creating.
You might be asking yourself, hasn’t ‘making’ always existed? Yes. But this movement that is growing? It’s important. It’s about stripping away the preconceived notion that some things are impossible. It’s about Walt Disney building an imagination empire. It’s about Steve Jobs redefining computing. It’s about Wehrner Von Braun creating a rocket to get man’s footprint on the moon. It’s about the kid in class that creates a speaker for his ipod with a red plastic cup and a paper towel tube that were discarded. It’s about the connection among all of those things. Making. It’s about empowering our kids to see THAT in themselves.
What’s a Maker Faire? A Maker Faire is a gathering of makers. A place where you can go, experience, make, be inspired, and dream. I will allow my Instagram tour below to speak for itself. My daughter enjoyed it, but so did her parents. Especially her mom, who rode home from the faire thinking about how possibilities exist in schools, in the classrooms, in the minds, in the hearts, in the passion of students. [Visit MakerFaire.com for the details and to find a Maker Faire near you!]
Is this “Making” a Common Core Standard? Not officially. But neither is breathing, and let’s be honest, that’s totally essential to life. Understanding, problem solving, and thinking are all about Making. It’s integrated in any subject you can dream up. It’s about hands-on-imagination-driven-exploration-guided-risk-taking-fun-having-authentically-authentic learning. Real learning. The kind that’s made of dreams and doing.
