Designer Pieces

I love to go shopping at Winners, which is the Canadian equivalent of TJ Maxx. This popular store sells designer items at bargain prices, and their advertising slogan a few years ago was, “Winners. You should go.” Which I did … often!

I finally got my copy of Launch: Using design thinking to boost creativity and bring out the Maker in every student by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani in the mail the other day, and I can’t wait to dig into it deeper this weekend. My mind has been swimming in ideas about literacy-based makerspace but I’ve been feeling kind of “fuzzy” on how to make it all work.

I don’t know about you but for me, most of my “brilliant ideas” don’t come while I’m sitting at my computer willing myself to THINK … c’mon, just think. They come while I’m about to fall asleep or walking my dog. I had one such epiphany the other day while driving to work. It was so great that I didn’t even mind the road the construction and traffic.

​Many teachers give design challenges to students when integrating makerspace and design thinking. So, I was thinking, “Why not also give reading and writing challenges too?” During reading and/or writing conferences, ask your students what they think they need to work on in reading or writing. They know. Now ask them to write a challenge task card for that skill. Talk through how they will achieve that and how you can help them get there. Assign and scaffold tasks; and schedule the next conference to talk more, check progress, and adjust accordingly.

​It might look something like this:

1. I will challenge myself to finish 3 chapters of this book by the end of the week.
2. I challenge myself to learn how to break big words into syllables.
3. Challenge Task: I will write down two “I wonder” questions while I’m reading.
4. I will challenge myself to retell the story using WriteReader.
5. Challenge - I will write 5 sentences to explain my project using transition words.
6. I will challenge myself to use Google Docs Tools to help me spell most of the words right for my maker project supply list.

​(!!!) Right?!

Stay tuned for real life examples and samples from the kidlets.