Guest Blogger - Tracy Huffman

Mobile Maker Kit Reflections: Change How Learning Looks for Students

Tracy Huffman, Teacher Librarian | Superior Elementary

Mobile Maker Kit Supports Redefining the Library

Using the Mobile Maker Kit for the month of December was a profound experience at Superior Elementary and helped our staff begin to make a philosophical shift in not only expanding the definition of the library, but also redefining how learning can look. I have been a teacher at Superior Elementary since it first opened in 1996, and the school library has remained a very traditional space where students checked out books and listened to stories. Teachers have been eager to reinvent the library and as a staff, we are in the process of changing how the space is used, the resources available, and the actual role of teacher librarian. During the first week in December, we were fortunate to have an entire staff meeting dedicated to exploring the tools in the Mobile Maker Kit. Immediately, teachers saw potential to use the kit with specific areas of their grade level curriculum and were also interested to explore how various tools could be used in open-ended challenges. It was an ideal way to kick off the month and energize grade level teams prior to using the kit.

Mobile Maker Kit Ignites Excitement for the Library and Learning

The Superior library is in the center of the school on both the first and second floors of the building. Possibly in response to an era of schools being built without any windows, our school is unique with windows everywhere! There are so many windows that one could stand in almost any classroom in the building and see through several windows to the library. After a semester as teacher librarian, I am getting used to teaching in a fish bowl, and I’m even beginning to see the benefits. During the month of December, students would be walking through the halls, peer into the library windows to see other students using Ozobots, Spheros, Cubelets, Keva Planks, Makey Makeys, etc., and would literally stop to stare. Repeatedly, students would come by the library to find out about the tools and ask when their class would be using them in the library. The excitement was so palpable that students would leave the library asking for more, and teachers scheduled extra sessions in the library. With time being the most valuable commodity that we have in education, some teachers were wanting to spend the entire month of their grade level library time using various tools in the kit. As educators, we marveled at how engaged and motivated all students were as they used the tools in the kit.

"...learning was much more centered around the process than creating a final product."

Our staff is eager to change how learning looks for students; we want students to do the work, be the creators, and solve the problems. However, we haven’t been entirely sure how we would change our instruction or where to begin. Watching K-5 students utilize the Mobile Maker Kit tools over the month of December was a meaningful way to see how specific tools boost engagement, provide real world connections, and increase opportunities to create. We also observed students sharing ideas, listening to each other, incorporating various ideas, being strategic, re-reading directions, revisiting and reworking their original plans, and persevering. Believe me, there were times when things didn’t work (even when directions were followed), students were frustrated, and working together was challenging. The difference for students was that they were more willing to keep working because they were invested. The difference for me as an educator was that I didn’t feel like I had to fix the problems. In fact, students weren’t asking me for help and were motivated to persist on their own. Reflecting on the success of using the Mobile Maker Kit tools, I realized that the learning was much more centered around the process than creating a final product. At the same time, I have also realized creating a new vision for the library is also a process. Collaborating with the staff, changing our instruction, taking risks, and learning together as we try new ideas with our students is not only making a difference in redefining the library, but also in how learning looks at Superior Elementary.