#makered | Margaret A. Powers

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The CMK Series – Part 2

Posted on July 23, 2013 | 3 comments

In my first reflection of #CMK13 I touched on the idea of success and how it can change over time. I wanted to return to that idea and focus on how important it was for success to become a more flexible concept during my time at #CMK13.

I arrived at the Institute with the idea that failure was not only feasible but likely over the few days I would be there. I was comfortable with the possibility of getting stuck and having to try again. What I had not considered was how strongly I and others would feel a need to achieve and achievement primarily meant success (everything works perfectly!) … at first.

The pull towards achievement came from being surrounded by peers and experts who had amazing and inspiring ideas. It came from the culture of testing and assessment that many of us work in and the deadline of Friday presentations. It also came from a sense that we had all been transported to a magical world where time stood still for awhile and we had less pressures, so we couldn’t waste that kind of treasure!

Of course, as the Institute progressed, achievement became both simpler and more complex. As I relaxed into the unique environment of CMK, a place where you can sit on the floor and brainstorm with a group of dedicated people you’ve never met before and then began to make and create, I realized we didn’t have to worry so much about wasting time. Researching, learning, trying and doing were all extremely valuable and valued pursuits at CMK. Often, those activities can begin to feel unproductive because they don’t produce an immediate product and they are hard to demonstrate or account for when explaining how you’ve used your time.

Enjoying the Process and Learning Through Doing

Instead, at #CMK13 I could allow myself to enjoy the process and to accept that there would be iteration upon iteration of tinkering with a code, trying a wire, and even breaking a few things (woops … that LED definitely needed a resistor!). And through that enjoyment of the process, achievement became simple. It became something that’s obtained by gaining understanding, having ah-ha moments, and then losing the magic and having to start all over again.

One conversation between Deborah Meier and Eleanor Duckworth at CMK particularly stuck with me … that maybe ah-ha moments aren’t the most important because almost as soon as we’ve had them, they begin to fade away and we’re back to wondering how to make sense of things. Yet, as Duckworth has so eloquently described, it’s the more general having of wonderful ideas that can be so powerful, not just the momentary clarity that comes from gaining a deep understanding of them.

“The “aha experience” is a moment in time, but what happens after that?” – Deborah Meier ” #CMK13

— Gary Stager, Ph.D. (@garystager) July 11, 2013

Ah ha might not stay but depth of experience messing about can remain – Duckworth #CMK13

— Margaret A Powers (@mpowers3) July 11, 2013

CMK was full of wonderful and powerful ideas. Some of them became projects that came to fruition over the course of the Institute and some ideas were dropped minutes after they were raised, never to be heard again but that doesn’t mean they weren’t wonderful or meaningful. And that’s where the complexity comes into play. For me, achievement began to take shape as a self-satisfied notion, something that only I could truly judge but one that was ever-changing. Achievement meant learning and doing, it was making and creating, sharing and trying and stumbling over both small and large obstacles. At the end of CMK, I felt I had achieved a great deal, not because we had a perfect, finished product to show everyone, but because I had succeeded in experiencing the deep process of collaboratively learning something completely new.

Pouring Over Arduino Sketches – Looking for Bugs

There were a few ah-ha moments mixed in with multiple roadblocks. I had small moments of clarity where I was able to explain exactly what was happening and why, followed by confusion when I added a new piece of knowledge that seemed to destroy the whole schema I had just constructed. Ultimately, I walked away from #CMK13 feeling like I could appreciate a much messier, more complicated, changing definition of achievement, and one that I can’t wait to experience again!

How do you define achievement and success? How do you think your students define those concepts and do they leave room for the slow construction of knowledge through exploration and discovery? Or do other ideas about success overshadow them.

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Posted in Reflections

Tagged #CMK13, #makered, achievement, assessment, Constructing Modern Knowledge, Deborah Meier, Educational technology, Eleanor Duckworth, Gary Stager, Learning Theories, making, Professional development, success

The CMK Series – Part 1

Posted on July 22, 2013 | 1 comment

After taking a hiatus to facilitate a PD institute at my school, start exploring my Google Glass, attend Constructing Modern Knowledge (CMK) and most recently have my wisdom teeth removed – I’m finally taking time to publish my blog posts!

July has been jam packed, primarily because it began with me heading off to new adventures in New Hampshire for the CMK Institute. If you haven’t heard of it before, CMK is an amazing professional development opportunity for anyone interested in making, electronics, Project-Based Learning and Reggio-inspired classrooms … or simply anyone looking for a new learning experience that will push you to think outside the box!

There are too many takeaways from #CMK13 for me to fit them all into one post so I’m going to break them into a couple of reflections. To start, I want to focus on time.

Time was a unique variable at #CMK13 because it was both a constraint and a mobilizer. Time was specifically scaffold to support discovery, meaning that “project development” was a core part of the institute program. Instead of spending time sitting in sessions, waiting for things to begin, or listening to lectures, time was dedicated to learning through doing. With this freedom, we were inspired to let go of our worries about making every minute productive and soaking up as much knowledge as possible from other experts. Instead, we were able to construct our own knowledge by inviting experts to engage with us when we needed their support and utilizing a plethora of resources and materials available for everyone to use.

Takeaway from the group – there’s great value in being empowered to pause, reflect, take breaks (w/food!) and respecting team members #CMK13

— Margaret A Powers (@mpowers3) July 12, 2013

Time became a mobilizer, that empowered us to use it as we wanted. We could start and stop our work as needed, taking time to pause and reflect, to furiously scour the web for ideas, to “gossip” with new friends or old colleagues, and to play with burgeoning ideas that we hadn’t yet fully formed or understood. Having the opportunity to decide and schedule things as simple as meals made time feel more flexible at #CMK13, it was something that we could mold and shape in the same ways we were molding and shaping the new projects we would create.

Interestingly enough, we were also constrained by time. The looming Friday deadline, when we would need to present our project and ideally have something concrete to show for all of our work and time spent on project development, put a certain amount of strain on everyone. There was concern and worry about having something meaningful to show and being successful in producing what we had set out to make. As most of us work in education, things like grades and assessing achievement came to mind.

Luckily, I think CMK achieves a delicate time balance. Time is enough of a constraint to push participants to actively engage and dive into something they might have otherwise avoided or put off (e.g., learning to program an Arduino or make a cardboard robot). Yet it’s flexible enough that participants begin to realize they can actually redefine success and that while it can be nice to have a “finished project” for the last day, the project can be something that’s completely different than what was originally envisioned. For example, a group that started out thinking about how 9 month old babies could complete circuits ended up creating an interactive crib with a possible build-in camera, light up (zombie) doll, and other awesome features!

Reflecting on my #CMK13 experience, I want to consider how this delicate time balance can be achieved in the classroom and other makerspaces with young children. With constraints like grades and deadlines, how can we make students comfortable enough to try something new and empowered enough to take risks? My school works on a 12 day cycle which makes scheduling a challenge and consistency difficult for both students and teachers. Is the best workaround to have a Maker Club after school that works outside those time boundaries and can allow for the time constraint (club meeting) yet mobilizing (freedom to make and try anything, week after week) balance?