Participate and share: Interactive session 
Recorded Session
We know that good readers are active readers. They think, question, consider, uncover, and reflect. They put themselves into the minds of endearing characters or masterful authors as they analyze dialogue, make predictions, and solve problems. Students are doing this in classrooms around the world through discussions, research papers, charts, notetaking, essays, and quizzes. But what if, instead they could take their understanding of reading and writing and develop it in visible, creative, and engaging ways? This session will provide a variety of innovative instructional strategies to reimagine the way you provide literacy instruction.
The presenter will use a variety of hands-on making tasks as the primary tool for learning. The session will include a multimedia presentation with embedded activities and small group discussion tasks. Online resources and digital tools will be shared throughout, but will also be available on the presenter's website.
The session will begin with the sharing of a Padlet. This will allow participants to engage in a low-stakes way by reviewing the children’s literature that supports hands-on making in the classroom and add book suggestions of their own.
A multimedia presentation will be shared providing an overview of the session and some general background information on the presenter and the resources for the session.
Through small group activities we will create a general understanding of maker education as an innovative practice using human-centered design protocols.
We will discuss various types of literature that can support hands-on making in the classroom at any level. Participants will explore books at their tables and expand their repertoires of innovative literature choices. We will use a visible thinking routine to summarize this work.
Participants will engage in a “quick design” task connected to a book that will be shared. Educators will physically design something within their group that will solve a problem for the character in the story.
Returning to the multimedia part of the presentation, we will explore several digital tools that can support student literacy connected to maker education. (Tools like Buncee, Hummingbird Robotics, Scratch, and Canva may be shared.)
Next the group will engage in two activities that can support vocabulary development by pairing the content with hands-on making.
The session will end with a small group remaking task that will enhance both reading and writing skills through photos and photo websites.
Participants will be actively involved throughout the workshop so they can fully engage in this new type of learning.
Meeting the demands of 21st Century Learning requires a shift in our instructional strategies (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2017) which means reimagining the ways we develop student understanding. We can’t rely on measuring only the cognitive skills, but also need to consider the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills needed in the 21st Century (National Research Council, 2011). Remaking Literacy means moving beyond a student’s ability to recall information and look more at their ability to think critically, identify problems and solutions, gather information, and make decisions. As students learn and grow in literacy and in life, these are skills and traits that we want to see in our young people.
In a recent study of the benefits of maker learning, researchers found that this type of activity can facilitate connected learning (Hartnett, 2016). Connected learning happens when individuals pursue passions that are also linked to academic content. In their report on connected learning, Mizuko, Gutierrez, Livingstone, Penuel, Rhodes, Salen, Schor, Sefton-Green, & Watkins (2012) found that maker education provided connected learning experiences and was linked to academic gains, career success, and civic engagement.
Making has “invitational potential”, (Vossoughi & Bevan, 2015), as it pulls learners into the collaborative makerspace environment. It is similar to the way a good book draws you in. You try it and then you want to try more. Researchers are looking at the impact that making can have on student engagement and learning.
Blikstein’s (2014) research demonstrates the connection between literacy skills and more tactile learning opportunities strengthened student understanding. By pairing content learning with hands-on making, teachers are seeing improvements in student understanding, communication, and an even stronger interest in school.
Brain researchers found that physical learning experiences activate the sensorimotor part of the brain, which helps reinforce what students are learning (Kontra et al., 2015). So, when we pair vocabulary instruction with manipulatives, we will create stronger learning connections for students. As we incorporate the physical experiences of making when we read stories and build writing skills, we are activating student understanding like never before.
Vossoughi & Bevan (2015) found that when making was connected to existing practices, more powerful learning experiences were created. So by connecting hands-on experiences to existing literacy learning, we have the potential to amplify student learning. Blikstein (2013) agreed that educators should build on concepts that are familiar to students. By connecting making (new) to children’s literature (familiar), active learning experiences can be aligned to create more concrete connections for learners.
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