Background
I come from a background of cooking and STEM, but I do not excel in arts and craft. I am actually a person who is dyslexia and grew up as ELL. Those aspects of me shaped how I approach learning and what I liked to do. So anything that I can do by hand and avoid writing and reading I try to do it.
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When I cook, my first goal is to cook something edible. The second goal is to improve the taste of the dish. I try recreating dishes whenever I can because then I can figure out what I can do differently. Whether it is the procedure, the ingredient, temperature, or how long something is cooked, I trial and error my way through my dishes. I reflect on what I made and take note of what I like and didn’t like, then maybe do a little bit of research about taking a new step.
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My procedure about how I make food is how I view making. Making has always been about the process for me. The act of creating, planning, trials, research, reflection, and repeat all of those steps again. The product of the outcome usually represents an aspect of oneself. However, my background also limited the perspective of what could also consider making in a stem field. As I said before, my strong suit is not arts and crafts, which also includes the art of writing. Writing is a barrier I saw and ran away from it. I didn’t want incorrupt any part of art, or writing into my idea of what a maker project could be, but as I went through student teaching my thought process changed.
Me getting excited to practice making crepes in when I was in 16.
Change in perspective
I was given a restrictive playground when it came to lesson planning. I didn’t know how to approach it, because my other experiences have been a more open one. I had to start being creative because I wanted to express my teaching, but still, follow the structure I was given. What I did was wrote lesson plans a little bit differently from how my teacher delivered it. I would add my quick antinode or talk about how people use a variation of this formula in the world. Those were small things, but the main thing I did was write up a project outline. That process got me in the thinking about how much words affect our interpretation of things. I realize that what I wrote down didn’t convey my idea to the team or the students, so my project needed to be revised. Writing, and storytelling is a form of making that I didn’t consider until I started to teach. Because making something out of wood is cool and impressive, but words and art have the same impact if not more. With limited resources, sometimes the simple tools have the most impact.
Mark Rober and the Super Mario Effect
Mark Rober is a creator on YouTube designing some cool contraption since he comes from an engineering background. He has also done a TED Talk about Super Mario Effect. In the TED Talk, he makes a similarity between creating and learning to the process of playing a video game. When playing Super Mario, we do trial and error until we bet the game. Each attempt and struggle with the level lead us back to learning something to add to our tools to beat the game.
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In terms of making, I viewed this as learning new skills as we work towards accomplishing our goals, and taking notes of what worked and didn’t work. Mark’s message is about how when trying to achieve something there will always be challenges, but it is so satisfying to overcome those challenges and to complete one's goal. His philosophy reflects many my ideas about how to approach making, and appeals to me because I come from a similar background. Beating a level in a video game that I have been struggling with has been one of the most satisfying experience. I get that same feeling every time I create something that has been challenging, or whenever I finally understand a concept that I struggle with for a while. That feeling drove me to want to learn and pushed me to keep up with the challenge. I want to apply that aspect into schools because I believe changes the students’ mindset from I am failing, to I am struggling, but the reward at the end is worth the trials. I like this perspective because it reflects both my maker and teaching philosophy.
Mark's representation of the process of making.
My Teaching Philosophy and the connection to making.
My Teaching Philosophy follows a similar in the mindset of the Mario Effect. I grew up doing material arts, and that process of learning is very similar to the process of making. There is always the constant practice, and trying to figure out how to improve and reach your goal. The goal setting is an aspect of material art is something I carried onto my own life and teaching. Teaching student's math is cool, but I want to teach students how to set goals, and how to work towards them. Like the image of your plan versus reality, goals are tricky and comes with personal obstacles. I could teach students to multiply and divided, but what happens if that is something students already know or something too challenging? Then I wouldn't be equitable to my students, and not addressing their needs. That is why I want to teach students to set personal goals of learning. Like the image of your plan versus reality, goals are tricky and comes with personal obstacles. However, it is an amazing feeling to accomplish that goal. However, were that learning happens is through the process, and making is about the process. The end product is always satisfying achieving, but the hurdles and the constant persistence is what defines learning and making.
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Equity and Diversity
Making provides an opportunity for anyone to grow. The best part about making it doesn’t necessarily require many materials to be a maker. The only thing that a person needs an end goal, and maybe a plan to get to that point. Though that plan doesn’t always work out, however, there is an inequity about who has access to the maker movement. Tools and resources are limited, so it is not surprising that the majority of the population that is part of the field are white males in the according to Professor Vossoughi. Females and people of color usually don’t have equal representation in any area. One thing I believe would help with that problem in terms of making, is not limiting the definition of creating. I realize that is we should first encourage students to use and master the skills that they already are given. Asking them to write, paint, sing or do something that brings in their background adds diversity into the field. By asking students to use the tools that they might already know allows the field to be broader. That will enable them to have access to the maker movement still, but in a way that encourages them to experience it in a way familiar to them.
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Once they get to experience the feeling of making, then the introduction of tools could be something that elevates or shows off their known skills. Example of that would be teaching them to do drag and drop programming. Most schools have access to computers, so taking time out the day to teach them that new skill could help them incorporate a digital aspect to the expertise they already know. The introduction of new tools and skills is important in the maker movement, because it will help diverse the maker field, and it allows a chance for students to learn something that could inspire them to make that tool something they want to master. Teaching students how to use new tools is equitable because it allows them to get the opportunity to learn something, and the chance to have the outcome of being a maker.
The other reason I think it is important that we allow everyone accesses to making goes back to the Super Mario Effect. Everyone can have the same end goal in mind, but the path that an individual takes to achieve the goal would be different. We can teach students to use a tool, but they could come up with different ways to use the tool to accomplish the same end goal. Examples of one that students and we use on a daily are how we write and speak. Asking them to explain how they could represent a problem, there could be multiple representations. The different representation brings in the insight of students through the process and where they might have struggled. If we only see one perspective of how something is made or learn, then we miss out on the different ways that students struggle or learn. Getting different students into the field is important because it allows the different path to be explored.
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Patricia Gome and Benjamin Herold article both talks about the lack of diversity and the need to take action for the maker movement to be equitable. I agree with Patricia Gome that equity and diversity don’t happen by accident. If there is no conversation about those issues, then no will take action if we don’t explain why the lack of diversity and equity, then why would people care and the problems that it creates. That is why I talked about the lack of diversity and why I think it is a bad thing. However, I also don’t want to have a conversation, but also input about how to approach this issue.
In the Benjamin Herold article, he asked why there should be a focus on equity, and I agree with why it is important to bring in students’ culture to their learning and making. Their culture helps create a more engaging experience. That reflects a lot of what Patricia is talking about when she speaks about not letting making only be a classroom activity. I agree with her statement full well, and I come from a maker background not rooted in the classroom. To go along with that conversation, I mentioned earlier ago about using skills that students’ already know. I was trying to answer that problem of putting making outside the classroom. If it is a skill student already know, then they can continue to work on it outside of school, and with their community. However, when introducing a new skill to students, we should also introduce those skills to parents. To show them how it could impact their children, and to get parents to involve so they can see the purpose of the maker movement. Both of these articles are great at starting the conversation about the lack of equity, and I hope I carried on that conversation about what we could do to close that gap.
Conclusion
Throughout the Uteach, I made an effort to follow my own philosophy whenever I want to accomplish something. It is built into the program because we always have some goal in mind, but the way that we achieve that goal depends on what we want to design. Whether it is a lesson, activities, or personal projects, we are always making something, and we do it in a goal in mind, but then reflect on how it went. All the lessons I have taught have been one with a plan in mind, execution, and reflection.
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Everyone can be a maker because it is all about the making process. We all can create something and think about it to improve it, but we need a little encouragement to do so. However, what I realize is that it is also about learning how to use to tools we are given to best of our ability. Learning a new skill is amazing, but mastery over old ones have the same impact. Some amazing makers are the one that masters a single skill. Understanding that now, I want to approach how I make in more focus way such that I can focus on mastering a skill before moving on. To be a maker, you only need the drive to challenge yourself to do more and reflect on what you are doing. It is a constant process of learning. I want to constantly apply this knowledge, and encourage my students to bring their background so they can understand that they are makers, and it is okay to struggle because at the end we all achieve our goals.