HOMAGO Maker Spaces levels of engagement-I'm ready for MA!

Last weekend I attended the Toronto Mini Maker Faire and was impressed with the variety of projects that were on display all under the term "maker."  

I got to see very excited kids and adults trying new things and learning how things work.  The creative buzz was everywhere!  I loved the way that the Maker Faire was organized as an interactive- give it a go kind of feel.

As I visited the various exhibits and spoke with the enthusiastic creators I recalled the term I learned at last year's OLA Super Conference thanks to +Bill Derry.  This term is used to describe your level of engagement in a maker space:

  Hanging Out. Messing Around. Geeking Out.

https://sites.google.com/a/mtlsd.net/raitano/home

I definitely saw all three levels of engagement at the Maker Faire!

 
At the beginning of this month I was firmly in the HO stage but I am now ready to try the Messing Around stage.  Participating in the ECOO Minds on Media workshop gave me the chance to develop some basic understandings and to learn the vocabulary so I could ask questions of maker enthusiasts at a local hackerspace and at the Toronto Faire. I have been co-learning with students and teachers about coding and with green screen technology and I'm convinced that learning is accelerated when such tools are integrated into lessons.

I'm still working on how I might introduce it to some colleagues and principals.  How might the makerspace concept fit in to an already very busy school library?  Would it have an arts theme, or a hacker space idea??  I saw many examples of  inexpensive and creative makerspace projects that I can now share with colleagues.
I have also got a small but enthusiastic group of colleagues who are also ready to continue learning about the makerspace movement- so the momentum is gaining!

At first I thought that HOMAGO was a linear step by step process but I realize that you can engage at any level in a makerspace and that your level of participation may vary. Some of my friends who attended the Faire jumped right into MA-messing around with their kids and next week they might be back to HO.

Today I had the opportunity to share some of my excitement for the makerspace movement with other teacher-librarians and explain why I think makerspaces is a great idea.  I love that makers are open to all ages and that the process of creating is more important than the actual product.  I think that we need to teach our students to be builders not simply consumers and the MS movement certainly does that! The continuous popularity of LEGO and Minecraft supports the desire in all of us to be creators.

Next week I have arranged a visit with the Innisfil Public Library to try 3D printing and I can't wait to see what we create when we get to Messing Around!