At the library we expect a lot from our kids when they join us for after-school programming. We expect them to be attentive, respectful, relatively quiet, productive. We expect them to be able to engage with complex projects that demand focus and concentration. We expect them to do all of this after a long day of school. We expect them… Read more →
sari
Managing Behavior in an Alternative Learning Environment: Challenges and Successes
A couple of weeks ago, I was catching my breath after a particularly hectic making session. I started to look around the room and consider the space I work in daily. It’s a semi-private room on the library floor, that is shared with the computer lab. There is a half wall that separates the… Read more →
Presenting Design Concepts to Youth
At Maker Jawn, our primary MO is to make things. Obviously making things can be fun, but sometimes it includes steps that participants don’t like or understand. I’ve found that my students are extremely resistant to steps in the making process like sketching and prototyping. Being kids, and more specifically, kids who aren’t being taught much about creative thinking… Read more →
The Challenge of Making Content Creators
Last week at Lillian Marrero Branch, we worked with one of Mozilla’s Webmaker tools, PopcornMaker. PopcornMaker allows you to “remix” music and videos off of Youtube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, etc. The interface is very simple and easy to use, and it can be fun and exciting for youth to play with their favorite music videos and online content. It could also be… Read more →
Keep Calm, Love Fashion
At Marrero we accomplished something great: a completely youth driven longterm project! Without any prompting or cajoling by Mentors, two participants decided that they wanted to plan a library fashion show. Other participants quickly got on board, and we started the planning process. Together, we made a sign-up for participation, a task list, and a list of items to be… Read more →
Maker Jawn talks Teaching Teens How to Fail at PALA
Maker Jawn was pleased to speak at this years Pennsylvania Library Association conference. The talk, Teaching Teens How to Fail, was delivered by Sari Widman, Goda Trakumaite, Bobby Raggazion, and Brandon Klevence (with a lovely introduction by Lillian Marrero branch manager Rebekah Ray). Listen to the talk below! We discussused how Maker Jawn started, our education philosophy, and how librarians (or really… Read more →
Project Idea: Collage your Copper Tape Notebook
Copper tape notebooking can be a fun way to integrate circuit building into a functional object that kids can have ownership of. Add collaging to that, and you’ve got a really cool product with an added element of creativity. For those who don’t know, copper tape notebooking is when you add an LED (or multiples) to a notebook using… Read more →