Nailing Jell-O to the wall

Me, flummoxed

Trying to get a solid start to planning my Maker class has been, like my dad is known to say, "nailing Jell-O to the wall." Or herding cats. Whichever you prefer. The reason for this is largely my lack of experience in Making. Additionally, outside of engineering and "shop" classes, maker education is still mostly viewed as an elementary and middle school experience. I don't have a lot of models to draw from at the high school level.

So where to begin? During the Education Forum at the Maker Faire, I started listing units I'd like to include. My idea then, which I still think is solid, was to start the semester with several "Materials" units, during which students will be required to to choose projects that use a required element, for example a paper product or coding.

After students have explored the use of different materials, the units would then become more purpose-driven than material-driven: for example, creating a life hack or a game. Ultimately, I want to emphasize the iterative part of design and end the unit with each student improving a former project and hosting a class Maker Faire to show them off.

Here are the questions that keep my Jell-O from sticking to the wall:

• What materials and resources will I have?
• What materials and resources do I need to ask for?
• Whom should I ask?
• How long will it take to complete a project?
• Should this be something I regulate, or should students be allowed to move at their own pace.
• Would it be OK for some students to spend a semester working on a single project while some work on several?
• What do I grade?
• I do have ideas about this--I'm not concerned, really, with the products themselves since I am not teaching a particular content. So I don't know if I'll even grade the final products themselves; rather, I'll grade the process, which includes life-long learning skills that should serve my students in any context:
• Goal-setting
• Risk-taking
• Breaking tasks down into steps
• Identifying necessary materials and resources
• Using materials and resources respectfully and responsibly
• Documenting progress
• Reflection
• How to grade is not so clear. I would like to use Standards-Based Grading. But do I organize my grades by unit or by standard? What form should rubrics take?

The list of questions I have is overwhelming. So much so, that in November, I told myself that I wouldn't think about the course until "next semester." But now "next semester" is here, and I need to buckle down. In the end, although I said I don't "Make" things, I am creative, and what I love about teaching is that it's a creative profession: Planning this class is Making although the hammer, nails, and Jell-O are, so far, metaphorical. The primary reason for starting this blog was to practice what I hope to preach next year by documenting and reflecting upon the creation of a risky, but worthwhile, endeavor.