Woodshopcowboy Makerspace

Makerspace is a phrase that is often thrown around in education, but it's not always understood. According to The Makerspace Playbook School Edition, "Makerspaces follow in a long tradition of learning by making and through apprenticeship, adding emerging tools for personal fabrication, community sharing, and project collaboration and research." Based on this a Makerspace could really be anything hands-on that involves making something. When I began my research into Makerspaces, I knew that I wanted something that could be practical and something that was easily accessible. Through my research, I found the Woodshopcowboy blog. This blog is run by Patrick Waters, an award-winning maker. The blog has several tabs that could be useful in a school library including; Top Five Maker Projects for the Beginning Maker Ed Teacher, Making a Makerspace, and This Week In the Classroom. These links can be extremely helpful for anyone trying to start a Makerspace. However, what stood out to me the most on the blog was The Home #Makerspace. This is a collection of makes that can be done at home. After the pandemic, it seems like it's more and more difficult to find physical spaces and some people aren't comfortable going to a physical location due to a number of reasons. I think this idea of having an accessible at-home Makerspace could truly benefit a lot of people. According to the Makerspace Playbook "Education happens everywhere. Learning happens in our community, not just on campus. Our current education system struggles to tap the resources available in the community, yet our culture is richer with information and opportunities than ever before." If we take this to heart we can see that we aren't limited to one place.

I'd like to share one project from The Home #Makerspace that can easily be implemented in a school or as an at-home project. 


https://woodshopcowboy.com/2017/04/28/home-makerspace-the-diy-folding-board/

In this project, you are creating a t-shirt folding board from plywood and duct tape. If you don't have the same resources as mentioned in the blog like wood and saws, you could use cardboard in its place.

Using a resource like Woodshopcowboy could be extremely beneficial for new Makerspaces because they provide projects that could be implemented. These projects aren't that difficult and are a good starting point to get people interested in woodworking and creating things with their hands. These projects could cause a patron to discover a passion that they didn't know they had. Woodworking doesn't require any specific type of degree so it could be a good option for patrons who aren't planning to attend college to consider practicing and potentially creating a career. There is no limit when it comes to a great Makerspace and its outcomes.


Resources

Britton, L. (2012). The Makings of Maker Spaces, Part 1: Space for Creation, Not Just Consumption. Retrieved 24 March 23, from http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/ 

N/A. (2013). Makerspace Playbook School Edition. 


 

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 24, 2023 at 4:38 PM

    Hi Destinee,
    Thanks for sharing such a rich resource! How did you find this site? I really like how he breaks down a lot of different types of projects, from woodworking to electric circuits, and makes them all seem very doable. For someone who is not very "crafty", I worry that the makerspace concept might be difficult for me to follow through on, but sites like this will make it easy to have multiple ideas to pull from.
    Thanks!
    Jennifer

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raegan March 25, 2023 at 1:11 AM

    Howdy, Destinee! Your blog post so concise, well organized and informative. I think empowering students to learn outside of school is very important, so I really appreciate this resource. Upon exploring his blog, his work is very impressive! It's like shop class at a career center, but in the library / classroom setting. I never considered this type of thing until our shared course, so I'm very intrigued by the new concepts. I'm would not consider myself a "crafty" or "techy" person either, but having resources that attempt to spell things out in basic terms helps me feel more confident in my ability to do it with kiddos. I love the idea of building tables and chairs for the makerspace... made by the patrons for the patrons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Reading Rainbows (and Rachel)March 25, 2023 at 12:09 PM

    I love this idea! My blog post is about making budget-friendly makerspaces, and a folding station would definitely apply to that. If I ever actually get to make a budget-friendly makerspace, I'll definitely have to include this. It's a great way to integrate math and motor skills. Awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nicole ShumpertMarch 25, 2023 at 4:08 PM

    I love that you shared an idea that has a practical use! I bet parents would love this Makerspace project as well! I love that Makerspaces allow students to create and use their imagination. I've been researching Makerspaces for elementary students since that's the age group I am interested in working with, but this could easily be a project for middle/high school students.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MeganMarch 25, 2023 at 8:44 PM

    Destinee,
    This project is so cool! I originally stopped to read your post because of the of the name of the post - woodshopcowboy, and everything else in the post did not disappoint. Your post is very well written and informative. I think it is awesome that the project you talked about is so home-friendly, and economical! Students can build it at school and take it home to use. I bet their parents would be super happy about them folding their clothes. I will definitely be including this project in my makerspace when the time comes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Just Your "Standard" First Blog Post

Image
"The standards empower school librarians to be leaders that truly transform teaching and learning." Prior to reading about these standards, I had never thought this way. Before my move to the library, I was a classroom teacher and the standards that I used to teach did everything but empower me because of this prior relationship with standards I had to reshape my thinking. The shared foundations in the AASL standards make it so easy to focus instruction for professionals, teachers, and students. The AASL standards include six shared foundations; inquire, include, collaborate, curate, explore, and engage.    Each of these concepts is something that is done nearly every day in the library but can be configured depending on the target audience.   In addition to the shared foundations, the AASL standards also include four domains; think, create, share, and grow. These  are cyclical and match up with specific foundations. As librarians, we can use this to guide the w...
Read more

Cumbee_Destiny_Blog Share 1

Image
Mrs. Readerpants Blog This week I read the Mrs. Readerpants Blog which can be found here . I found this blog by looking for library blogs specifically for high school librarians. Leigh Collazo has been both a head librarian and a secondary English teacher. After the pandemic, she left the profession to homeschool her children and run her blog full-time. She started the blog in 2011 as a way to review books, but she gradually switched to management tips for librarians and classroom teachers. She talks about how new librarians are often "on their own" and that she wants to be a part of the community that helps these new librarians.  I chose this blog because even though I work in a library with another librarian, I haven’t been given many responsibilities or even taught them so I want to learn as much as I can for when I am handed the reigns. All the resources for specifically new librarians are amazing and it’s comforting to know that there is support out there. I read several...
Read more

Cumbee_Destiny_Storytelling Reflection 2

Image
In my graduate-level storytelling course, we are required to tell stories. Throughout the semester the type of storytelling changes that way we get experience presenting our stories in different ways. Before this class, I had only ever told stories to students by simply reading them from a book and showing them the pictures. At this point in the semester, I have done traditional storytelling, but I have also done storytelling with props/manipulatives, interactive storytelling, and storytelling without a book. Each type of storytelling had its own challenges and triumphs, but the one that pushed me the most was interactive storytelling. Because of the challenges that can come with this assignment, I want to share my process and my final results. Although it was new and somewhat difficult for me, after completing the reading I felt so accomplished.  Interactive storytelling is getting the audience involved in the story, whether that be call and response, movement that matches up with...
Read more