This image, from John Spencer sums up a lot of teacher's fears when getting kids to be makers. Some of these things are scarier than others, depending on our situations. I had a good discussion about these fears with my university classmates last night. All of us have some element of maker education or design thinking in our classrooms. And I'm happy to report that none of us really identified with these fears...anymore.
That is because these are the fears that exist before allowing the maker movement to take over your classroom. Whenever you start something new, there is bound to be fears. Having fears should not keep you from trying something new, though. Imagine if your students had that attitude. Life is boring if we don't try new things.
John Spencer, and the four other teachers I spoke with yesterday, all agreed that once you start you realize that these were only fears, not realities. Sure some of the fears like "I couldn't predict where we were going", "it might not fit the standards", and "it might get loud & chaotic" are probably true realities. But are these bad realities?
Letting go of control can be a hard thing for teachers to do. But having all that control takes the thinking and learning away from the students. We need to stop doing all the thinking and let them do it! So what if it gets a little loud. I guarantee the engagement will grow and that learning will happen!
