Cohort Member
The Ella Baker School uses Making in content areas such as science and math. Principal Josh Satin runs programs where students can make their own bicycles from recycled parts. In looking to incorporate a Maker mentality in everything they do, the school has taken the lead in areas such as hydroponics and ecosystem creation.
Haviland Miller
with support from Betsy Shneck
and Josh Satin
Why did you choose a career in education?
I enjoy working with children, and I am a life-long learner.
What hobbies or other interests have your brought to your classroom?
Gardening, quilting, reading, drawing, painting.
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How do you plan on bringing Making to your students this year?
We have a weekly work time in which we are making various crafts to show our learning or to solve a problem. In the beginning of the year, we do construction projects to support team building in our classroom community. This year, I hope we will learn to Make using coding and the internet. I would like to do Khan Academy's Hour of Code and build websites with my students. In addition, I hope to do more paper machè, especially to represent our solar system or astronomy.
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Making in School
The Ella Baker School
District 2 - Upper East Side
Pre-K - 8
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Making Space
At Ella Baker there are blocks of time called Work Time built into each day. Teachers are able to split the time between subjects and projects. Making takes place throughout the building but there is a room that is available to convert into a Maker Space. At this point, Ms. Miller, Assistant Principal Shneck and Principal Satin are brainstorming on ways to involve parents in developing the space.
Making Experiences
The art program at Ella Baker is robust and extends beyond the art room. In the Humanities class a production of a Shakespeare play turns into a Making experience around costumes and props. Making ecosystems for plants has brought much deserved acclaim to the school.
Alex Gordon
with support from Josh Satin
Why did you choose a career in education?
I get to keep learning all the time. It gave me the opportunity to build and create and also to work with kids.
What hobbies or other interests have your brought to your classroom?
Technical theater, carpentry, rocketry, model making.
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How do you plan on bringing Making to your students this year?
When I taught digital art and theater, my students had to solve design problems and use technology to implement a creative vision. I want my students to design experiments and experimental aparatus. I want to bake with them when we learn about chemistry and I want to build mobiles with them as we learn about force and motion.
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Making Ideas:
Making Ideas:
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Past projects, including a sewing unit, are under consideration for this year.
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Looking at ways to incorporate making into Science units is important to Ms. Miller. Students are currently experimenting with plants and creating ecosystems.
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Looking to expand on the Hour of Code experience, Ms. Miller would like her students to make Web pages. Documenting what they're doing in class, from conceptual work to hands-on Making is also an area Ms. Miller wants to focus on.
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The space in the basement is ideal for larger projects. Taking a look at supplies, Ms. Miller has explored closets in the bowels of the building and discovered caches of objects, including frames and several bikes. Ideas are percolating.
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