Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Et 691 Proposal
Et 691 Proposal
Rationale
For my internship, I will be working with two other colleagues to complete professional
development on how to use our new school’s Makerspace. We will be focusing mainly on
different technology tools that can be used in the Makerspace. Last year Relay Elementary
School got a new building and that new building we came with a Makerspace room. Our
room. Some of these different technology tools include coding devices, a 3D printer and
robotics. The purpose of my internship will be to help teachers understand the purpose of using
the Makerspace room and the technology tools. I want to show the different benefits these
tools can have on learning. My main focus will be with primary students.
Participants
This year the administration at Relay wanted to make our professional developments
more meaningful for the staff. At the beginning of the school year each teacher was given four
different topics that they could choose to receive professional develop on. You had to rank
those topics based on your interests. For the first half of the year you will go to different
professional developments based on the topic you said you were most interested in. Then, we
will switch for the second half of the year. One of those topics you could choose was
Makerspace. The participants for the first half of the year will be teachers who want to learn
about the Makerspace and the different technology tools that are housed within the
Makerspace. The participants for the Makerspace professional developments will included
teachers from PreK to fifth grade and different resource staff at our school. Those participants
will then take resources made and knowledge obtained to use with their students.
1. I can follow the rules set forth for the Makerspace room by completing a school
2. I can develop resources connecting to curriculum with technology tools that are in the
Makerspace room.
3. I can use problem solving and collaboration skills to complete tasks in the Makerspace.
(For students)
This year our school moto is “Daring Greatly.” Once a month during our Monday
mandatory Professional development, every teacher will choose from a series of professional
developments to attend. These professional developments address different areas in our school
where we would like to see change, which includes our Makerspace room. To encourage
change and have teachers use technology tools in the Makerspace, we turned to Ely’s Eight
Conditions of change. These eight conditions state what needs to be in place for change to
happen. The first condition is a dissatisfaction with status quo. Having a Makerspace with
technology tools is something that our school felt would be a useful for students and teachers.
Many teachers want new tools to make their teaching more effective. By holding these
professional developments, we hope teachers learn the skills they need to implement the
technology tools correctly. We also have met Ely’s other conditions as well. We have the
necessary resources to make using the Makerspace and the technology tools possible. We have
mandatory professional development Mondays set aside to learn about how to properly use
the Makerspace and the tools inside of the Makerspace. We hope by creating resources for
teachers to use in their classroom that it will be an incentive for teachers to attend these
professional developments. We want the participants to have a say in the different tools we
learn about in the Makerspace. We also have leadership and administration that are committed
to seeing the Makerspace and the tools inside of the Makerspace being utilized. By addressing
all of this we have met Ely’s Eight Conditions of Change. We hope teachers will embrace these
Addressing change
One of the hardest things for teachers to deal with is change. Even though change is
important it often takes a lot of time to implement changes. Change can also be scary if you feel
that you may fail at implementing the new changes. We all know that we cannot keep teaching
in the traditional method because we are finding that students are lacking collaboration skills,
teamwork skills and problem-solving skills. We are hoping that these Makerspace professional
developments will change the way teachers see teaching. By experimenting and creating
resources teachers will see firsthand how beneficial these technology tools are. With the use of
coding devices, 3D printers, breakout boxes, and robotics it will help teach students how to
work together to solve a problem. These are skills students need when they leave school.
Technology Integration
technology tools. These tools include coding devices, breakout boxes, robotics and the 3D
printer. Teacher interest will determine which tools we introduce. We want these tools to be
used for more than just substitution. We want these tools to help enhance lessons to make
them more meaningful and engaging. We also want the use of these tools to connect to
curriculum. We will be getting feedback from teachers on different areas they would like to
focus on in their curriculum. After that we will create resources for teachers that use
Each month starting in September and going through December we will be meeting
once a month with the teachers and staff who wanted to have more professional developments
on Makerspace and the different technology tools. Our first professional development will be
held on September 24th and it will focus on the rules for using the Makerspace. This will include
cleanup procedures, how to store materials when you are finished with them, the expectations
for the students and staff in the Makerspace room and how to sign up to use it. We will also
talk about all the technology tools that would be great to use in the room. These tools will
include coding devices, the 3D printer, breakout boxes, robotics, and more. During the months
of October, November and December we will focus on a different tool that you can use in the
Makerspace room. For example, in October we may introduce all the different coding tools staff
can use in the Makerspace room. During the professional development we will create resources
that align to curriculum and practice using the coding devices. What we do will depend on input
from the teachers and other staff. After December the teachers and staff will move on to other
the internship, I want to compile a list of different coding websites to share with other teachers
and staff. These different websites can include additional resources for coding devices we have
at school like the Ozobots and ones that we do not have at school. I would also like to make a
screencast to show how different technology tools can be used in the Makerspace.
Tentative Timeline
September 24th- Create rules and expectations for the Makerspace room. We will also choose
what technology tools we would like to learn about over the next few months.
October- Explore with and create resources that connect to curriculum using technology tools
and other materials found in the Makerspace room. This could include Ozobots, Blue Bots, the
November- Explore with and create resources that connect to curriculum using technology
tools and other materials found in the Makerspace room. This could include Ozobots, Blue Bots,
and other materials found in the Makerspace room. This could include Ozobots, Blue Bots, the
The participants will be evaluated through observation during the time where we are
experimenting with the different technology tools. We will also be working with teachers to
create resources for the technology tools that connect to curriculum. The participants are also
encouraged to try some of the new technology tools during a formal observation this year.
Although this is not required, it is encouraged. All these technology tools are new for the
teachers at our school, because of this most of our evaluation will be informal to encourage
Personal Plan
Throughout my internship I want to keep track of my successes and areas that I need to
improve on. During the professional developments my team and I will be passing out feedback
forms. This will help us during our planning to make sure our professional developments are
engaging and useful. I will also be keeping a personal online journal of my own to write down
my reflections.