Delivery and Reflection - 2 Different Maker Events

This is usually the time of year where I get the least amount of sleep in a four-day stretch. Two of the premiere Maker events in Ontario are scheduled for the days following shortly after Canada Day: MakerEdTO and Maker Festival Toronto. (Last year's post on that whirlwind week can be found here.) My circadian rhythms got a respite because Maker Festival Toronto did not run like it usually does in July. (You can read the explanation at http://makerfestival.ca/) However, several of the MakerFestival Toronto core team members met during the weekend we'd usually host the festival to re-group and re-imagine the possibilities. This is a brief overview of the 2019 MakerEdTO Conference and the Maker Festival Toronto Retreat.

Thursday, July 4, 2019 - MakerEdTO

My son finalized his high school volunteer hours thanks to MakerEdTO this year, so he and I headed out bright and early to The York School. He had training the night before with the fabulous Mark Zochowski (who was the subject of what I consider to be one of the best photos taken from #makeredto in 2019 - replicated below. Who gets credit for being the photographer? Was it you, Zelia?)

Everything came together so well at the end (even though it never looks like it will when you are smack-dab in the middle of planning) that on Wednesday July 3, when I was about to travel from my AQ course down to do last-minute preparations, I didn't need to because all the work was completed!

Registration went silky smooth, at least to my eyes, thanks to Larissa Aradj and Lisa Lewis. The Playground (Mark's area) was hopping constantly and kudos go to Tim Boudreau and the other volunteers (Peter Maliszewski, Andrew Li [one of my former students who is now a McGill U alumnus!] and Jacqueline Tse [a teacher friend of Teresa's]).

The keynote, Leslie McBeth, (@lesmcbeth) was inspirational. You can tell that the audience was soaking up her message by the amount of phones rising to capture a slide that captivated their minds. I heard that people really appreciated the real-life examples of student projects that she shared during her talk.

My task for the day was to check on the volunteers. This was quite easy because we didn't have many teen helpers and our organizing core team did so many extra chores. This meant I got to network, talk with some great educators, and even attend a few sessions myself! Considering how many photos I took of Peter and Andrew in action, it might have looked like I was stalking them, but I wasn't!

Peter facilitating Paper Circuits

Andrew facilitating Squishy Circuits

The schedule (found at http://bit.ly/makeredto2019schedule for easy access) showed what a solid variety of offerings were available. The sessions I attended were a) Tim Cooper's session on how to capture student reflection on making, and b) the discussion group hosted by David Hann on the big questions of Maker Education. Check my tweets for a sample of the insights I gleaned from these conversations.

The prizes from the vendors were amazing! The great news was that four of my York University 2019 Summer Blended Library AQ participants won something! (I swear I had nothing to do with this!) Thank you to all the exhibitors!

The core team needs a standing ovation! Congratulations to:

David Hann (@TeacherHann)

Tim Cooper (@tcoops)

Teresa Allan (@allanteresa)

Ray Mercer (@raycmercer)

Michael Vaisman (@STEMTDSB)

Lewelyn Lee (@LewelynLee)

Sharon Moskovitz (@s_m077)

Mark Zochowski (@MarkZochowski)

Shaun Grant (@CanadaGrant)

Zelia Capato-Tavares (@ZeliaMCT)

and fervent apologies if I missed anyone!

Here are some tweets from the event:

Love the story @lesmcbeth tells of the student who went from “what’s my mark?” to passionately fixing and improving his prototype regardless of grades #makeredto @MakerEdTO pic.twitter.com/oeYGCSwZIi

— Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) July 4, 2019

Happy Summer PD! It’s ⁦@lesmcbeth⁩, kicking off #MakerEdTO and making sense about how Global & Future Vision can look across the grades. pic.twitter.com/XL8NnEl3SP

— Adam Caplan (@MrCaplan) July 4, 2019

Learning about and making screen prints with @peachberserk here at #MakerEdTO! #makersgonnamake #makered #screenprinting pic.twitter.com/H9ykD0TCeL

— Larissa Aradj, OCT (@MrsGeekChic) July 4, 2019

There’s nothing like volunteering with colleagues and friends at the annual #MakerEdTO conference. Such an honour to be behind the scenes and tweeting out of @MakerEdTO today! Don’t miss out on the awesomeness #MakerEdTO conference #stem #makerspace #makerEd pic.twitter.com/I0c2EtE3Ek

— Zélia (@ZeliaMCT) July 4, 2019

Big Questions for MakerEd with @TeacherHann #MakerEdTO conference #stem #makerspace #makerEd pic.twitter.com/WSTICxVpSg

— MakerEdTO (@MakerEdTO) July 4, 2019

Guess which @voicEdcanada personality I saw at @MakerEdTO ? It’s @noasbobs ! Don’t be jealous @Stephen_Hurley #makeredto brings together all types of teachers and learners pic.twitter.com/pRuRVNp87g

— Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) July 4, 2019

Saturday, July 6, 2019 - Maker Festival Retreat

I won't give a lot of details about what transpired during our retreat. We stayed together at a farm near Walter's Falls, ON to reflect on the past, consider the future, and contemplate our own roles and the possibilities. Big thanks to Jen, Eric, Jounghua, Vicky, Paul and Sophie (as well as Ewan, Blake, Natalie and Elliot) for sharing your time and thoughts. Indirect thanks to Sylvia Duckworth for teaching me sketch-noting - this skill came in handy when scribing and capturing our conversations. The road trip back was longer than planned with lots of pleasant pit-stops to see Georgian Bay and visit farmers' markets. I can only share a couple of the photos with just me, since I didn't obtain people's permissions.