Columbus Day a day of learning for NREVSD teachers
Columbus Day might mean a day off from school for students, but here at New Richmond Exempted Village School District a day off doesn’t mean the learning stops.
Teachers spent the day immersed in enrichment opportunities of their own. For example, at New Richmond High School groups of teachers became students as they experienced the district’s new makerspace.
The makerspace is a place where students can explore their own interests, learn to use tools and materials, and develop creative projects.
During the Oct. 14 inservice, teachers experienced what it is they want their students to experience in this new learning space, district Director John Frye explained.
“We’re trying to promote design thinking to enhance learning in the classroom,” he said.
The idea of students creating projects for a class isn’t exactly new, Frye said. It’s been going on for decades.
What is new is the makerspace, a space where students can access the tools, technology, and materials needed to create, he said.
District integration specialist Dakota Smith said that in a recent survey, district teachers indicated that the greatest barrier to their using the makerspace was time.
It’s a lot to expect teachers to know how to use the technology and equipment that’s available in the makerspace and to develop lesson plans around it, he said.
“The inservice allows the teachers to become familiar with the equipment, experience it on their own, see how their students might use it, and just do a project,” Smith said. The familiarity will remove barriers.
For students, a makerspace can really open doors for employment which increasingly calls for workers who have a higher level of technical skill and ability, he said. Schools need to prepare students for both the jobs of today and the future. The makerspace offers an additional way for New Richmond to prepare its students for their future.