Diana Rendina 
(This is part 3 in a series of Makerspace Wishlist posts. See Part 1: Electonics and Part 2: Technology and Robotics for more. Please note, this post was originally written in 2014 and some products may have changed or been discontinued since then) Engineering Tools When it comes to engineering tools, there’s really two major juggernauts: … Read more
(Note: Post updated on 3-19-16.) Makerspaces are hot, and many educators are constantly looking for recommendations on what tools to get for their students. I’m so excited to see so many teachers and librarians working on grants and proposals to get Makerspaces in their schools. Instead of constantly writing 140 character posts on what tools … Read more
Are you the type of person who likes to fill in worksheets? Click here to download a FREE printable 5 Questions worksheet! (Post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using them, I get a small commission that helps support running this blog) So you want to write a Makerspace grant… It seems like everyone … Read more
Since the official Teen Tech Week coincides with my district’s spring break, we held our Teen Tech Week activities the week before. Many of them were so popular, that I’ll probably keep them going the week after as well. The K’nex have been an amazing addition to our library. I’ll see students constantly tinkering with … Read more
I’ve been focusing my professional reading lately on books related to the Maker Education movement. Design, Make, Play: Growing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators, with a collection of writings by different experts and organizations in the Maker movement, did not disappoint. This is a must read for anyone interested in Maker Education. Here’s my … Read more
You may remember that a few weeks ago I wrote about how I started a K’nex club at my school. We’ve only had a few meetings so far, but the kids are loving it, and I feel like they’ve already really started to bond together. So far, I’ve started out each meeting with a brainstorming … Read more
Back in January, I enjoyed the amazing privilege of going to FETC in Orlando. I have attended FETC twice before, once where I went to a few sessions, once where I just hit the vendor hall. But this was my first year attending where I was on Twitter, where I was beginning to get just … Read more
As I’ve been researching and reading up on the Maker Movement, one of the most common things I hear from other librarians and educators is that they aren’t sure how to start, or they’re worried about teacher perception. One easy way to get your students and teachers exposed to the Maker Movement (or really, DIY … Read more
The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age was recommended by me to one of my colleagues during her presentation on developing teacher leadership. Over the past few months, I’ve been gradually working my way through it, trying to soak up as much from it along the way as I could. Here’s my … Read more
Like many school libraries, my district has been gradually shifting from print reference to digital reference. Yet when I first arrived at my library four years ago, we still had several hundred reference books, filling up three large floor shelving units. The majority of these books were out of date. Over the past four years, … Read more