Reflecting on “Defining Makerspaces” Just over a year ago, I wrote my post on Defining Makerspaces. It was inspired after receiving a criticism about how my makerspace wasn’t a “real makerspace” because we didn’t have any power tools. The focus on that article was how a makerspace is defined more by the learning experiences of … Read more
You CAN start a makerspace even if you’re broke In my recent post on AASL Knowledge Quest, I decided to revisit and revamp a popular article that I wrote for the ISTE Librarians Network Scanner about starting a makerspace on a budget. Since writing that article in November 2014, I’ve talked to many more educators and … Read more
When I talk to other librarians and educators about starting a school Makerspace, one of the most common things I hear is: “I’d love to do (insert cool Maker activity) at my school, but we don’t have a budget for that”. What many people don’t realize is that the idea that you need a … Read more
Show me the (grant) money! I’ve written a lot of grant proposals since I became a media specialist in 2010. And while I certainly haven’t received every grant I’ve ever applied for, I have been successful at getting quite a few, including two $5,000 grants and several smaller grants. Like many other schools throughout the … Read more
DonorsChoose: A Hidden Goldmine for Public Schools My first experience with DonorsChoose was in 2011. They had a promotion with Starbucks where gift cards were given out to patrons to spend on projects. I had several successful projects at that time, but I didn’t really use DonorsChoose much again until 2014. It was around the same time that I … Read more
In all the craziness of last year, I forgot to blog about one of the grants we received. Almost every year that I’ve been a media specialist, I’ve applied for a grant from the Hillsborough Education Foundation. In previous years, I’ve applied for more graphic novels, books geared towards reluctant readers, and audiobooks. This year, … Read more
I just found out a few weeks ago that my school is receiving a Lowes Toolbox for Education grant of $5,000 to transform our library! I applied for this grant back in February, with the goal of transforming the instruction/tables side of our library into a dynamic, collaborative, Learning Commons-style space capabale of quickly and … 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