Read This Book: Sketchnoting in the Classroom

Read this Book: Sketchnoting in the Classroom // Nichole Carter’s book is an excellent resource for educators looking to find ways to bring sketchnoting into their classrooms.  She provides excellent ideas and examples to get your students started sketching.  If you’re looking for more of a basic how-to sketchnote, start with Mike Rhode’s The Sketchnote Handbook.

These last few months, I’ve been focusing on improving my sketchnote skills.  Part of that work was reading several books on the tis topic for educators (see my review of My Pencil Made Me Do It).  Many general books on sketchnoting focus on the basics of how to sketchnote, which is awesome.  I love using … Read more

Read This Book: My Pencil Made Me Do It

Read This Book: My Pencil Made Me Do It // Carrie's book is the story of her journey into sketchnoting and how it helped her and her students to grow.

I’ve followed Carrie Baughcum’s work on Twitter and Instagram for awhile.  We briefly met F2F back at ISTE 2016 in Denver.  I’ve loved the positive, upbeat and fun loving tone that she shares in her posts.  So when I heard that she was publishing a book about sketchnoting this past fall, I quickly preordered a … Read more

Read This Book: Keep Going by Austin Kleon

Read this book: Keep Going, by Austin Kleon // If you are human, you are creative. This book helps you with learning how to keep going and stay creative even when it feels like everything is going wrong.

I’ve been a fan of Austin Kleon’s work for several years now.  Steal Like an Artist had a huge impact on me as an educator and I frequently quote it in my conference presentations.   Show Your Work helped me to better understand the importance of sharing what I’m doing (like right here on this blog). … Read more

Read this Book: The Design of Childhood

Read this Book: The Design of Childhood - If the history of how design intersects with the lives of children fascinates you, this book is for you.

Read This Book: The Design of Childhood I first heard about The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids in a NPR interview with the author.  It immediately piqued my interest.  Design, education and learning spaces are some of my favorite subjects. Bringing them all together in one book sounds amazing.  And … Read more

Read this Book: Click’d: A Novel on Coding & Friendship

Read This Book: Click'd // Click'd is a sweet, middle-grade novel about coding apps and friendship.

I don’t normally review fiction on my blog, but Click’d ties in beautifully with makerspaces and would be a fantastic addition to your library.  Here’s why: Read this Book: Click’d (Post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase using them, I get a small commission that helps support running this blog.) Allie Navarro loves to … Read more

Read this Book: Izzy Gizmo + Giveaway

Read this Book: Izzy Gizmo - This delightful new picture book definitely has a place in makerspaces. It portrays a young girl of color who loves science, experiences setbacks and develops empathy for others.

While I’ve never worked in an elementary school before, I’m always on the lookout for awesome maker picture books.  Picture books are a great way to introduce a lesson or activity in makerspaces.  We even have a whole chart on maker picture book connections in Challenge Based Learning (check out the resources page to see … Read more

2017 Book Recommendations: 20+ Awesome Books That I Love

2017 Book Recommendations: 20+ Awesome Books that I Love | Here's my book recommendations for books I read and loved in 2017. Plus, what I'm excited to read in 2018.

Being that: a) we’re in that time of year that everyone is looking for the perfect gift, and b) educators will actually have time to read books during the two weeks they get off, I thought it would be a good time to write up a book recommendations post.  These books weren’t necessarily published in … Read more