Guiding Questions:
- How can we implement documentation during a maker activity?
Activity Duration: 1-1.5 hours
The Beyond Rubrics Toolkit contains a set of different tools to support a classroom culture of documentation and evidence collection. Evidence collection should be varied and allow you to see Maker Elements, or constructs, in different ways, to capture a rich picture of your students’ process. The Beyond Rubrics Toolkit contains a set of tools that collect evidence in a variety of formats. See individual tools teacher guides for more information on the type of evidence a tool will collect. This activity will give you experience with three different data collection tools:
- Sparkle Sleuths: An observation and documentation tool, used by teachers or peers, that captures evidence (or moments of “sparkle”) of any Maker Elements being demonstrated. These paper slip templates offer immediate but unobtrusive feedback and can be looked at over time.
- Maker Moments: A peer- or self-assessment tool resembling a customizable bingo-like template where students can capture quantitative data of moments in which they exhibit or practice up to three Maker Elements. Using Maker Moments helps to build familiarity and recognitions of behaviors associated with the Maker Elements, and can be looked at over time, individually or in groups, within the scope of a project, class period, project, or even semester.
- Documentation Prompt Jar: While not part of the original Beyond Rubrics toolkit, this tool from Maker Ed encourages a culture of documentation and assessment within your classroom. It is an accessible and adaptable array of documentation prompts—written on paper and contained in a jar or box—to support learners in capturing their work, process, experience, and thinking as they make and learn. Use of this prompting tool can be woven seamlessly into any lesson, activity, unit, or progression and can support both facilitated and unfacilitated documentation.
For this activity, we will focus on two Maker Elements which you discussed during the Superpower Hour activity:
- Social Scaffolding: The capacity to support and be supported by others by asking for help, giving feedback, sharing tips and tricks, or building on and remixing each other’s work, even if you are working on different projects.
- Troubleshooting: A capacity to persist and to find solutions. If a project is not progressing as expected, you can use different strategies to diagnose and fix the problem. Not giving up requires patience, resilience, and resourcefulness as well as an investment in what you are working on.
Download the Maker Moments posters.
Before You Begin
Collect the following materials:
- Writing & drawing tools
- Scissors
- Tape, glue, and/or hot glue guns
- Craft or recycled materials to construct monuments. Whatever materials you have on hand will work, such as feathers, felt, clean yogurt containers, natural materials.
- Prepared assessment tools, available for download with full Teachers Guides here:
Assign Roles:
- Facilitator: will guide participants through the steps in the process.
- Time-keeper: will keep track of time for each step in the process.
Facilitation Guide
Warm-up (10 min)
- Check in with your group: Who was your hero or mentor when you were growing up?
Tool Jigsaw (15 min)
If this activity is with a small group of three to four teachers, you may complete this step together. For larger groups, split into small groups of three participants each.
- Review Tool Teacher’s Guides (5 min): Each participant in the group should select one of the three tool guides for the evidence collection tools we will use during the workshop. Each participant will be responsible for explaining how to implement their tool to the group.
- Jigsaw (10 min): Each participant in the group take turns explaining the tool you just read about. Be sure to include:
- What contexts is this tool particularly suited for?
- How is this tool implemented during a class period?
Design a Tribute (40 min)
You will now complete a making activity. You will want to stay in small groups of 3-4 participants. There are two special roles for this portion of the activity:
- Sparkle Sleuth This person will take on the role of giving Sparkle Sleuths to colleagues. They will act as an observer during the making process, rather than participating in the making. If you have more than four small groups working, consider adding a second Sleuth.
- Moment Marker: While not the only person who can make marks on the Maker Moments card, this person will take the lead in keeping an eye out for instances of social scaffolding & troubleshooting. You will need one person filling this role in each of the small groups.
- Distribute Evidence Collection Tools: Each team will need one Maker Moments card, the Sparkle Sleuth will need the clipboard with Sleuth Slips, and the Documentation Tip Jar can be placed next to the making materials.
- Make! (20-25 min): Your team is offered a unique opportunity to design and create a tribute to a famous figure–past or present, real or fictional. You get to choose whom to honor, how to honor them, and what to create. To design a tribute:
- The tribute—which can take the shape of a poem, monument, statue, museum, anything!—must be on public display and able to withstand any outdoor elements (rain, wind, varying temperatures, etc). It should also be designed and secured in a way that it can’t be stolen. With your team, make a physical prototype in 20 minutes.
- Pause! After 10 minutes of making, all groups should pause. Draw one of the documentation prompts from the jar, and complete. All groups should take a moment to make sure they are filling out their Maker Moments. Then, continue making for an additional 10 minutes.
- Share Tributes (5-10 min): Each group should share their creation. If you are in a large room with many groups, take a tour of the tributes. Everyone should gather around each table to hear about the creation, before moving on to the next.
Debrief (25 min)
- Review the evidence (5 min): In small groups, look at the evidence you have collected from all of the different tools. What does the collective set of evidence tell you about your process or your learning?
- Full group discussion (10 min): What can your small group say about your process or your learning from the evidence?
- Planning for next steps (10 min):
- Individually journal:
- What about using Beyond Rubrics Evidence Collection tools in your classroom or program excites you?
- What makes you nervous? What support will you need?
- With a partner:
- Share what you journaled about.
- How might you support each other to implement Evidence Collection in your classroom or programs?
Next Steps
Pick one of the evidence collection tools you used during this activity, or one of the others in the Beyond Rubrics Toolkit, to try in your classroom or makerspace. Documentation and assessment should be woven into the routines and culture of your classroom, and it can be challenging to introduce new routines. When planning to implement the tools, consider:
- How will you Set Context? As discussed in Section 1 of this guide, how will you build a shared understanding of the targeted constructs in your learning community? Will you dedicate a session to Superpower Hour or find another way to build this understanding?
- Will you need to adapt or modify the tool for your context? Each evidence collection tool in the Beyond Rubrics Toolkit includes a Teacher’s Guide with detailed instructions on implementing the tool, including modifications and remixes that other educators have used in their classroom.
- How will you introduce the tool to your students? Building a new routine or habit takes time. In this activity, roles and a mid-making break were used to encourage use of the evidence collection tools. How will you encourage students to remember to document their process using the tool?