San Fernando Middle School

Recently, Maker VISTA members Lyna Abal and Carey Habiger have heard more and more of these questions from San Fernando Middle School makers:

• How can we reserve a spot at the makerspace? (teachers)
• When are we coming back?! (students)

Encouraged by these inquiries and ever-active, Lyna prioritized shining brighter light on the SFMS makerspace and class projects undertaken in the space. She met with the school’s website committee to share her vision of having a Makerspace webpage and tab on the SFMS main website, so that teachers can reserve the space, check-out items or technology offered in our space, and showcase previous projects done by their classes or others. Lyna’s goal is to make the makerspace more accessible and visible to/for the whole school, and to bolster support, resource creation and sharing, and collaboration. She hopes to have the webpage up and running in the next month or so!

SFMS 6th grade history teacher, Mrs. Hill, recently approached Lyna and co-Maker VISTA Carey about doing a making project related to the Ten Commandments. While the Maker VISTAs have provided leadership on many past project collaborations with teachers, in an exciting and affirming “twist” Mrs. Hill unabashedly took full reign over the creation and implementation of this project. Even though this was only the second making project Mrs. Hill has worked on, her enthusiasm and willingness to think outside the box and try something new inspired Lyna and Carey, and validated the efforts they have made to support teachers in cultivating a maker mindset. Mrs. Hill shared that her “lightbulb moment” was seeing how excited and passionate her students were about her first making project last month, in which Carey and Lyna created a history-and-making cross-curricular project involving embalming a stuffed doll to replicate the process of Egyptian mummification. The fact that she came to the Maker VISTAs so soon after the mummification project with an idea of her own is exactly the kind of engagement and confidence from teachers that Lyna and Carey hope to foster!