Listen now to No Such Thing, Episode 30: Manhattan Make-A-Thon. This episode is about Maker Education, but also about the high stakes of designing high quality professional experiences for educators. There are still too many professional experiences meant to hone craft, build skills, and excite that are way too dull.

Listen to No Such Thing: Episode Thirty

This episode is about Maker Education, but also about the high stakes of designing high quality professional experiences for educators. There are still too many professional experiences meant to hone craft, build skills, and excite that are way too dull.

Manhattan Make-A-Thon is something different. And for that, it deserves a lot of credit. Earlier in the year, Lori Stahl Van-Brackle, Director of Instructional Technology for the Manhattan Field Support Center at the NYC DOE, challenged 20 schools in a special cohort to design maker-driven learning experiences that they would test with young people at school, and then lead experiential training at the make-a-thon: rooms upon rooms full of educators sewing, hammering, hot-glueing away while they discuss pedagogy alongside their peers. Many of them brought students, too. Which, where it worked, was an exciting glimpse at what it looks like when learning isn't something bestowed upon us, but is constructed through experience and interaction, and can most certainly be shared at the same time between teacher and student.

My thanks to the talented team who made it possible. The following is a series of interviews with participants as the day unfolded.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Casey, Kenya, Carol, Mr. Deepak Kapoor
Amanda Solarsh, and Caitlyn from MS 104
PS 191 in Manhattan
Amy Sachs from Roberto Clemente, PS 15
Jessica Wenke from Teq
and David Wells from NYSCI

About No Such Thing

The show is about learning with technology, the realities and exciting potential, but it’s also about youth and the practitioners who support them –- youth developers, museum educators, teachers, mentors, counselors, parents–as they grow their identity, and journey forward.

The show is produced in partnership with City University of New York’s Masters Program in Youth Studies (learn more on the School of Professional Studies website) and Mouse, a national youth development nonprofit that believes in technology as a force for good.

Find No Such Thing on iTunes, GooglePlay, and Stitcher. See show notes for all episodes and learn more: nosuchthingpodcast.wordpress.com

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