There’s a saying “form follows function”. I’m sure you’ve also heard “if you build it, they will come”. Basically, my media center needed to reflect the changes that we hoped the pilot would bring to the culture of the school and the vision for media centers throughout the district. The media space at my school was perfect for the school when it opened in 2000. Based on new trends in education, and push for Future Ready schools, the use of the space was no longer adequate. The physical space desperately needed to be updated and the collection needed to be heavily weeded.
Makerspace
We started with a good-sized classroom off the media center. It previously functioned as the technician’s workspace, but I immediately envisioned a makerspace there. It already had a sink, tile floors, a solid wall, and lots of storage. I was also trying to break the habit of sending broken chromebooks to the media center, so I felt that having the technician in that space was counter-intuitive. The technician at our school graciously moved to another space in the school, and a fresh coat of paint, in some pretty cool colors was the beginning of a makerspace.
Before
Before
After: painted and ready for materials
Virtual Reality Room
The next room on the list was the periodical storage room. This room was full of classroom book sets, old magazines, manipulatives, old textbooks, and so much more. I found that teachers didn’t even know what all they had at the school as it was all stored in the media center. So many teachers were excited to come pick out what matched their curriculum and take it back to their classrooms. As a teacher, unless I saw it in my classroom, I would forget it was available to me. I think many of these teachers operated the same way. Now the manipulatives and many of the book sets are in classrooms. Textbooks were sent back to the district warehouse. Old magazines were placed in the makerspace for projects and teachers were directed to the online content. What teachers did not want, or no longer matched with the curriculum, the students took home. We transformed this room into the Virtual Reality room (more information on that in a later post).
Storage
I won’t add images of the storage space as this space was used as a storage space for the school it seems. There were so many pieces of outdated or broken technology that I asked our central office to sort through the materials and properly remove anything that could be removed. My assistant superintendent was also kind enough to help me sort through the professional collection to focus on our district initiatives and provide our staff with the most current literature from well-respected educators. There is an ancient white computer that has become a discussion piece as we still use it to power the poster maker! My students love to glance in the storage room at the “dinosaur” and I have used the floppy disks that accompany the computer as talking points in several lessons. Otherwise, most of the space was cleared out and now that all Chromebooks have been turned in for the summer, the once empty shelves are full of Chromebooks waiting for school to start again.
My Office
I really struggled with what to do with my office. I’ve never been the type to sit in an office to work; I’d rather be visible in the media center. I considered turning this space into another student space, a quiet study room or a space for reading. The more I considered the space, I decided to keep it as my office for now. All of the equipment to repair books, prepare books for circulation, and any files that needed to be kept are housed in my office. I also keep the professional books I have purchased here so that they are separate from school-funded books. Any materials that are not ready to be placed in the makerspace and my breakout boxes that I loan to teachers are also housed here. Finally, I house my more expensive equipment here, behind the locked door to prevent theft or accidental breaking. This space may eventually evolve into another space for students, but for now it remains my office.
Media Space
This space deserves an entire blog post in and of itself. For now, the quick version is that after weeding due to age, condition, and circulation, and after adding another shelf to each case to eliminate unused space, I was able to remove 2 12-foot long bookcases, 1 9-foot long bookcase, and 24 feet of bookcases on the walls. The corners of the media center were dark and everything felt so cluttered. Now it is open and airy and there are so many exciting places for students to sit and read, work on projects, collaborate, and have class. Look for a post in the near future about specific changes in the media space. For now, enjoy some pictures of the space from my first day at work to phase one of the media space changes.
What comes next? This year I am installing a Minecraft lab of 10 computers. These computers will likely run an eSports league as well. I’m excited to build a large Lego wall and extend the makerspace with the help of my Makerspace Mentors. I am also looking to begin the transition to having all my furniture on wheels. Because my school is located near the center of our district, the media center is frequently used for large meetings. Furniture on wheels would make things so much easier! I’m also eager to put in a comfortable reading area in one of the alcoves near the interior windows. There will be more “comfy chairs” (students’ words, not mine) available in the media center as well. Finally, on the big screen TV, I will have announcements of happenings around the school, as well as a showcase of awesome work from students and teachers. Stay tuned!
Educational Hindsight 