Resources
Field NoteMaker Empowerment Revisited
Maker Empowerment Revisited
Agency by Design Principal Investigator Shari Tishman takes a dispositional approach to redefining “maker empowerment.”
Field NoteTaking Apart to Build Stories of Change
Taking Apart to Build Stories of Change
This piece is based on a workshop titled “Taking Apart Racism: Using Maker-Centered Practices to Break Down Systems of Oppression,” led by Jaime Chao Mignano and Mark Perkins at the National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference (PoCC).
Like a lot of educators, I want my students to be empowered to impact the world around them. I want them to have social and political agency in a sense that is perfectly aligned with what Agency by Design means by agency—that is, skills and tools in combination with intention and impulse to action. When I task my students with dismantling systems of oppression, how do they know what that means? Do they feel ready to enact it? And how can I be a support?
This was the seed of a workshop for this year’s National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference (PoCC), a gathering of thousands of educators from around the United States to explore ideas and share experiences around equity and justice in our schools and lives. My colleague, Mark Perkins (Media and Theater Coordinator), and I wondered what insights we could offer by putting Take Apart practice in service to racial justice education. I was nervous to try to build under the conference throughline “Anti-Racist Teaching Tools” - the stakes felt so high. We had an inkling, though, that combining the enthusiastic engine of taking stuff apart with the resonant act of creating stories that reimagine existing narratives of power could be an important experiment.
Mark and I built a workshop we call “Taking Apart Racism: Using Maker-Centered Practices to Break Down Systems of Oppression.” The heart of the workshop is the idea that looking closely and exploring the complexity of an object can create a bridge of metaphor that helps us understand a system of racial oppression. If we build the connection between these two systems—the system of the object and the system of oppression—then we can see the oppressive system in a new light and probe new possibilities.
thinking routines思考，感受，關心
思考，感受，關心
這思維習慣鼓勵學生思考在一個特定的系統裡不同人物的觀點。其目標是幫助學生理解基於在系統里的不同角色，不同的人物會有不同的思考、感受以及他們關心的事情。這個思維習慣培育學生思考觀點與角度，提出問題和明確下一步的研究。
thinking routines组件，观点角度与我
组件，观点角度与我
这个思维习惯通过帮助学生近距离观察某个物品/系统的细节，考虑不同的观点角度、不同的使用者和利益相关者，以及反思自己和这个物品/系统的关系来探究其中的关联性。
thinking routines思考，感受，关心
思考，感受，关心
这个思维习惯鼓励学生思考在一个特定的系统里不同人物的观点。其目标是帮助学生理解基於在系統里的不同角色，不同的人物会有不同的思考、感受以及他们关心的事情。这个思维习惯培育学生的思考观点与角度，提出问题和明确下一步的研究。
activities and practicesDesign Hunt
Design Hunt
This practice first encourages learners to observe the world around them and look for design, “in the wild,” taking a broad inventory of the designs they notice. Then it asks them to focus in on one object or system to consider the designer’s perspective or to propose redesign ideas.
Field NoteA TEDx Talk about the Maker Mind: Why Having a Sensitivity to Design Matters
A TEDx Talk about the Maker Mind: Why Having a Sensitivity to Design Matters
Agency by Design project manager Jen Ryan describes her experience discussing the “maker mind” at TEDxDirigo.