Saturday, June 18, 2016

My New Book: Your Guide to Makerspaces #MakerEd

I am so very excited to announce my new book to the world today.


The Nerdy Teacher Presents: Your Guide to Makerspaces. 


I've spent a few months putting together everything I have learned during my Maker adventures and wanted to share all of it with anyone looking to start their own Makerspace escapades at their school.

I was originally going to self publish this on Kindle and see where it goes, but two amazing people, AJ Juliani and John Spencer, reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be the first author to sign up with their new publishing company BLEND Education. After talking about my vision of the book and how they could support me, I signed up and they have helped me make an awesome book a little more awesomer. :-)

We are currently working on the formatting, layout, design, etc. of the book and we should have it all done by the start of September. This will be a physical copy of the book I've been thinking about doing for a year and am excited to go through the process of bringing it to life. As a small appetizer, I'm releasing the first chapter of the book to those that might be interested to see where I'm going with this book. By signing up below, you will be sent an email with the PDF of Chapter 1. You will receive updates, Maker tips and tricks, and other Makerspace goodies leading up to the launch of the book.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted this book to look and feel. I thought about the fancy art that I could get people to make for me on the cover and in the book. However, I wanted to make every aspect I could in this Makerspace book. I might not be considered the best artist in the world, but I do not care. I knew what I wanted to do and and I did it. So, I created all of the art and I will be encouraging every Maker that picks up my book to mark it up and make it their own. I want you to draw on the cover and doodle in the margins. I will give you space to share your ideas and reflect on Making in your life. This is truly going to be your book as you go on your Makerspace journey.

The book is bursting with nerdy pop culture references from start to finish. You do not have to be the biggest nerd in the world to get my connection to Star Wars, Battletoads, McGyver, or Buffy Summers, but you will get an extra giggle or three out of the book when you see them. Since I do not have money to license images, my artistic interpretations of some of the references are simply beautiful.

Nerd or not, the book is filled with everything you need to know about Makerspaces and bringing them to your school no matter what grade level or content area you might teach.

Feel free to share this with your friends and look for the rest of the book in physical form in early September.

1 comment:

  1. That is amazing! Congratulations! I attended the Saturday Google pre-conference. Loved hearing about Blogger and plan on utilizing it this year with my second graders. I also presented on Elementary Genius Hour. Look forward to following you!

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