“Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail, there’s only make.”

I always struggle with devising effective groundrules for our making learning communities.

There are obvious safety rules, but the “how to make and be with others in the makerspace” guidelines are tougher

Each year, we have the youth devise their own “We the People” set of expectations which we put on a big poster and get everyone to sign with colored markers.  This year we focused on positive expectations and tried to stay away from expectations that start with “No. . . “.  When issues come up, the college mentors and I refer to the “We the People” poster to guide group discussions.

This morning I was reminded of Sister Corita Kent and John Cage’s rules for artspaces and I really like them.  I think that I will revise them and hang them up and see what the youth think about them. . . smile.

sistercoritarules1

The “rules” came to me via a Brain Pickings Blogpost that gives more information about their history:

http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08/10/10-rules-for-students-and-teache…