Maker Faire with #MyCrew, Always Learning

Saturday morning, dragging myself out of bed around 5 a.m. so I can be in East Harlem by 8:30 was no easy task.  But then add to that the need to get three 16-17 year-olds out of bed and at our meeting place on time...  I should have just slept in.  To his credit, [BN] made it on time.  We got some coffee, waited for the other two to arrive, and we were finally on our way to the World Maker Faire in Queens by 9:30 a.m.

This will be my second time visiting with some of my crew. I taught these guys when they were like 10 and 11 years old.  I embrace every opportunity to remain connected to my former students.  I had a particularly strong connection with this cohort of students, specifically these young men and few others from their class.  Continuing our learning journey together is one of the highlights of my days.  Add to that a day of Making and Idea Brainstorming, and I was in heaven!

Like most young men their age, they were having fun play-fighting and snapping at each other (occasionally, I also get included in the fun, a special moment for me).  

During a moment of horseplay, one of the guys puts another in a headlock.  I immediately went into Teacher Mode, "Guys, can we take this down a notch, please.  Stop horsing around."  And a moment later, I realized that is NOT where I wanted to be.  I was with them to enjoy the day, not to teach them how to behave.

And there was nothing wrong with them playing around, reinforcing their relationships with each other.  Even though I haven't been their Teacher for about 4 years, I had to learn to stop being a teacher in that moment.  I had to learn to be with them, not try to make them subdued, quieter, less fun.  I let go, and really just took in the experience of being with these young men at Maker Faire, one of whom was having his first Maker experience.

But Making wasn't the only thing he was experiencing, and it became another moment of learning for me.  As we walked through the booths, [MH] said, "Yo, [JD], nobody here looks like you."

"I know," [JD] said.

I stopped staring at circuit boards and took a moment to look around.  A few things hit me at that moment:
1.  My being a white male usually means I don't look around and notice things like that, even when I'm with young men of color.  
2.  Why were there so few young people of color?  
3.  How do these guys feel now?  How can I try and understand their perspective?

But my learning wouldn't stop there.  I watched as one of the guys took a seat in an empty seat on the side of a booth, just resting.  The booth employee walked over and said, "Excuse me, sir, that seat is only for people filling out this form.  You can stay there if you want to fill one out."

The comments he made led with a you-don't-belong-here but I guess you can stay if you'll do X.  Why could he not say something like, "Hi, my name is Blah Blah, if you take a moment to fill out our form, I'd like to share some information about our booth with you.  It's okay if you're not interested, but would you mind giving up the seat if someone comes by to give their information?"  How hard is that?

I spoke with my guys later and made the point of asking questons for all of us to think about like...

How do we get the message about events like this to schools and communities
​that serve students that look like you?
What else can you do?
How can I help you spread the message?

Overall, we had a good day together.  But there were some big questions that came up.  I'm still reflecting and thinking about what I saw that day.  Thankfully, these guys are thinking about it, too.  They want to start their own "club" with a few more friends that are interested in learning about Making, Creating, Coding, and Design.  I have agreed to be their adult mentor.  I want to arm them with a design-thinking mindset, intense curiosity, and a drive to look at problems and find solutions.

Now we need to find our space.  But they are ready.  I am ready to join them, learn with them.  The work for our crew continues...