A good maker teacher is also a maker. Pick a skill that you are interested in and dive in! Your work will not be world-class on your first attempt and that is good. Keep that first attempt. And the second attempt. Date them. As you get better, you will be able to show your students what it is like to try something for the first time. You can narrate what you had to do to improve. Kids need to know it is a process and they do not understand if you don’t show them yourself.

There are foam boards in my classroom that have Attempt #1, #2, #3… with the actual models attached. In terms of helping kids develop a growth mindset, there is no substitute for this. 

You can also model how mistakes can work with other people’s work. There are two favorite creators that I like to use as examples. The first is the “Marble Machine” and its creator Martin Molin. Martin makes music machines to play his compositions with the Swedish band Wintergatan. In 2016, he released a video of his marble machine that went viral. He has documented his mistakes. It isn’t obvious in the video but that machine was a mess. It barely worked. With enough attempts, they were able to cut together an amazing video. Students should know that this epic video was based on a machine that broke down constantly. Almost all of the amazing this we are impressed by have hidden flaws and many failures in their past.