To listen to the first session, click here.

We had an energizing first session of TLP-C this afternoon. We had a great time getting familiar with Blackboard Collaborate, learning how to use the polling tool, raise hand feature, smiley face feedback and got comfortable using the chat. It was a wonderful group of educators, anxious to learn new things and share their experiences.

Caroline Doughty really got things rolling with her presentation on Scratch, a free programing website designed by the MIT Media Lab that is geared towards 8-16 year olds. She showed us a bit about how  Scratch works and let us play around a bit. We all made our sprites dance! Participants Sandra and Jen learned so quickly they taught the group how to add sound or change the background! Others asked good questions about how Scratch might work in their classrooms and about the best way to get started. What really drove home the importance of teaching kids to code was watching videos of Caroline’s students showing off their Scratch projects. Their pride in their accomplishments, their fluency with coding terms and their enthusiasm for what they learned spoke volumes for why we should consider giving kids a chance to code in school.

We wrapped up sharing resources for getting started, the great tutorials on the Scratch website and the online community of ScratchED.

Want to know more about coding in the classroom, Caroline also shared this excellent TedTalk on the topic: Let’s Teach Kids to Code

Do you have experience with Scratch? Questions about coding in the classroom? Please leave a comment or ask a question!