Our last amazing session of TLP-C focused on coding in the classroom. We had a great time getting familiar with code.org and learning how to code in Blockly (Javascript). We were joined by a fabulous group of educators, anxious to learn new things and share their experiences with coding.
If you missed it be sure to check out the recording here.
Recording of TLP-C Coding in the Classroom using Blackboard Collaborate
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Caroline Doughty kicked off the session by sharing a video of her second graders showing off their coding abilities. You can check them out at this link- https://goo.gl/kT31hP. The students displayed their ease with coding, the pride they took in their products and their excitement for the projects. Caroline’s video convinced us that coding is an important skill for building critical thinking and something that many of us can incorporate in our classrooms.
She showed us a bit about code.org and let us have some time for hands-on experience at https://code.org/starwars and on https://studio.code.org/hoc/1. Some other programs Caroline suggested were Codecademy, Tynker and Khan Academy.
Even though the session was less than a week ago, Minecraft has since partnered with code.org to support the hour of code 7 – 13 December. So, there are modules to target the interests of all students, ranging from Disney’s Frozen, to Angry Birds, to Star Wars and Minecraft.
The video library on code.org https://code.org/educate/videos has many inspiring videos featuring celebrities sharing info on coding, and videos on topics like pair programming. Be sure to check it out.
As always please feel free to reach out to any of us or your building TIS to join in the hour of code.
Caroline Thank you for giving us information on the Hour of Code.
Here is some more information on coding I picked up this summer at ISTE
http://codingsuperherohq.wikispaces.com/
I am sorry I missed the last TLP-C session, but I am happy to report that my students and I are having a great time coding with the site code.org. They are really enjoying the new Minecraft activities. I have found that coding really helps students persevere, this is a great skill to have for life.
I had honestly been avoiding coding in my classroom until this session, when I had the chance to play with some of the coding programs out there. I realized that it is addicting and really valuable for students’ logical and critical thinking. After the session, I decided to introduce my math class to coding by participating in the hour of code, so I had my TIS (Martha Walsh) come in and co-teach the lesson with me. We introduced the idea by discussing the importance of coding for students’ possible career paths, discovering that many students expressed an interest in engineering-type careers. This served to pique their interest in learning to code. We exposed the students to code.org that day, showing them a few of the games that they could play on the site. My math class is comprised of a diverse group of students with a wide variety of background knowledge and experiences. Some students really struggled to make the program work at first, while others quickly found solutions and moved to advanced levels of the program by the end of class. It was inspiring to watch the learning process of my students as even the strugglers at the beginning became highly engaged with each minor success and began to move through more advanced levels of difficulty. Martha had even brought a small robot that is powered by coding, and the students all had the chance to code to power the robot to move – that was very exciting for them.
The power of coding that day gave my students a very tangible sense of success as they could watch things happen on the screen, and on the robot, that they had made to happen.
Since the week of the hour of code, I have been able to allow my students to work on code.org and another program that a colleague found called bitsbox, whenever they have an idle moment in math class; and I know that their logical thinking is continuously challenged while they are participating. What’s more, students who often struggle with math concepts are finding themselves successful and developing confidence in their abilities through it. I’ll continue to have my students work on it as part of our routine in class the rest of the year. Thank you for exposing me to it!
Working on coding in my class has been a great success. My students were given direct instruction from our technology teacher about what it is; she also spent time teaching them how valuable it can be and about jobs where it can be used. From day 1 the students were very engaged. Since, we have had follow up times to practice and they still love it. Many students try out new programs at home and are challenged each time. Being able to learn about this in our TLP-C class really pushed me to try something brand new with my own students!