Innovation @477 - Hour of Code & Computer Science Education Week 2017

Hour of Code 2017

December 4-10 is Computer Science Education week, also known as the Hour of Code. The focus of this week is to promote computer science opportunities for all students. I've compiled a list of resources and ideas in this week's blog for you to introduce coding into your classroom. Additionally, I have blocked out my schedule to be available to help with coding activities in classrooms. If you would like to work together on teacher your students coding, email the days and times that work best for your class. I will do what I can to accommodate all requests.  😀

The goal of Hour of Code is for EVERY student to get at least one hour of coding completed during the week. ALL students, preschool-high school, can learn some form of coding. See below for just a few of the reasons why introducing all students to coding is important and strides made in our own state to put more value into computer science education. 

Why should all students learn about coding?

Computer Science Education in Minnesota

MN currently has 11,888 open computing jobs 

The average salary for a computing occupation in MN is $90,134. The existing open jobs alone represent
$1, 071, 512, 992 in terms of annual salaries.

Minnesota only had 895 computer science graduates in 2015, only 15% were female.

Only 694 high school student sin MN took the AP Computer science exam in 2016.

Only 39 schools in MN (12% of MN schools with AP programs) offered the AP Computer Science course in 2015-16. There are fewer AP exams taken in computer science than in any other STEM subject area.

Universities in Minnesota did not graduate a single teacher 

prepared to teach computer science in 2016. 

What is already planned in 477 for Hour of Code week?

Primary School - during technology class with Mrs. Anderson

Students will be focusing on code.org plugged and unplugged activities

Intermediate School during tech specialist with Mrs. Baird

Students will complete the Moana, Minecraft or Google Doodle challenge activities on code.org

Middle School during Computer Apps with Mrs. Arens

6th Grade students will use Scratch to practice coding

High School during lunch/advisory

Our Nerd Herd students will be available to teach any interested staff and students how to start

coding right away! This opportunity will be available all month. 

Resources

Hour of Code Classroom Activities - offline, online, pre-readers through high school seniors. There is something for everyone here! 

Hour of Code with Kodable
This app is already available on all iPads at PS, and it can be accessed through chrome on iPads or chromebooks at the IS. Everything you need to help your students complete their Hour of Code. This resource includes plugged and unplugged (no devices needed) activities. 

Hour of Code with Disney
Activites and videos to get your students coding right away. Featuring Moana, Anna & Elsa, Big Hero 5 and Star Wars!

#SeesawCoders
Seesaw is offering several live webinars (K-12) during Computer Science Week that you can watch with your students. They include How Do You Build an App, Product Design,  Jobs in Coding and more! Click the #Seesaw Coders link below to see which webinar is perfect for your class. These are much like virtual field trips where your class will watch live and possibly have the chance to interact with the content. 

Innovation @477 - Flash and Notebook Software

As Flash Functionality is no longer supported in cyber world, you may see some interactive pieces (widgets) in your Notebook Files stop working. Instead of the interactive dice, name generator, spinner, etc. 

You will get an error message like this: 

 

All is not lost friends! You will not lose any other part of Notebook files, so if you never use the interactive pieces (widgets) - nothing is changing for you!

And if you DO use widgets, everything is still OK! You just need to replace the widget with one that works. And the good news is that all widgets in Notebook version 16 or higher have been made with HTML5 (I don't really know what that means, but I know it's better than Flash!) and will work for you!

To find your replacement widgets you can search here: 

You can use the search bar, gallery essentials, or toolkit to find widgets. 

If you can't find what you are looking for, click on the SMART Exchange, this will bring you to the SMART Exchange website filled with widgets that are easy to download and will work!

While researching what works and what doesn't, I explored some in the SMART lab and Trimble 3D Warehouse. There is some pretty neat stuff in there you might want to check out!

As always, ask myself, a tech coach or a tech team member if you have any questions. 

Innovation @477 - littleBits

Last year, thank you to a grant from Century Link, I was able to purchase a class set of littleBits along with some other amazing tools that allow teachers to integrate 21st Century Skills into the curriculum through hands-on, minds-on tools!

What is littleBits? 

littleBits makes a platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks empowering everyone to create inventions, large and small. Electronic building blocks are color-coded, magnetic, and reusable.

To help teachers integrate this kit in their classrooms, I spent time during the month of November training 2-3 kids in each class how to use the littleBits. During these lunch bunch sessions they worked as innovators to discover how the bits work, connect and create. Wit these innovators "certified" I've begun going into classes to do full class lessons. Our certified innovators are able to help classmates and their teacher use the bits. 

This last week Brenna Nyboer, 4th grade, decided to shake things up in science class. We began the week with a full class lesson going over the all the bits, how they connect and what they do. The rest of the week she worked with the class, using the curriculum provided, to guide them to dig deeper and find ways to build real working objects. Today I swung in and was beyond impressed by what the kids have created! Check it out in the images and video below. 

 

            

 
 

Innovation @477 - EdTech Wins

Last week's blog I introduced a new contest to encourage staff to share the great EdTech things they are already doing in class. There has been a great response and I want to thank you everyone who contributed! Congratulations to Susan Jennings, Tracy Pidde and Nikki Walerius for winning the first week's contest. Keep your entries coming as new winners will be selected each week!

A Few Highlights From This Week's Entries:

• Using Class Dojo for behavior 

• I used FlipGrid to have the students introduce themselves (first and last name) and tell me their favorite thing about science. When my old brain is trying to learn a 28th year of 130 new names and faces it helped!!!

• I made a flippity for every different class I teach to make random groups or to make a lineup for AR store so it’s fair who goes first, or if I go on a field trip & need groups. If I don’t like the grouping, I just click until I do.

• Voice Thread - Students created a slideshow on Google Slides, then they saved it as a PDF, and brought the project into VoiceThread (which they had to set up) Students then recorded their voice on each slide, saved it and attached it to their original slideshow and turned it in through Google Classroom!

• Using MyMaps to have students plot landforms and also plan a trip across a continent to learn about a geography.

• I needed to throw in a one day lesson between units with my fourth graders, so I found a fun HTML coding game for them to just be exposed to it. As they worked through the activities, they earned kitten GIFs to watch. :)

• Using Google Forms for quizzes means I can send the correct version of the quiz to students (modified/unmodified) and no one knows who has what. Additionally, with the grading feature, I don't have to spend any time grading and can transfer grades right into Skyward after the quizzes are done. 

EdTech Wins in 477 for 2017

Innovation @ 477 - What I Know

Here's what I know about instructional technology use in 477 - it's everywhere! And teachers often don't give themselves enough credit for the work they are doing. What's even more impressive is the amount of work teachers ARE NOT doing because of the digital solutions they have put in place.

You likely have one, two or several EdTech wins - those things you have found that make your job that much easier. Maybe it's using ClassDojo to track Tiger Pride behavior, maybe it's using Google Classroom to help you go paperless in your classroom, maybe you use Flippity on a regular basis for organizing students for learning. Whatever it is, it is an EdTech win and it needs to be shared!

When we share our ideas with each other,  amazing things happen. You might think what you are doing is "no big deal" or "everyone is doing it" but it IS a big deal and NOT everyone is using it.

Here's what else I know, teachers are just as motivated by students with prizes. No matter the prize, winning is fun.  So let's share those EdTech wins with one another. The more you share, the more chances you have to win a prize from Jodi's Swag Drawer of Awesome and Random Prizes.

Have an EdTech Win? Share it here in this Google Form. You can share as many times as you like! The link to the form will be available in my email signature and on the Tiger Tech Tips website.

The EdTech Challenge will run through the end of December, with prizes drawn weekly!

Prize drawer sneak peek (water bottles will be filled with candy!)