Last week was week 2 of introducing Computer Science concepts to my students. I was happy to see that all of the students followed proper procedures when entering the classroom. They are definitely getting more comfortable with procedures and expectations in my class.
When entering my room, the students login to the computers, login to the GSFE account, then they go to Google Classroom. Once in there, they complete the do now assignment which allows them to practice keyboarding skills on typing.com for about 7 - 10 minutes. I use a Google timer to keep track of time. This application provides a teacher dashboard which allows me to keep track of their progress. I created a class and the students used their Google account to sign up and create an account. I love having the single sign in option for the students. It saves so much time. Just be sure the students are logged into their GSFE account first.
Afterwards, all of the students logged into code.org where they completed The Maze lesson which consists of 20 puzzles in the accelerated course. We watched the introduction videos together about the Blockly editor. We discussed the output, toolbox, and workspace sections. I pointed out the resource and notification sections, which are not technically outlined in the editor, but felt these areas are important for the students to be aware of. We discussed in detail conditional statements and loops and we even did a few simple unplugged algorithms together to ensure they understood the commands and concepts.
When each puzzle in lesson is completed, more complicated block commands are offered in the next puzzle. Students are expected to use them in their code. If they don't they will write a program that has too many lines of code, which will have an incomplete status for the puzzle. In order for the students to get full credit for the assignment, I expect all of the puzzles to be fully completed. I can monitor their progress in the teacher dashboard.
As students completed the accelerated course, I had them record their progress in a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet consists of the learning goal, the learning goal scale, which is a 3 point scale, the date, and their rating. This spreadsheet is shared with them in the assignment in Google Classroom. Although I can monitor their progress in the teacher dashboard in code.org, this allows me to monitor their growth from the beginning of the lesson to the end. Additionally, I am going to have the students reflect about The Maze lesson using Flipgrid. Stay tuned for updates.
In conclusion, the students seemed to learn a lot last week and continued to show leadership, ownership, and motivation to complete The Maze lesson. Next week, the students will move on to lesson 3, The Artist, which consists of 10 puzzles. Additionally, I will introduce logical thinking to the students, which is an unplugged activity using Google Drawings, and Made with Code, which is another block editor.
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Stay tuned for more updates next week.