Time to get started on Track 2! Although I am just beginning now in January, I enjoyed browsing through the ideas and resources for Thing 11: Coding. I DID do the Hour of Code with my 6th grade classes, so I decided to reflect on how that went. I registered as a site coordinator and allowed my students in my 3 classes to work on the Hour of Code tutorials during our class time. They LOVED it! Something new I learned as the week was drawing to a close, was that I can actually have students create accounts and log in to complete much more in-depth tutorials (21 hour programs). I think that next year I will expand my Hour of Code activity to include that component, and possibly offer extra credit to students who choose to complete the extra tutorial outside of class time. I think many would do it just for fun! I initially had no idea that component existed!
I think it is important to include coding in schools, and not just as as elective or club. So many of my students commented on how much they enjoyed coding, but never thought they could do it. Without the exposure to coding (if even just as one unit in a computer course), several students may not realize how much they enjoy the process... or even realize it's something within their realm of possibilities.
I enjoyed browsing through the list of resources in the "50+ Tools to Learn to Code" article, and appreciated that many of them are free! I bookmarked the site and plan to look at some of the suggestions more closely in the future - and will share it with my school's code club advisor.
I also wanted to explore something new, so I completed the tutorial for the Mozilla Thimble. It was confusing at first, but quickly became intuitive and easy to manipulate. I did not sign in and create an account, so I was unable to publish the result of the tutorial, but I did see how easy it is to change color, font, font size, images, upper/lower case letters, and justification of content. I find it very interesting to gain this added understanding of what goes on "behind the scenes" in computer software.
Now on to Thing 12!
I think it is important to include coding in schools, and not just as as elective or club. So many of my students commented on how much they enjoyed coding, but never thought they could do it. Without the exposure to coding (if even just as one unit in a computer course), several students may not realize how much they enjoy the process... or even realize it's something within their realm of possibilities.
I enjoyed browsing through the list of resources in the "50+ Tools to Learn to Code" article, and appreciated that many of them are free! I bookmarked the site and plan to look at some of the suggestions more closely in the future - and will share it with my school's code club advisor.
I also wanted to explore something new, so I completed the tutorial for the Mozilla Thimble. It was confusing at first, but quickly became intuitive and easy to manipulate. I did not sign in and create an account, so I was unable to publish the result of the tutorial, but I did see how easy it is to change color, font, font size, images, upper/lower case letters, and justification of content. I find it very interesting to gain this added understanding of what goes on "behind the scenes" in computer software.
Now on to Thing 12!
Welcome back! Loved reading about how your Hour of Code project went. And so exciting that the students had such a positive experience. Well done!
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