Sometimes I think I have these “great” ideas, but when it comes time to actually put the idea into practice I get overwhelmed and the idea ends up falling by the wayside. The way I stop myself from allowing this to happen is to tell someone about my grand idea…or sign up for something (guilt of wasted time/money will also work). The problem with that is that then I have to follow through, and I am standing there at the moment the even takes place I often think, “what was I thinking?” This is why I no longer run races…sure a good 13 mile race sounds fun, but when the day rolls around and I am standing there at the start line freezing (because March in Minnesota always seems like it will be warm in my mind…but alas in reality it is still darned cold!), tired because it’s 6am (on a SATURDAY!), and dreading the next 2 hours that lie ahead, that’s when I realize I am a really bad decision maker.
Luckily, that is NOT how Coding Club for grades 2-5 worked out! What an awesome start to this before school program. We had over 30 students join us during the first session. I guess that just shows you the power that coding holds for children–it’s not often that kids want to come to school before school! Students were super engaged as we briefly discussed the blockly method of coding and the app Hopscotch. Then without further ado, we jumped right in because who wants to be lulled to sleep by a teacher talking at 8am? The basic challenge for day one was to have our character make a square. We discussed the sequencing steps for this and the angles we might find in a square. We also talked about how the x and y axis worked (students would need this for placing their character, or for the advanced challenge). We got started together, but students had to finish the challenge on their own in order to appear on the Coding Wall of Fame, showing they could continue to problem solve and persevere. An advanced challenge was also posed, for those with some experience, or a deeper desire to explore. This challenge was to create a square inside a square. To accomplish this students would need to move their character to a new location and adjust the program to make the second square smaller. It was interesting to see how students worked through this more advanced challenge–a few inserted another character to draw the second box, while most moved their first character to another location. Just a reminder to me that there are usually many ways to solve a challenge!
I look forward to seeing how many students return. It is hard to create a program when students are at so many different levels of knowledge–both generally with academics and more specifically with coding. I’m worried a many will find the lack of support for creating the code after the club time is done a deterrent to returning. Therefore, I am trying to find some time to be present int he cafeteria in the morning time to help students in between sessions (we meet officially once a week for 6 weeks). With my busy morning schedule of meetings, this is hard, so we’ll se how much I can make that a reality. Only time will tell if this is enough for some to keep the interest going. I sure hope so!
PS: Did I mention that 2/3 of my coders on day 1 were girls?!?!
TE(A)CHing in a NEW AGE 