Skip to main content

Code.org

Coding has something I've heard teachers talking a lot about for the past couple of years. Should we all be teaching code? It isn't in the curriculum and it seems overly complicated. I enjoy navigating the internet, but do I really need to look behind the curtain? Is coding really as exciting as people are trying to make it out to be? I am reticent about this one. I know that many of my students would love it, but how am I going to find the time to fit it in?
A student created game generated by code.org
Upon visiting Code.org I'm very impressed by how altruistic is all seems. They are specifically targeting girls and underprivileged youth and everything is free, even face to face teacher workshops. They offer free courses to all age groups, even pre-readers. Perhaps I might get my five-year-old daughter to try it out. Time being my biggest concern, I am drawn to their one hour of coding offer, wherein you can choose from a variety of activities that only take an hour to complete. Should I? Could I? Alright, let's do this!
Wow, that was really fun. I could have done that for 2 hours, easy. The project I chose was to change the Google logo, as they often do to commemorate a special day. This would get my students hooked easily. Perhaps the idea of an hour at a time might be the way in. Could this be something we do at the end of every week? One hour of coding to end the week. I have one computer for every two students. If they worked in partners and rotated between controller and navigator, I'm sure it could work. If I could eventually marry it to part of the curriculum then all of my anxieties would be appeased. Here is a link to try fiddling with the Google logo yourself. I had a blast doing it. I think later on I might make myself an account in order to save some of my projects. We'll there goes the rest of my free time.
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/177224273/#editor
I think I might dip into this program again when my marking starts to get tedious.
It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I can tell there is still a lot more for me to learn.
I WILL TRY THIS WITH MY STUDENTS, WILL YOU?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PIKTOCHART

Last year my class and I started using CANVA , it's a great graphic design tool. It has a free feature, but you can upgrade it if you need to. As a class, we created amazing infographics about energy conservation. In an attempt to create more choice and be more constructivist in my class, I want to provide more options for my students. I also have a background in design, so whenever I can fiddle with a new design program, I'm a happy guy. A colleague suggested PIKOCHART , and so far, so great. Like CANVA it has a free and paid version. I really like the templates they have available. I used their getting to know you template and created something I really liked in less than half an hour. I need to play around with it a little more and see if the free version is worth using, but I really like what I've seen so far. You can import numbers from excel to make very slick graphs and I was able to upload my picture in a matter of seconds. I think I might use this as a first-week...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Witness

Wow, I can't believe it, a video game just pulled me in and kept my attention for over 3 hours. If my wife hadn't just come home from work there is no doubt I would still be playing The Witness . The Witness is a beautiful and complex puzzle game that was both meditating and incredibly stimulating. It stands in stark contrast to the violence, gore, flash and mindlessness of a lot of modern video games. The Witness pulled me in and had my mind working, but not racing. It had my attention, but not through explosions or overly complicated storylines. Often times my students ask if they can play video games if their work is finished early, I tend to try to redirect them to different activities like chess if they are in fact completely done every task that I set in front of them. The Witness reminds me of chess. I felt smart after playing it, a very different feeling then what I get from playing Grand Theft Auto. I highly recommend this game! The Witness is available on gaming...
Post a Comment
Read more

Easel.ly

Feeling good about my recent success with Pikochart, I thought I would try another graphic design program. This one, Easel.ly seems to be specifically geared towards making infographics. I love infographics, perhaps this could work alongside the programs like Pikochart and Canva that I'm already familiar with. Easel.ly made me crazy. I don't know if the site was having a bad day, my computer was in a mood, or the site is just poorly designed, but I found it VERY frustrating. The first thing I notice was the shaking. Every time I tried to move an element around it would shake. This made my vision blurry and I started feeling nauseous. Next, when I tried to resize things I couldn't select the correct icon. It was just frustrating. I lasted for less 10 minutes. I might give it another try, but I'm skeptical. I think Easel.ly is owned by Adobe because since signing up I've received 3 emails from Adobe and 2 from Easl.ly themselves. This may become a problem. These fre...
Post a Comment
Read more