Saturday, December 28, 2013

Weekly Links (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Weekly Links (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Saturday, December 14, 2013

Weekly Links (weekly)

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Hour of Code




All students in the high school participated in the Hour of Code activities during math class for 2 days. Each student was asked to choose the level (novice, apprentice, ninja) he/she felt most comfortable with. The students then went to the classroom of the level they selected. Each room had a facilitator (a teacher, student, or community member volunteer) to answer questions. Students could choose which tutorials or activities to do. All activities were self directed.

Feedback:
What did you like about the activities?
  • That we got to choose what we used and what we could do with it
  • That you had a lot of independence as you progressed through the levels
  • I liked the videos of the different people talking about the importance of coding. 
  • The activities were simple games that were easy to understand and even fun!
  • I like the fact that Code Academy allows the user to learn from many different languages that all effect student in everyday life
  • I really liked how it didn't feel like you were learning or working on the games, it felt like you were actually playing a game. 
  • You feel accomplished when you finish a level
  • I liked that they were a challenge and and involved math, but were also fun to play.
  • In Blockly, I loved how they made it fun, but still had to do with coding, especially since this was my very first time ever doing it, they made it not boring, very interesting!
My Observations
  • Students were very engaged with the activities. They really looked like they were having fun.
  • I enjoyed watching the collaboration happening in some classrooms.
  • I was interested that some students wanted to be "taught" by an instructor.
  • The student facilitators were well prepared.
  • Our community visitors added a nice element. Students who are interested in computer programming as a career were able to speak with them directly. They made terrific coaches! 
  • At first we had more novices, by the afternoon, many students felt that they could be at the apprentice level.
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Saturday, December 07, 2013

Weekly Links (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Friday, December 06, 2013

Digital Discussions

Oro, Ann. 2009 electronics.jpg. 
February 16, 2009. Pics4Learning. 6 Dec 2013 
<http://pics.tech4learning.com>

This year we are going to have 3 periods during the year when we have discussions based on topics related to digital citizenship with 9th graders. Students will choose the topic they want to participate in. Round 1 will cover Digital Footprint and Digital Overload. Students will watch videos and read articles during Science and Social studies classes. On December 6th, students will participate in the Digital Compass opening activity and then go to smaller groups for the discussion. Groups will be generated randomly and each will have a teacher facilitator. Students will come prepared to the discussion ready to share and bring more questions. At the end of the sessions students will write a reflection.  In future discussions, students will facilitate, based on the EdCafe Model. After the last discussion students will write an essay in English Class based on the theme of Digital Citizenship.

 Resources: Digital Discussions

Feedback and Comments:
  • "I would like to know more about some of the stories of digital media. I feel like stories of mistakes would have a big impact on kids and really make them think about what they are doing.”
  • “I want to know more about why people think that life on the internet is more important than your life outside the internet, and why people feel alone and like a loser when they don’t have some kind of technology with them.”
  • “Something I agree with is that reality is less interesting than things shown on the internet. Because people in other countries seem to have a much more interesting life than people living in Maine basically because other countries and states are much more interesting.”
  • “I want to learn more about the theory that chatting online is just an excuse to avoid "real" social interaction. It intrigues me because it seems as if teenagers feel like they need to be constantly socially connected through electronics and I wonder if this is connected. As if its a way to be popular without having to actually interact with people.”
  • “I would like to know more about why there is so much social media that have some of the same stuff repeated over and over on each site or app. Also why people feel the need that they have to have all of those apps or sites to "fit in" with what everyone else is doing.”
  • “I thought it was a good, fun discussion. I hope we do more things like this around the year. I think it'd be interesting to join other groups of the same topic and see what their arguments were and where they were coming from.”
  • “This was a very interesting topic, and idea. I learned that my teacher is connected it to people all around the world. This was interesting to learn about from a worldly perspective.” 
  • “I would like to know more about the privacy settings on websites and how they are ensured. I would also like to experience more discussions on my digital footprint and my image on the Internet.”

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