Computer Science Resources Recommended by eSchool News

During Computer Science Week or Hour of the Code Week, whichever you want to call it, loads of great ideas were published to help teachers bring computer science understanding into their classrooms. A good example is an article, by Laura Devaney of eSchool News, who compiled a list of ten resources and facts to help with programming. They include Daisy the Dinosaur (free app), Cargo-Bot (puzzle game), MIT Inventor (build apps), Hackety Hack (learn computer science), Codecademy (learn to code site), Computing in the Core (facts), Computer Science Unplugged (learn computer science without a computer), w3schools (examples, quizzes, tutorials, etc), recruiting girls to computing classes (suggestions), and Dot Diva (suggestions for girls). Devaney offers links to the ten resources in her article.

Follett Challenge Competition—$200,000 in Prizes

The Follett Challenge recognizes educators who use and design innovative teaching and learning programs that help students master 21^st century skills and abilities.  Individual school prizes range from $5000 to $30000. According to the rules, entries must show how a school or district has created a 21^st century curriculum. An application and a 3-5 minute video describing the project must be submitted by February 28, 2014.  Winners will be announced in April and May.

Art & Technology

We Are Teachers offers excellent ideas for integration of art into the curriculum. You might try taking art “out of the box” by displaying a cubist painting on an interactive whiteboard and having students check out and draw over geometric shapes in the painting. After the lesson, students might create their own Cubist paintings using digital art programs or by creating shapes on paper. Make use of document cameras when studying how light and darkness interact. You can “manipulate light and color in your classroom by covering the bulb on your document camera with a piece of colored cloth.”  As you do this, “place various objects under the camera” in order to investigate changes in appearance that are dependent on different colors of light. Check out the article, “4 Ways to Take Art ‘Out of the Box’ Using Technology” to find more suggestions for the use of art in technology and in other subjects such as science, math, and social studies.

Using Vine & Instagram Video in the Classroom

With Twitter’s app, Vine, your students can create videos in six seconds. Put that together with Facebook’s Instagram video-capturing feature and challenge your students, or yourself, to create. Take a look at Edutopia’s “Five Minute Film Festival: Vine and Instagram Video in the Classroom.” It features examples of teachers having fun by producing short videos using these digital resources, and it compares uses of Vine and Instagram video.

Year of Making & Coding

The BBC has announced that 2015 will be the “Year of Making and Coding”. The idea is to inspire lifelong learning and to encourage the people of the UK to get creative with coding. According to the BBC, there is worry among the leaders of the country and the nation’s tech experts that computer skills that are needed for the future aren’t being covered in the schools. In a blog post, the BBC announced, “From working with children and young people to stimulating a national conversation about digital creativity, the BBC will help audiences embrace technology and get creative.” Watch for more on coding from the BBC as 2014 exits and 2015 begins.

Letting Go of Control

Control. That was the way of schools and classrooms not long ago. We wanted to have our hand in everything—to know everything and to guide everything. However, the more we use technologies in our schools and classrooms, the less control we seem to have. It is simply impossible to keep up with everything students are doing on their computers and digital devices. Use of technologies has helped students to take responsibility for their learning. School culture is evolving as it recognizes students as important partners in education.  Principal Eric Sheninger, TL Advisory Blog, tells us, “Giving up control and empowering my students to take ownership of their educational experience has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

Super Scratch Programming Adventure

Using Super Scratch Programming Adventure, students learn computer programming while creating their own games. The Adventure is available from Super Starch Press in print (under $30) and eBook (under $20) format. Students learn about variables, flow control, subroutines, and more by programming arcade-style video games. With interest in programming increasing, the Adventure is a great way to get students started with a programming experience that they will master and enjoy.

Make a Difference

Teachers, administrators, and technology specialists and coordinators can enter Tech & Learning’s 2013 Leader of the Year Program. If you use technology in innovative ways to help teachers teach and students learn, make sure to share your ideas on the Tech & Learning site. Entries are due by October 31, 2013. Award winners and prizes will be announced in the December issue of the magazine.

Tough Teachers

The Wall Street Journal article, “Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results,” is an excellent piece for us to read and discuss. Over the years, there has been much discussion about exactly what motivates students and what ignites creativity. Janice Lipman, the article’s author, suggests that maybe we aren’t where we should be in education because of teaching methods that follow “the kinder, gentler philosophy that has dominated American education over the past few decades. The conventional wisdom holds that teachers are supposed to tease knowledge out of students, rather than pound it into their heads.” Lipman backs up her call for stricter discipline and unyielding demands with research and with her eight-part manifesto: “1. A little pain is good for you. 2. Drill baby, drill. 3. Failure is an option. 4. Strict is better than nice. 5. Creativity can be learned. 6. Grit trumps talent. 7. Praise makes you weak. 8. ....while stress makes you strong.”

Lipman says that one of her toughest teachers taught students how to fail and how to get themselves up and going once more.

What do you think? Is it an either or—nice or tough?

The Amazing 2013 Vultures Rock Competition

The Halloween Vultures Rock Poetry Competition is open once more for entries. This competition focuses on the plight of vultures, whose numbers are dropping around the world mainly because people know so little about them and why they need to be protected.  To honor the job that vultures do in cleaning up our world, children, ages 8-12, are invited to submit original poems that describe how they think vulture’s rock. Poems, which do not have to rhyme, are to be submitted to the Vultures Rock website by October 18^th, 2013. Winners will receive iPod Shuffles.

The competition is an excellent way to help students learn about the importance of vultures in our world and celebrate the fall season. Be sure to check the rules for entry on the site.