Hour of Code
If you asked me during my high school ICT classes if I saw myself coding in the future, I would have laughed. I felt overwhelmed and slightly uninspired when I was given the task to write a few commands in Javascript.
However, when I encountered the Hour of Code last summer, I discovered coding in a new light and completed the 20 hour Accelerated Intro to CS course out of interest! I also realised that this would be valuable knowledge to possess as a teacher, as coding is a skill that could benefit my learners in the future.
In fact, thanks to their Computer Technology classes and previous teachers, many of my students are already competent coders. A proud moment for me this year was taking them to OMG Tech, and watching them create their own games through scratch, with little support from the facilitators.
As we discussed future focussed learning in our PLG today, I was reminded of the importance of this skill and will definitely consider using the code.org and other programmes with my learners in the future. Having the opportunity to complete an hour of code also influenced this, as we all thoroughly enjoyed playing and coding our own games! (See part of this session in the video below).
While the Hour of Code is educational and beneficial for students alone, I found that the art component of the site can be used to support students when teaching angles. The code requires them to consider the angles required to draw a circle, square, triangle etc. And more sophisticated shapes would increase the complexity of the task.
However, when I encountered the Hour of Code last summer, I discovered coding in a new light and completed the 20 hour Accelerated Intro to CS course out of interest! I also realised that this would be valuable knowledge to possess as a teacher, as coding is a skill that could benefit my learners in the future.
In fact, thanks to their Computer Technology classes and previous teachers, many of my students are already competent coders. A proud moment for me this year was taking them to OMG Tech, and watching them create their own games through scratch, with little support from the facilitators.
As we discussed future focussed learning in our PLG today, I was reminded of the importance of this skill and will definitely consider using the code.org and other programmes with my learners in the future. Having the opportunity to complete an hour of code also influenced this, as we all thoroughly enjoyed playing and coding our own games! (See part of this session in the video below).
While the Hour of Code is educational and beneficial for students alone, I found that the art component of the site can be used to support students when teaching angles. The code requires them to consider the angles required to draw a circle, square, triangle etc. And more sophisticated shapes would increase the complexity of the task.
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