Use this as a space to record your feedback and questions about this lesson.
I like the idea of starting with students’ prior knowledge and allowing them time to share about what they already know. This gives them a feeling of self confidence and allows an easy entry point into the class for most students. Prior to this, however, I plan to do a team-building exercise using Kagan Cooperative Learning structures to allow students to get to know their partners on a non-academic level first, so that they will feel safe sharing academically after that. One of my go-to “getting to know you” topics that students seem to really enjoy is having them share what super power they would like to have and why.
As an online teacher, I decided to use the first part (“what do you know a lot about?”) as a discussion board for my Orientation unit (which I do before the CSP units), that they can have a few days to complete. They will make 2 replies, one to ask a pertinent question about someone else’s post, and the 2nd is to answer the question that is posted to theirs.
The rapid prototyping comes in for my Unit 1 discussion board, where they take someone’s idea from the previous discussion board and create something from their idea. Their replies are to add to other people’s innovation ideas.
And Lesson 1 itself focuses on writing about an innovation that exists today and creating a Slideshow, using the 'Presentation Requirements" in the Lesson Plan doc. They also watch the video that is included, that I have embedded into my online class page.
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I am planning to show my students the video and show them some recent newspaper articles that highlight different areas of computer science. Then, I’ll have my students complete the journal enter about what they know about computer science.
I like the idea of using more “getting to know you” activities before starting the actual first lesson. I am going to try to do the lesson as prescribed though, but I’m thinking there might not be enough time to cover it in one class period. Students will like sharing what they know about, but I am guessing we might need a bit more time to discuss and give instructions on the rapid prototype posters. Overall, I plan to have the prompts and materials ready to go, to make transitions from one part of the lesson to another, ready the day before so I can spend time on the actual delivery of the message.
The lesson is already well thought out and has good resources. Like others have mentioned, it starts with what students know and starts the process of moving them into new areas of study. I might add to the lesson by having the students create something physically or draft an innovation that they have always dreamed about to supplement the plan.
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Good way to get students engaged from the start. I will pretty much follow the lesson outline, show the video and have them sign up for the class account for Code Studio.
I will start by asking students to share something they know about technological innovations in order to check student’s prior knowledge, show the innovation video, and have each student signup for the Code Studio section.
I really like how the concept of community, collaboration, and active participation are introduced right from the start. The best experience for the students will need a strong collaborative classroom and I like that this is being set up on day 1. I can’t help but think a modified version of the marshmallow challenge where they use technology to plan, or even test, their theories could fit in the middle of this lesson and meet the objectives.
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I like the idea of everyone having something to contribute. This first lesson will give all students regardless of computer knowledge a starting point where they can feel comfortable. I will probably just follow this lesson plan as it is written. I may show the video a bit earlier to spark ideas and conversation between students.
When I start the class this fall, I will begin with a day or two of teamwork and team building exercises to ensure the ability of the class to work in teams effectively. I do this every year and it seems to help get things started in a collaborative environment.
As an introduction to CS, I like the idea of bringing prior knowledge into the classroom as a starting point. Straight out of the gates, lets break the class into groups and use the power of those groups to collaborate on the knowledge base. I believe the first prompt about what Computer Science means to a person will set the stage for all future activities and a place to start to develp what the appropriate meaning of the term is.
Forum Thread for Lesson One-Follow-up to 5 day PD.
1. What will you use from the provided lesson materials?
On day one I would have students:
Teach other students about what they know-something simple:
Give them 30-40 seconds to think of something and then they would post it on a post it board and see if they can group them according to subject.
'They would have the question; “What do you know a lot about?", as a starting prompt.
I also like the Activity Guide -Impact of Innovation:
With your partner, pick one of your technological innovations to present to the class. If the innovation is a multipurpose device like a cell phone, you many need to pick one aspect of the phone’s capabilities as the innovation.
Make a presentation which answers the following questions by description or illustration:
What is the technological innovation?
What is the most important thing that it enables you to do?
How did people do this before the technology existed?
What was a problem or issue with the way it was done before that this technology solved or made better?
What new problems were created by the technology?
This way students understand that the class is looking for solutions and not just an answer.
2. What additional resources will you use?
The writing prompt: Without using the words computer or science write 5 to 10 words or phrases that come to mind when you when you hear the words “computer science” what do you think about? What are the first words that come to mind?
Having them do this as a journal writing, so that students understand what it is that I am looking for what I am looking for when putting their journal together.
3. How so you plan to deliver this lesson?
Since this class will be at the beginning of the semester, I will not do this on day
one, but actually on day two or three, this way students who want to transfer
out-have the opportunity to do so, also I would be establishing the ground
rules for the class as far as discipline, attendance and class rules.
I like the lesson as it in given. It is well laid out. I would use the activity guide - Impact-of Innovation as an extension activity. First time around I will use the lesson plan and try to follow it as it is given.
I like the lesson as written but I want to do a “getting to know each other” activity. I think the super power wish list is great
I plan to follow the lessons as they are written because this is my first exposure/class in Computer Science. I will definitely watch the teaching tips videos and use the resources provided. Starting this class with having a student teach the others in their groups about something they know well helps to start the building of the classroom environment and honors students’ prior knowledge.
I think the lesson plan is very well written, and I will follow most of the sequence as prescribed. Like grl6487 (wonderfully thorough post, BTW, grl6487!), I tend to use day one to cover course rules, expectations, etc., but I think I am going to bump that spiel until day three this time around. So often I think students gauge their perception of how much they’ll enjoy the course (and the instructor!) based on the initial impressions they form over the first few days of class. I’m always super energetic when school starts, which is good, but I typically end up covering too much ground initially…I talk about the curriculum, course expectations, daily routines, attendance, and class rules. The problem is that I move quickly and some students get overwhelmed and decide to check out before they have a chance to realize how much they might enjoy the class. One of my takeaways from this PD was that sometimes it’s okay to flip things around…start off with “doing”, and then debrief with a little lecture and review…students will better appreciate (and make) the connections. In staying consistent with this philosophy, I think I will begin the year the same way…by having students jump right into the first activity. In so doing, perhaps I’ll have better retention…besides, the bigger problem is the kids who end up coming into the class a few days later due to schedule changes, etc. who usually miss out on my “important” preliminaries (syllabus, rules, etc.). At the very least, students will have first had some fun with the first activity and they’ll be able to reassure the late arrivals that they should stay in the class (should those students be having second thoughts).
The only thing I would do differently with Lesson One is a) I will have it span over two days and b) at the end of the lesson, I will tack on the extended learning that has students read the few pages in Blown to Bits and respond to the follow-up question…I think having a brief discussion around both the Lesson One activity and the students’ responses to that question (in relation to the reading) will be a great lead in to what the course as a whole is going to be about. It will also model what our classroom routines will be like (and be a segue for related expectations).
Speaking of routines, as much as I am a fan of the questions that have students reflect at the end of a particular lesson, I prefer that there be more transparency – in other words, I want students’ responses to be visible to other students (not just to me). I believe this affects accountability because students care about what other students think in relation to their work. Most kids want to look good or even impress their peers, so they will put way more effort into a submission that EVERYONE is able to read. Moreover, there will be plenty of times when certain students “get it” right away and they’ll come up with great responses to certain questions, which can help scaffold the comprehension/learning of students who might be struggling to understand the question itself and/or how to respond. Anyhow, I’ve been using free Wikis for this purpose for the past five years…and with great success.
If you are interested in setting up a Wiki/s for your classes, check out this link:
It will take less than an hour to set up. As additional motivation, keep in mind that it will be much easier to score written submissions (should you choose to give points for these exercises) when they’re posted to a Wiki as opposed to scoring them individually via the Code.org UI.
Good idea. that way we can have notes for ourselves for next year.
I am going to teach this lesson on the 2nd day of school (on the first day of school we have a pep con and shorter classes but on the 2nd day we have a block schedule so our classes will be about 80 minutes long which should give me enough time to get through this whole lesson). On the 1st day of school, I am going to do a brainstorming activity with my students about things they don’t like and do like to have happen when they work in groups and use it to establish group norms for the class. This is something I like to do at the beginning of the year in all my classes because I do a lot of group work and it really helps the groups to function better.
There are 2 things that I especially <3 about this lesson: using the sticky notes from their 1 minute brainstorm about what they are great at to intentionally group them diversely; I also love the rapid prototype activity because it lets the students be creative right from the beginning of this class.
The student resource from this lesson called Activity Guide: Impact of Innovation didn’t seem to be mentioned specifically in the lesson plan (although I could have missed it), but I thought that a blank copy of that table would be a good follow up assignment for students to take home and think about and discuss briefly in class the next day.
As a side note, the extended learning section of the lesson plan also had an idea to have students create a timeline of when various innovations became available to consumers. I think I might tweak that idea into a fun, short take-home assignment for the first day where my students have to interview their parents about when the technology personally became available to them (and what it looked like). For example, when did you first get a cell phone? What was your first computer like? etc.
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I will spend the first day in my 50 minute classroom establishing MY class rules. Whole class we will review the highlights of my syllabus. My expectation is that the student and parent will read the syllabus together at home and sign it. My rules and grading practice as outlined in my syllabus is binding for both my student and myself.
I will then proceed with Lesson 1 which I believe will take the rest of day 1 and all of day 2. The latter part of day 1 will be spent determining students background knowledge and/or comfort with technology. I am a big proponent of working in groups, so I will start day 2 off with a quick review of yesterday and then have the students get right into groups and teach each other as outlined in the lesson plan and follow it all up with the video. The students will then jot down their thoughts on the days lesson (including the video). For homework I would have them do some simple research and bring in articles about current technology. We traditionally have students switching in or out of a class the first few days, so I will take those days slowly in order to gauge movement.
This course lays significant importance on collaboration; team work will the key to acquiring knowledge of the content in class. I usually start the first day with discussion of rules, the concepts that we will be covering and the type of assignments and assessments for the class. But with CSP, I plan to start with a simple activity; on a post-it, write the name of one device that you could not live without. I am sure there will be several different devices, so based on those answers, I will group the students and ask them to present their reasoning for choosing the device. I am hoping that this will allow the students to find peers with whom they can work together on several performance tasks. Once the teams are ready it becomes easier to start with the video and follow up with discussions based on the topic. The activity guide is very thorough and I do plan on referring to the guide for most part of the class.
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