Which Computer Science teaching strategies will you try implementing in your classroom?
In my math classroom I am planning on implementing CS with pairing students to work together and then instead of just giving the answer or showing how to complete a problem I am going to ask questions that hopefully will have them solve their own problems. I also want to implement the ask 3 rule so that students are working together instead of always coming to me when they are stuck.
The students will be required to give a reason for their answers.
I plan on using the “ask 3 then me” strategy. When working with small groups it is extremely important that I there are as little interruptions as possible and this strategy should help to improve the situation.
I like the ask 3 then me; promotes independent problem solving and social skills in increasingly social learning environments.
One of the first I will do is remind my students how much technology has changed in my own life time. While computer programming was a class when I was in high school, it was still very new and extremely limited (the old DOS format) in what you could do.
I will try to have some fun with them as I explain how they already know more about coding and computer science than I do just by the simple idea that they have grown up with this wonderful new technology.
While we have done the Hour of Code every year for the past few years, not all of the kids stay excited about coding because I’ve never had a real curriculum available before (that I understood) to take them to the next level.
With the Code.org CS in Algebra platform I can get them excited about both coding AND algebra all at the same time!
Pretty much, the design recipe is solid gold. That’s going to be drilled into them.
I will allow students to learn from making mistakes just like I learned from making mistakes in programming. I will share my experiences in learning to program through the Professional Development and how sometimes I would get frustrated when I could not get something to work but I would walk away from the screen and then come back and I was able to solve the problem because I did not give up. I think that teaching students algebra through coding is going to empower our students to persevere in problem solving.
My teaching strategies will include a calm approach to deal with the anxiety that arises when students don’t know how to approach a challenge right away. One strategy is to help students to read the directions very carefully so that they know what they are being asked. If they can’t solve it then have them “ask 3 then men”. I will use the three cups strategy so that students can approach asking for help in a calm manner. I want students to be proud of solving problems themselves but not being afraid to ask for help.
I am definitely using the pairing. I will group my desks in pairs and have the computer placed on the left one half the time and on the right desk the other half. This way they still have their assigned seats but I can rotate. I will definitely have to monitor the pairs. Middle school friendships shift quickly.
I am for sure going to use the idea of pairing students up. This is absolutely critical in my opinion. At my training we had the opportunity to have different partners throughout the week. I enjoyed that and thought I would incorporate that into my class, too. I definitely don’t want the same students working together all the time. I am also going to foster an environment where mistakes are okay. They are for sure going to see them from me so making sure that they know that it is okay that they make them too is important!
I plan on introducing the problem without computers in front of the kids. Seeing it on paper is always different than when you have the computer in front of you. As with what others say, I plan on pairing kids up. I will make sure certain students who give up easily will be paired with those who persevere.
I struggle with the idea of pair programming! Personally, I like working on my own, and I don’t think I’m the only one! During our live summer session, our presenters were less than successful at getting two people on one computer. Everyone wanted to see the green completion checkmarks on THEIR login!
Having said that, I’m willing to give it a try! I can understand the benefits that were listed in the presentation, and hope that my students see it the same way.
I loved the partner work with “driver” “navigator” roles. I think pairing kids up will be extremely powerful. I see the benefit of switching partners up also so that kids experience different dynamics in team work.
I plan on using partnering in our normal math class when we are not working on computer science. I love that one could be the write on the paper and the other could be the thinker. I think the conversations I can already here in my classroom will be far more valuable than me providing all the answers. I also am never afraid of saying I don’t know something and figure it out as a class.
I love the partnership. It really helps encourage those students who are not as confident on their own. Some of the highly gifted students will prefer to work alone, and I will allow them to, but I will section those students together so they can work together if they have trouble on anything.
Students have to write all possible test cases for a function before writing the definition
Students will be paired during the intervention block.
I plan on using pair programming and the ask three and then me strategies to ensure that students are using each other as resources to help problem solve!!!
I plan to try pair programming, ask 3 and then me, and the design recipe. I love the connection between coding functions and algebra functions.