CSD Pacing in High School

I’m teaching CSD to both middle and high school students. In my middle school class, the pacing is perfect - the lesson time estimates are pretty much spot on. However, my high school class is plowing through much more quickly. With this being the first time I’m teaching the course, I’m struggling with figuring out what to add in or if I should combine lessons… just really unsure of how to make better use of their time.

Hi Maletta,

I think this is a great question for the whole forum to help you with suggestions. Do you teach the students for a semester or one full year?

I can tell you what I do for students who exceed the pace of the core class. I allow students to move ahead even if I haven’t “posted” the lessons yet. If we have whole group activities or whole group instruction, I do ask that they participate. For those students that get to the end sooner than others, I have resources for them to extend their project like w3schools for Unit 2. I also have the option for students to complete a self-directed project on the side. This is much like a Genius Hour and I allow them to study anything in the computer science realm.

Code.org also has great resources to supplement the curriculum like How Computers Work or Hour of Code (and search for 9 +).

These are just quick ideas I had. I am sure others can help you even further.
~Michelle