Differentiation Strategies

One of the issues in CSD is how we differentiate the lesson for our students. We all have students who are proficient with coding and students who need additional support. My solution is to differentiate by giving proficient students a new challenge. For example, in HTML, I taught students to change background, font, text color, spacing, etc. We did this without using CSS and simply taught them temporary shortcuts. I also taught them how to resize images, since the images they uploaded sometimes took up the entire page. Another cool feature I taught my students was creating hyperlinks with images instead of texts. This was a new way for them to create a hyperlink by making their website more creative.

With students who need additional support, I ask students who are proficient to help them with the coding. At the same time, I make sure to walk around the classroom and support students who need immediate help. I make small groups and make sure that each group has at least one student who has a proficient understanding of the coding language. Since my class size range from 30-35, this is the most efficient way for me to help my students.

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I think that the extensions you are providing for your proficient students are great. I’m actually interested in learning how to create hyperlinks with images myself.

A modification of words in directions/task prompts plus an additional unplugged activity involving realia will assist ELD learners or those with writing expressive challenges. Ex. Teapot Activity Unit 4 …online teapots…user choice. Vocab like “ornate” may be a challenge to language learners and others. Suggestiin: purchase 4 different types of Teapots at 99 cent store. Rephrase questions into basic terms for all basic learners and let sdtudents use the actual teapots to choose from for their response.

I agree. Like in Unit 3- starting with lesson 5 which is very heavy in coding language, we need add our own unplugged activity that will give students understanding of the vocabulary especially for English language learners. Even with Code’s built-in help tools students may go through lessons without having an in-depth understanding.

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If you are looking for a way to engage students who learn better by listening to instructions as opposed to reading them, I discovered a teacher who has gone above and beyond. I found Kurt Kaiser’s Code.Ordg Discoveries detailed screencasts. These are great. Kurt, I hope you do not mind me sharing your work with everyone! Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlA1LbDQF0Y&list=PLbsvRhEyGkKfNohJaFQ3l035JpcsUoEMo

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For the students who need extra help, the ones who finish early can assist other students, especially in larger classes. Additionally, create small collaboration groups to help students master the concepts.

For my class, everything is context sensitive but I make sure that I have a good relationship with the district IT department so they can set up a student’s computer for any needs they might have.

I usually create a input output chart that contains the codes and vocabulary used in each Unit. Students often refer to the charts.

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