I piloted the CSP 20-21 curriculum in one of my beginning computer science classes. Most of my students had never had a computer science course and this was their first exposure for a semester.
We started in January in person with Unit 1 of the curriculum. The students had a physical journal that we used every day and my class seating in set up in groups of 4 at desks on one side of the room and then tables of computers on the other side of the room. We would spend time doing the unplugged activities at the desks and journal, than as we would be ready to move to the computers, students would sit near their table mates so they could have an elbow partner and 3 others to collaborate with.
This worked really well as we got to the EIPM model, because the students would explore with their table mates at the computers and then move on to the investigate, practice and make with those same peers.
Students felt really comfortable collaborating with their peers through the new EIPM model and I was able to navigate as a teacher/coach with the new focus on the curriculum layout.
In the fall my situation for AP CSP will be - see the students for 2 quarters (A day 1st semester will be in Quarter 1, B day 1st Semester will be in Quarter 2, A day 2nd semester will be in Quarter 3, and B day 2nd semester will be Quarter 4 - students will come on the day of their alpha Monday A-G, Tuesday H-L, Wednesday meeting and planning, focus student groups, Thursday M-R and Friday S-Z) - 1 day a week in person and 4 days online (not sure how much time is expected online).
What I’m thinking about in the fall is setting up strong collaborative groups of 4 the first week or so of class and then the EIP online and the M in class when we are in person. For some ideas on how to introduce some concepts and the programming, I’d like to incorporate some of the Code Breaks from last spring, because they were creative and fun with the celebrities. I’d break the Code Break into the content part and then do something recorded from me as the programming piece. I like the way the coding was set up in the Code breaks and want to use some of those ideas.
I will also create some code along videos and schedule some open hours in the evenings when I’m not teaching for code alongs in zoom and break outs.