+1 on Canvas integration.
For those the use Canvas, I do see that someone has shared a Unit 1 model for Canvas. Maybe something to build on.
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Hi Kevin,
Thank you for sharing this resource with the CSA community!
-Lindsay
Hi Lindsay,
Thank you! I look forward to meeting you in Minnesota as well.
All the best,
Jacqueline
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@sheck - Hi Kevin, thanks for posting this information. I have shared with another person who posted this topic: Canvas or Google Classroom Course for AP CSA? - #2 by sylvia.wood
Sylvia
Kevin Proszek, Spokane Valley, WA
Levels 9-12
Excited to have the kids learn and a better understanding of how to teach it better.
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Welcome Kevin!
I love using Code.org’s CSA curriculum. It has allowed me to spend more time focussing on good instructional strategies and building relationships with my students instead of trying to put together materials on my own, which I what I used to do a lot of!
Please reach out on the forum as needed as you get into the content.
Best,
Lindsay
I’m curios to know what you think of the CSA material. I teach Middle School myself and am wondering if I could use some of the CSA material for a few middle school lessons. I have some 8th graders who are far above some of the other kids and I want to keep challenging them, but I don’t know Java myself.
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Hi @cynthia.guerard, thats wonderful you have such talented students in your class that are eager for more material. And good on you for looking for appropriate extension for them! Here are my initial thoughts:
- The CSA course is definitely set up to be a course where a teacher is guiding students through lessons. There are slides that go along with levels and discussion along the lesson progression. Without a guiding instructor the CSA material may not be suited for stand alone extension material.
- There is a CS pathway in my district where most teachers are using Code.org material. I have ran into an issue where teachers give extension materials from CSP to their CSD students and when they get to the CSP course, the students already have done the work. Then, the teachers of the CSP course have to find something else for the students to do while the rest of the class is following along the curriculum.
Like I said, I think its wonderful you are providing extensions for students to continue on with. I might suggest a few other sites that may interest the students, allow them to increase their programming knowledge, and mitigate overlap of content: codecademy.com, freecodecamp.org, codecombat.com, khanacademy.com, codingbat.com.
I would love to hear others thoughts on this!
-Sam
Hi Cynthia,
Just to chime in, I agree with Sam that using components from a set course could create issues for those same students if they take CSA in the future and their teacher uses Code.org. If you use CS Discoveries in your middle school class, could you reach out to teachers on that forum for extension ideas?
Best,
Lindsay
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Im upul Abesingha
I teach grade 6-11
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Hi @upul25! Thanks for touching base in the forum. You have quite the range in grade levels you teach! What subjects are you teaching? I taught math in a small town in Idaho called Bruneau for 3 years. I taught 6th - 12th and that was A LOT :).
Best,
-Sam
@upul25 - Welcome Upul! Wow, you live in a beautiful place. I am also curious about what subject you are teaching? I taught 6th grade math - many moons ago.
@cynthia.guerard - Hi Cynthia, I use the CS Discoveries curriculum for my Intro to CS course. Please feel free to contact me if you would like ideas for extensions to a given lesson.
My name is Garrett Hageman. I am teaching AP CSA for 10th graders, but I also teach AP Precalculus, AP Calculus AB, and Physics for 11th & 12 graders. I used CS Awesome last year, teaching AP CSA for the first time. Previously, I taught AP CSP for 5 years, initially joining a Code.org week-long training. I am excited to challenge my students to learn Java using the excellent platform offered by Code.org!
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Welcome @garretthageman! Glad you are using the forum!
-Sam
Hello World! I am Paul Lamson-LaPlume (known as L² at my school, Yarmouth High School, in Maine). I teach all grades across both my computer science classes and math classes. This is my first year teaching CSA which is the newest extension of the computer science program I am working on growing at my school.
Generally the students who take computer science are excited and invested in them but I struggle in recruiting enough students to justify running all the classes I want to teach or have taught in the past. Consistently I run CSP, Intro to Python, and (usually) Web Design. Any suggestions?
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Welcome! I hope you are enjoying teaching CSA this year. Please continue to use the forum for questions and ideas!
I have found that my current students are the best recruiters. With CS Ed week approaching in December, you might consider having your current students help lead an hour of code with potential students. This could be done during lunch in your room (probably the simplest way), out in other classrooms during the school day scheduled ahead with those teachers, or in a junior high that feeds into your school.
I have had my students lead hours of code in each of those ways in various years, and it really helped with my recruiting.
I also stop in math and science classrooms that are potential feeders into my program and do a quick overview of what CS is, and show off some of the projects my current students have made. I do this right around the time to sign up for courses the next year.
There is also a topic on the forum that focusses on Marketing and recruitment, at this link. Marketing and Recruitment - Code.org Professional Learning Community
I hope you get some good ideas, let us know what works for you!
Best,
Lindsay
Thanks for the tips!
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