Don't miss having your students spend a fun hour learning the basics of coding next week. It is super easy to sign up and you don't need to know the first thing about coding or programming to get your kids involved. Just this week, I was in Regina Smith's Third Grade class at Oster, helping her to enroll her students.
Regina had gone to http://learn.code.org/ , clicked the Teacher Sign Up button and then signed up using her Google Account, using her @unionsd.org email address. By signing up, her class was added to the list of over 33,500 events, and Oster was put on the map!
Here, I've signed up for a class just to show you how easy it is.
When you get to the Teacher Home Page, choose Student Accounts and Progress. It's the choice in the upper left-hand corner.
Name your class, choose to have your students use an email to log in. Don't worry, elementary school teachers, what they are looking for is the format. Since your students already know their Google account log-ins, it'll be easy for them to remember.
Choose your grade, and pick the course. I chose "Hour of Code" because it starts off fairly easy and takes students through a number of progressively more difficult lessons. It is a great differentiating activity.
Once you do press Save, you'll get a Section Code. Your students will use this code to sign into your class.
Your students will also start at the http://learn.code.org/ webpage, but they will choose Student Sign Up. They will be required to enter a name, e-mail address, password, and age. I created a student with only my daughter's first name and a fake e-mail address and was successful in creating an account.
Once signed up, your students click Sign Up, and are taken to the Welcome page, they will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to Add a Teacher. Here, they will add the Section Code for your class. As students click on Add teacher, you'll see the number students increase. Students will then be able to start the activities, and you'll be able to watch their progress.
UPDATE for USD teachers: Trent has added it and it makes it really easy for your students to sign in. When the students click on Hour of Code, their name and Google account name will automatically populate. Students will need to enter an age to sign up. That will take them to the Hour of Code. They will still need to scroll down to "Add a teacher."
Next time they go to Hour of Code from the Symbaloo page, it will automatically sign them in and take them to the page where they can get started! Couldn't get much easier than that!
Thank you, Kathy, for suggesting it, and Trent, for putting it all in place.
Regina's class just dug right in, even before we were able to walk them through the directions. In fact, when one boy was having difficulty getting started, we just asked for a volunteer to explain what to do and 3/4s of the hands went up.Thank you, Kathy, for suggesting it, and Trent, for putting it all in place.
Here's a video you might like to show your students to help them understand what to do:
While the event is called "Hour of Code," students can sign in whenever and from wherever they like, and there are other activities they can try.
We hope you'll give Hour of Code a try. We can see by the map that someone from most of our schools has signed up. If you are one of those teachers, let us know. We'll throw everyone's name into a hat and choose one for a (small) appreciation prize.
If you'd like to have more information about The Hour of Code, you can find it here.
EdCamp SJ
Ever go to a Professional Development Conference and wish you had more control over the sessions offered? If so. EdCamp is for you.
EdCamps started about three years ago, and have been spreading all over the world. It is a free event where teachers suggest topics they'd like to talk about and learn more about. The event organizers then group topics together and create an agenda. The sessions are assigned a room and time, and the participants are off.
When you enter the room, there is no presenter, just a bunch of "like-minded" and "like-interested" educators willing to contribute to rich conversation, or just listen and learn.
EdCamp is coming to San Jose, and will be hosted at Union Middle School on April 25th. While April might seem like a long way off, people are already signing up, so you might want to check your calendar and consider reserving your spot on EventBrite.
