Our Education Blogger is a public school teacher with over a decade of experience. She’s an active NEA member and enjoys writing about her experiences in the classroom.
You’ve probably heard a lot about coding lately. It’s become a sort-of buzz word among the education community. But what is it, why should our students learn it, and how do we teach it?
What is coding?
Here’s the short version: Coding allows for the creation of computer software, apps, and websites. It is a sequential, set of instructions that computers understand. Anything you do on your digital devices is possible because of code. Operating systems, apps, browsers, and websites are all made using code. Anyone can learn to code.
Why is it important to teach students to code?
Coding will quickly become one of the most important job skills of the future. It should be taught as a basic academic skill in school, just like reading and math. Learning to code allows students to develop problem-solving strategies, creatively design projects, communicate ideas effectively, and helps lay a foundation for success in other academic areas. Students will learn vital skills that are essential for future job success. In the next decade, it is believed that there will be more jobs in computer sciences than there are qualified people to fill them.
How Do I Teach It?
Using the following FREE online resources, teaching code to your students will be cinch!
Google’s Made With Code – Geared toward girls and young women, Google’s Made With Code offers coding projects for all comfort levels.
Code.org – Try a one-hour tutorial designed for all ages in over 45 languages. Choose from a variety of fun, interactive, game-like coding activities for all grade and experience levels.
Scratch – Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations. Scratch targets students ages 8-16.
Thimble from Mozilla – Thimble is an online code editor that makes it easy to create and publish your own web pages while learning HTML, CSS & JavaScript.
Tynker Coding For Kids – Tynker is a complete learning system that teaches kids to code. Kids begin experimenting with visual blocks, then progress to JavaScript and Python as they design games, build apps, and make incredible projects.
Khan Academy Hour of Code – Hour of Drawing with Code. Learn how to program drawings using JavaScript by designing your very own snowman. Try it on your own or with your class!
We’d love to hear from you! What resources do you use to teach code to students? Leave your comment below.
Having students set their own academic and behavior goals allow students to take ownership and control of their accomplishments in the classroom. Students are more likely to succeed at a task or assignment if they have a self-created target in mind. Here are some tips to help students set their own goals.
Set Attainable Goals: Setting attainable goals allows students to feel a sense of accomplishment when the goal is met. If the goal is too lofty, students may never reach it which can be a big hit to the student’s confidence. Students may need coaching in this area. Each goal can, and should be, challenging yet reachable.
Write Goals In A Positive Way: Instead of “don’t get any wrong” the goal should be expressed as “score 100%.” It just sounds better.
Be Specific: Focus on one task or assignment. My students like to use weekly spelling tests, vocabulary quizzes, math fact tests, and so forth. “Get better” won’t suffice. Students should provide an exact score or percentage and a date by which the goal should be completed. For example, a student might write a goal like this: I will score at least 90% on all weekly spelling tests during the 3rd quarter.
Discuss How: Students should describe how they will meet their goal. Will they write their spelling words three times each night or study math flashcards for 15 minutes every other day?
Document Goals in Writing: I have students keep their written goals in data folders. This way students “accidentally” see their goals at least twice a week when they record test and quiz scores. Written goals can also be posted in a visible place in the classroom.
At the beginning of each quarter, I have students set new math, reading, and behavior goals. If you feel like this might be too much work, start small, having students set just one goal per semester. Every other week, I conference with each student about their goals. If you can’t conference weekly, find time in your schedule when you can periodically discuss student progress toward goals.
Goal setting can help students be successful and build confidence in the classroom.
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
Our students know technology. They’ve used it their entire lives. However, just because they can operate and use digital devices such as smart phones, tablets, and video games, doesn’t mean they are digitally literate. Students, no matter how digitally experienced they may seem, should understand safety risks and best practices. A digitally literate student should be able to:
Understand and use computing devices and networks
Behave responsibly while engaged in social networks and other online communities
Locate, evaluate, share, and create content using information, images, and data found online
Think critically, particularly about how technology may contribute to social issues
Communicate respectfully and purposefully
Utilize above skills in real-world situations
Online Etiquette
When speaking with someone face-to-face or on the phone, we tend to err on the side of politeness and respectfulness. So, wouldn’t the same go for communicating with others online? Teaching students online “manners” will help students to become responsible digital citizens.
Here are 10 guidelines for being polite online:
Check Before You Send – Are there blatant misspellings or grammar mistakes? Could someone misinterpret what was written? Is the message hurtful? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please don’t send your message.
Don’t Get Involved In Anything Negative – If a conversation begins to turn negative, politely remove yourself. If you start to become upset, you don’t want to send something you’ll later regret.
Respect Others and Their Opinions – Even if your view differs from someone else’s, it is important to respect their opinion.
Be Precise – Communicate clearly, purposefully, and get to your point quickly.
Know Your Audience – Abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons are fine when communicating with friends, but are not appropriate when communicating formally with someone.
Avoid All Caps – All capital letters makes it seem like you are shouting.
Ask Permission Before Posting Anything About Your Friends – You may embarrass your friend or get them in trouble.
Try To Avoid Humor and Sarcasm – Picking up on humor and sarcasm without seeing the sender’s facial expressions and body language can be difficult. It may cause confusion and hurt feelings.
Don’t Over Share – Don’t share more than is necessary. If you wouldn’t share it in real life with your classmates, teachers, or family members, then it’s probably not okay to share online.
Be Kind and Positive – this one is self-explanatory!
Learning to be good digital citizens will prepare our students for life in the “real world.” By becoming digitally literate and practicing online etiquette, students will learn to survive and succeed in an ever-changing, internet-dominated society.
Resources
digitalliteracy.us – a teacher-created website helping educators teach students best and safe practices as they use the Internet and record their digital footprint.
digitalliteracy.gov – the Digital Literacy portal organizes content conveniently, enables valuable discussion and collaboration among users and elevates best practices to improve the quality of digital literacy offerings.
ThinkB4U – provides teachers with videos, resources, and other sources for the classroom.
Interland – Interland is an adventure-packed game that lets kids put fundamental lessons of digital safety into practice to help them ‘Be Internet Awesome’.
Digizen – Internet Social Networking advice and guidance for young people, parents and teachers.
InCtrl – Learn how to be safe and secure and how to make smart choices to remain InCtrl of your digital reputation!
CyberWise – Learn about digital citizenship, Internet safety, security, privacy, sexting, cyberbullying, reputation management and more so you can help kids embrace technology safely and wisely.
Digital Passport – The interactive, fun, and effective way to teach and test the basics of digital citizenship to 3rd-5th grade.
California Casualty enjoys meeting our everyday community heroes and truly getting to know what they do every day. Jill, a local CalCas team member, got the chance to talk to one of our customers and learn about his story
Mark Gonzales is the newly promoted Phoenix Fire Department Battalion Chief. Mark celebrated his 20th year, but that wasn’t the only good news. Mark’s wife shared the good news that they would be expecting their 6th child later that year.
Jill says that during her station visit, she shared with Mark that her visits to Phoenix fire departments will be wrapping up. In an instant, Mark offered for Jill to come back to his station for a day of calls and rides. Jill enjoyed a tour of a hazmat and scheduling station, as well as the dispatch area at headquarters.
Mark had a positive story he wanted to share as a customer of California Casualty.
“I have been with California Casualty for over six years now. This past year my son turned 17, and we added him and a used suburban to our policy. With all of the bumps and bruises, a vehicle can handle we quickly learned of how extensive and forgiving our Auto glass coverage was. With three incidents in a short amount of time, California Casualty replaced the broken panels with a smile and taught us that every piece of glass on the vehicle was insured. We just added our daughter who has a permit now to our policy, and we are looking for a smoother road ahead.”
Excitement is in the air as we get a chance to see the first full solar eclipse over the U.S. in decades. While many of us are thinking about protecting our eyes from damaging solar radiation, if you live in the area most affected by the eclipse or traveling to see it, you might want to make sure your auto and home insurance is up to date. Public safety groups are warning that the crush of millions of people coming to view the eclipse could pose some very serious issues. Here are some important things to consider so the shadow cast over the sun doesn’t lead to dark things for your insurance coverage:
Be prepared for extremely heavy traffic and delays – being in a hurry to get somewhere may lead to frustration and a traffic crash
Don’t drive distracted and be prepared for the many others around you who might be doing so as the moon obscures the sun
Turn on headlights as the sunlight fades so others can see you
Don’t pull off or stop on interstate highways or major thoroughfares where you could pose a safety hazard
Never use or block the center median crossings on highways which are only for emergency vehicles
Avoid pulling off on roadway shoulders and medians where a hot muffler could spark a grass fire
Be aware of increased pedestrian traffic and people walking but not paying attention to traffic
Make sure you have enough liability coverage if you are inviting or allowing others onto your property to view the eclipse
Before Monday’s great event, you should make sure that you have approved safety glasses to view the spectacle (there are numerous warnings about fake glasses), that you have stocked up on sunscreen, water, fuel and other essentials. Please find a safe place to watch it from.
California Casualty enjoys meeting our everyday community heroes and truly getting to know what they do every day. Jill, a local CalCas team member, got the chance to talk to one of our customers and learn about his story