What is coding?

It's not a medical emergency, not that kind of coding.  It's computer coding.  It comes in several languages, the most popular being css, javascript, and html.  But, it's been adapted into blocks for learners and has become a popular way to get kids to use critical thinking skills as they problem solve and create.
 
For children as young as primary grade students, coding programs like Code Studio offers toolbox blocks use cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) to move characters, while others use "left" and "right" as direction words.  These help children develop reading and map skills.  Other standards that are addressed with some serious impact are the mathematical practices.  Coding addresses the following CCSS Mathematical Practices for grades K-12:

MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.  "They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course if necessary."

MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.  They are able to "contextualize, to pause as needed during the manipulation process in order to probe into the referents for the symbols involved."

MP4:  Use appropriate tools strategically.  "They are able to use technological tools to explore and deepen their understanding of concepts."

MP7:  Look for and make use of structure.  They "can step back for an overview and shift perspective. They can see complicated things, such as some algebraic expressions, as single objects or as being composed of several objects."

MP8:  Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.  "Mathematically proficient students notice if calculations are repeated, and look both for general methods and for shortcuts."

The results are instantaneous and rewarding.  Below are screenshots of Bee Loops, a coding game in which I successfully coded using as few blocks as possible by embedding five steps into a repeat block that I programmed to repeat three times.  It sure takes some critical thinking, folks.  Try it out for yourself at Code Studio (code.org).

Reference:  Common Core State Standards Initiative.  http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/

Hour of Code demo

Interested in how code works? Watch my three-minute demo using Code Studio.

Comic Creator

Here's a fun way to engage students in using technology to read, write, and illustrate, then communicate about it. In this lesson, students create a comic strip and provide constructive feedback for each other.

Use ReadWriteThink: Comic Creator. This online interactive site allows students to create a comic strip.  Students first input a title, subtitle, and author’s name. Second, they select the number of panels (one, two, three, or six). Next, they can choose from eight different backgrounds, such as a city, lake, and a room, 17 different characters, such as a cat, dog, goldfish, dinosaur, or baby, nine different word balloons or various onomatopoeic words, such as “Zzzzz,” “Shhhh,” and “Yeow,” and 20 props, including a book, laptop computer, boulder, castle, flying saucer, and a sun. Finally, they can type text into the word balloons. This can be done on a variety of topics and for numerous purposes. For example, they can make a comic strip playing out how they can reduce, reuse, and recycle to help the environment.

2. Students share their comic strip creations with others to give feedback. To help students develop a sense of how to provide constructive criticism. The way it works is that students first offer a piece of warm positive feedback, phrased such as “I liked…” or “I thought it was great when…” Then students offer a piece of cool constructive feedback; something they would change to improve the piece. The constructive comments “build up” the person and the work by thinking of how it could be even better. Sandwich feedback is when warm feedback is given, followed by cool feedback, then more warm feedback gain. Practicing constructive feedback helps students because they can apply it to other aspects of life. It teaches them to respectfully comment on each others’ work, which is part of their academic work as a listening and speaking standard. Communicating respectfully with other people in real life can help students develop empathy, which can be applied to digital citizenship, as well.



Warm feedback: “I like that the man shows that he’s frustrated with his hands in the air.”

Cool feedback: “I think it could be better if we could see what the man’s face looks like.”

Don’t Think Digital Media Literacy is Important? You May Want to Rethink That

Many teachers today worry that digital media may have a negative impact on students’ academic development as well as negate the importance of “traditional” literacy skills. However, digital media has not hurt the quality of "traditional" literacy skills for students today, rather it has built upon and expanded what it means to be literate in the 21st century. In reality, traditional literacy can be thought of as the building block upon which every other literacy is built, since many of the same skills that are necessary in order to make someone literate in the "traditional" sense are also needed to make someone literate in the "digital" sense.  Whether some individuals are willing to accept it or not, the new literacies of the 21st century are reflective of the times. Technology has changed the way that individuals locate, access, and send information, and as teachers we have a responsibility to prepare our students to be participants in this digital world.

   In order to empower students, teachers must recognize the digital media that students are already accessing and use those same tools in their classroom instruction. Teachers must accept the fact that students are going to access it and begin teaching them how to do so responsibly.

Students are choosing certain media formats for a reason, because they want to. Why not choose a platform that students are already interested in and use it for education? It seems like a win win situation to me.

Written by special guest blogger
Angela Wedel, High School English Teacher 

Email: angwedel33@gmail.com 

Twitter: @angela_wedel

What are the Five Digital Literacies?

Curious about the five digital literacies?  Here you go:

1. Locate and filter.  This means effectively sifting through all the massive amounts of information on (and off) the Internet to find reliable resources for accurate and relevant information.
2. Share and collaborate.  When we produce content on the Web, we contribute to the global knowledge base, which is expanding exponentially.  This can take the form of creating a web-based slideshow on Google Slides or maintaining a creative writing blog.  Students can feel greatly accomplished by being part of it!
3. Organize and curate.  Show kids kids how to add additional meaning to content that they've located and filtered using social bookmarking sites like Diigo or curation platforms like Scoop.it.  This helps them learn skills such as how to categorize, group, share, editorialize, review rehash, and archive.
4. Create and generate.  Students can create and generate content on blogs, wikis, or podcasts.  Examples might be a poetry blog, a podcast of rhymes, or digital flashcards to help people study bird species.
5. Reuse and repurpose.  Students take content that's already out there, then use it to serve a new, often unrelated, purpose.  Examples include creating a song mashup (blending two or more recordings to create a new song), creating a timeline of American presidents, or creating a video presentation using existing text, images, video, or other media elements.

If this is all new to you, why not take it in small steps and learn with your students together?  This can actually encourage your students to be more creative, take ownership of their learning, and be less likely to look to you for the "right answer."

Reference:

Sumney, D.  (2013).  New literacies in a digital world.  Developing Digital Literacies: A Framework for Professional Learning.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin.
 

Digital literacies actually utilize traditional literacies