Welcome to Creative Computing 2011!
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Karen Brennan
Member
July 27, 2011
Dear Creative Computing 2011 Educators,
We're thrilled that you're able to join us here at the MIT Media Lab for this four-day workshop. 395 educators applied for the only 40 positions we had available, so we're going to do everything we can to share what we're doing on ScratchEd.
The prompt for this first session's reflection is:
What do you hope to accomplish during your Creative Computing workshop experience?
Sincerely,
Karen, on behalf of the Creative Computing organizing team
@ Larry and Sarah....what is a PicoBoard? I am going to have to look that up.
Eric I think it's great that you want to share Scratch with your students. Elementary students will love it!
Better late than, I always say. I am still new to scratch but I think I am going to use it to help me create a project on 'Goal Setting and Self-Esteem. I have developed a whole program that is related to this issue. I will try to keep up with the rest of the class:-)
Now that we're on the last day...has this idea become clearer to you? If so, what do you have in mind?
You are too humble. My expectations for you are high!
Ernest, Your project is intriguing "Goal Setting and Self-Esteem" with elementary school. I would be interested in how you would incorporate Scratch. Would you use social interaction behaviors (facial queues, body language, etc)?
Thanks, Eleanor
I'm very interested in hearing about your idea...my school has an advisory period built into the schedule (7/8 grade) and I want to make the time COUNT.
I would like to learn what other teacher are doing in scratch so that I may improve my portfolio.
Exactly, hearing what others are creating, will most likely trigger some of my own ideas.
Hi Gilberto,
I want to do the same as you. Last year I asked teachers what they were doing in class so that I could incorporate their lessons into my technology classes. I wanted to specifically use Scratch for the 3rd grade and I couldn't figure out what to do? So I hope to get ideas as well as resources to find them. Good Luck
I have been trying for a while to incorporate what the classroom teachers are doing in there classes into my technology class, I have had some success, but more with the students than the teachers. I would love to hear what luck other teachers have had using scratch in coporation with core subjects.
I agree with you. I am always looking for new ideas to increase the types of projects to have my students create.
I completely agree with you Gilberto. I have found the best way to learn is to collaborate with others and discuss different ways to educate
I am looking forward to connecting with other educators and learning new programming techniques which I can then share with my students. I am also hoping to develop lessons/curriculum that I can share with other teachers at my school, which will demonstrate the power of Scratch.
Patrice,
This is what I would like to do too and also get the 7th and 8th grade students and teachers at my school to use Scratch rather than just PowerPoint for their projects in the core curriculum areas.
Wouldn't that be wonderful! Some how we need to convince them that PowerPoint is not the only way to do things!
I am excited to learn more about teaching and using Scratch in the elementary school, so my students get interested in programming!
Joanne, Sarah and Sandi--
I'm also an elementary teacher (2/3 multi-age) and look forward to talking with you and others about using Scratch with our students.
Larry
This year I am revamping the entire elementary school technology curriculum K-5 and training new staff, so I would love to connect with you on this. I am more familiar with middle/high school.
Joanne,
It's nice to see another elementary teacher. So often, things like this are thought to be for middle school and up. We've used Scratch a little with our elementary students in Suffern, NY and they pick it up so fast. I look forward to getting some great ideas for our little guys.
Hi Joanne,
I teach technology and have used Scratch with grades 3 - 8 and find that it's not too difficult for the lower grades and still challenging for the older students. I as well am looking forward to getting ideas from others.
Scratch is introduced at the elementary level in my school district. I would like to build on my basic knowledge of Scratch to work with Middle School Students in the different core curriculum areas.
I hope to get some innovative ideas for the use of SCRATCH in S.T.E.M. units for projects and alternative assessment. I'd like to learn how to embed SCRATCH into the unit and make it meaningful, rather than adding technology for the sake of adding it.
My department is currently updating the Middle Division and Introductory Computer Science courses. I hope this workshop will provide ideas and inspiration that will help with these curriculum decisions.
Hi, Janet,
Our school will also be re-writing curriculum for the middle school and high school CS classes. I am hoping to be able to build Scratch into the new curriculum. Best of luck with your curriculum re-write.
Mayra
I hope to introduce scratch programing in my school for 5th and 6th grades. My classes are not leveled so I need ideas that will include Special Ed and Honors students in the same classes.
When I used this with my grade 5 inclusion class, it was an opportunity for my kids on IEP's with reading and language disabilities to shine. One girl, who is on the very low end of the spectrum for comprehension, etc. and would fade away into the background if I let her, was the star who was the go to person for the other students. Does Robert Gardner have a new intelligence for Technology?
Have you read Gardner's latest, "Five Minds for the Future?" His "Creative" and "Synthesizing" minds are definitely exercised with Scratch.
I introduced Scratch to a 6 grade computer explorer class. Our classes are not leveled either so about a quarter of the class was on an Ed Plan if you want some ideas, I would be happy to discuss. (although, I only just started in the 4th quarter).
I hope to learn enough about Scratch so that I can introduce it into the 8th grade computing cycle at our school. I would like to be able to develop a creative project before the end of the workshop using Scratch.
Scratch is perfect for 8th graders. I only meet with my 7th & 8th grade computer students once a week, so I'd like to introduce a basic lesson and hope that they continue the work outside of class. Maybe we could revisit ongoing projects throughout the year. I think more opportunity may be in our after school media club. By sharing our projects online, students can access our samples, and then take it where they want.
I hope to learn more about Scratch and how I can integrate with a 6th grade collaborative project at my school where the kids already use Scratch and are doing a project integrating Art they create inspired by what they see of impressionistic work at the MFA and described through the language they are studying - either French or Spanish. I'd like to know more about the Music components in Scratch, and I just want to be challenged and have fun!
It would be great to see the project you develop. We like to start the elementary projects in scratch so the middle school students can build on their early skills. I have been trying to work with our art teacher to develop a cool art based project for our elem students.
Hi Joanne.
I would love to be able to do a collaborative project with my school's art teacher, so I would be interested in finding out what type of projects you are working on,
Debbie,
Scratch is very new to me and I too would like to learn more about the Music components in Sratch.
I am looking forward to combining self generated art work and photography with Scratch possibilities. I am also interested in experimenting with the Pico board and external interfaces.
I would love to try the Pico Board too, possibly write a grant.
Although I teach CS, I am also interested in combining art work with Scratch. I think it would be a great way to get non-techy kids (especially girls) interested in computing and its possibilities.
I'm also interested in the PicoBoard. Let's try to connect this week and explore possibilities.
Larry
Larry,
I was not familiar with the PicBoard. Thanks for mentioning it! I've already learned something new.
Sandi
I look forward to meeting "kindred spirits" -- and exploring new ways to help children learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
I don't know that kids need to be taught how to think creatively. Scratch allows them to express their creative thinking in ways that were not possible before though. Along the way they will learn about logic and problem decomposition.
There is no doubt that kids start out with incredible curiosity about the world and a desire to experiment and try new things. But I think that everyone (from early childhood through adult) needs to continue to develop their capacity for creative thinking and expression. I think we can all learn to become more creative thinkers -- and, as you note, develop new ways to express ourselves creatively.
I wish to find out more about the scratch programming language and see how I can implement it into my HS curriculum.
I would like to become more proficient at Scratch and learn different ways to integrate it into our elementary curriculum.
I used Sratch with first through fifth graders. We using the introductory level video tutorials. Students learned at their own pace. My goal is to make stronger curriculum connections and using the advanced features of Scratch. I would like students to see the math concept without having learned about it in math class. For example this year I introduced students to action created from using negative numbers - how an object can move to the left (negative numbers are on the number line left of zero). I would like students to learn about variables.
Also, I work with an after school robotics club, I would like to connect Scratch to Lego robotics if possible.
Thank you.
Eleanor
Eleanor,
I'll definately seek you out. As a newbie, I'd love to see more of the possibilities of teaching and using Scratch to reinforce the grade level curricula. It's so important to engage the students and "sneak" in the learning.
I'm fairly new to Scratch. However, from what I already know about it, I think it will make a great fit for my third graders as part of our school district's engineering initiative.
I hope to learn more about how Scratch can be employed in the classroom, network with other Scratch educators, and learn about opportunities toward future Scratch professional development. I know the basics about Scratch and hope to learn beyond the basics.
I need an intensive session with Scratch in order to increase my confidence and creativity, therefore becoming a stronger instructor. I hope to gain new knowledge to share with students who are already creating in Scratch. I also wish to use Scratch as a media tool, and to collaborate with other teachers.