Reflections on Scratch Educator Meetup @ MIT: Saturday, November 10, 2012

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the November 2012 Scratch Educator Meetup!

Here is a recap and some reflections from the event:

Attendees
Below is a list of people who attended the meetup on Saturday:

• Sandra Bleecker
• Janet Dee
• Vicki Gold
• Megan Haddadi
• Shaleen Jain
• Joe Jones
• Lorraine Leo
• Colin Meltzer
• Barbara Mikolajczak
• Pamela St. Aimee
• Karen Brennan
• Michelle Chung
• Laura Johnson
• Rupangi Sharma

To connect with someone from the meetup, click on a name above and leave a message on their profile page.

Recap

• Meet up with Me - Upon arrival, each attendee filled out a networking worksheet to facilitate making connections between meetup participants.
• Introductions - We went around the circle and each shared our name, where we're from, and one goal for the meetup which we used to brainstorm breakout sessions.
• Breakout Sessions - As a group, the participants decided on two sets of two breakout sessions. During the first breakout sessions, Colin facilitated a discussion on how to support diverse learners in the classroom while Megan led a group session on hosting Scratch professional development. In the second round of breakouts, Karen hosted a design challenge with Scratch 2.0 and Pamela facilitated a group discussion around looking beyond Scratch to other programming languages.
  
• Photos - Check out photos from the meetup.

Breakout Sessions
Click on the links below to see notes taken during the breakout sessions

• Supporting Diverse Students
• Facilitating Scratch PD
• Next Steps after Scratch
• Scratch 2.0 Design Challenge

Announcements, Questions, Suggestions, and Reflections
After a lunch of delicious Cosi sandwiches, salads, and cookies, everyone gathered to share news, ideas, and upcoming events:

• The next meetup wil be held on Saturday, December 8. Hope to see you there!
• Scratch 2.0 is planning on being released in early 2013! Interested in testing Scratch 2.0? Sign up here.
• Laura, a ScratchEd intern, is interested in learning more about people's experiences at the meetup and with other Scratch PD. Contact her to share your experiences.
• Rupangi, also a ScratchEd intern, is researching how Scratch is being used across the curriculum. Contact her if you or someone you know is using Scratch with core curriculum subjects.
• Karen is planning a Scratch 2.0 event/party/intensive/celebration for educators to learn more about the new version of Scratch. Event details TBD (and we'll make sure that there's free parking!)
• CSEdWeek is being celebrated December 9-15 this year. Check out the website to learn more about how you and your students can get involved.
• Janet announced that the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) is having a Greater Boston chapter meeting this Spring and she encouraged meetup attendees to participate. Find out more on the CSTA website. 
• Have suggestions for Scratch 2.0? You can share them on the 2.0 alpha site or here on ScratchEd. 
  

Join us for the next Scratch Educator Meetup on Saturday, December 8 at MIT. Registration is available at http://2012-2013meetups.eventbrite.com.

Thanks for meeting up with us!