Cambridge Scratch Educator Meetups
Contributed by
ScratchEd Team, February 25, 2015
** Interesting in organizing a local Scratch educator meetup near you? Get started with our new Scratch Educator Meetup Guide, available for download at meetups.gse.harvard.edu. Meet up with us! **
Since November 2014, Ingrid Gustafson, Janet Dee, and Rosemary Slattery have been co-organizing free, monthly Scratch educator meetups at the Kennedy-Longfellow School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The three women met and quickly became friends while regularly attending of the monthly meetup gatherings hosted by the ScratchEd Team at MIT from 2010 to 2014. When it was announced that the ScratchEd Team would no longer be coordinating the meetups after June 2014, Ingrid, Janet, and Rosemary made a collective decision to continue the meetups as a way to get together with other educators using Scratch in the Boston-area.
What happens at these monthly gatherings? Here is what this month's Cambridge meetup looked like:
In the post-meetup reflections, Ingrid shares a recap of the event's happenings:
Part 1: Networking & Scheduling
We started off our Saturday morning with bagels, beverages, and fruit. The group circled up and everyone introduced themselves by answering questions: What's your name? Where are you from? What do you do? What is one thing/project, inside or outside of your day job, that you are proud of this year? Next, attendees wrote one or two ideas for session topics on post-it notes which were then gathered on the whiteboard. Adam and Ingrid helped group together the sessions into a total of three sessions instead of the usual four.
Part 2: Exploring & Learning
Our group had two 45 minute blocks to fill with sessions. In the first block, there were two sessions: Introduction to Scratch and Teaching with Scratch. In the second block, there was a large interest in exploring extensions with Scratch as well as some of the other technology tools in the Kennedy-Longfellow Makerspace, so we created on session called Extensions.
Part 3: Sharing & Reflecting
Learn more about the Cambridge meetups, see pictures from the meetup, and get details on how to register to join the next Cambridge meetup at http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/discussions/scratch-educator-meetups/recap-scratched-cambridge-meetup-kennedy-longfellow-saturday-fe.
Since November 2014, Ingrid Gustafson, Janet Dee, and Rosemary Slattery have been co-organizing free, monthly Scratch educator meetups at the Kennedy-Longfellow School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The three women met and quickly became friends while regularly attending of the monthly meetup gatherings hosted by the ScratchEd Team at MIT from 2010 to 2014. When it was announced that the ScratchEd Team would no longer be coordinating the meetups after June 2014, Ingrid, Janet, and Rosemary made a collective decision to continue the meetups as a way to get together with other educators using Scratch in the Boston-area.
What happens at these monthly gatherings? Here is what this month's Cambridge meetup looked like:
Scratch Educator Meetup Guide from ScratchEd on Vimeo.
In the post-meetup reflections, Ingrid shares a recap of the event's happenings:
Part 1: Networking & Scheduling
We started off our Saturday morning with bagels, beverages, and fruit. The group circled up and everyone introduced themselves by answering questions: What's your name? Where are you from? What do you do? What is one thing/project, inside or outside of your day job, that you are proud of this year? Next, attendees wrote one or two ideas for session topics on post-it notes which were then gathered on the whiteboard. Adam and Ingrid helped group together the sessions into a total of three sessions instead of the usual four.
Part 2: Exploring & Learning
Our group had two 45 minute blocks to fill with sessions. In the first block, there were two sessions: Introduction to Scratch and Teaching with Scratch. In the second block, there was a large interest in exploring extensions with Scratch as well as some of the other technology tools in the Kennedy-Longfellow Makerspace, so we created on session called Extensions.
Part 3: Sharing & Reflecting
Keeping in the spirit of the Makerspace, we each made our own DIY deli sandwhiches at lunch time with a side of chips, veggies, and salad. During the Show & Tell we had three participants share their projects. Mike Condor shared how he uses Scratch to create designs that he then prints using a laser wood cutter. Richard shared a creative animation he worked on incorporating images and music. Dan shared a particle simluator he created using Scratch. As final words for the meetup, we went around the room and shared one thing we learned and if we achieved our goals for the day.
Learn more about the Cambridge meetups, see pictures from the meetup, and get details on how to register to join the next Cambridge meetup at http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/discussions/scratch-educator-meetups/recap-scratched-cambridge-meetup-kennedy-longfellow-saturday-fe.
Comments
Nicky Niu
Member
January 30, 2016
the meet up is pretty good.
