Breakout Session Notes: Strategies for Supporting Diverse Students (November 2012 Meetup)

Notes by Karen Brennan from a breakout session hosted at the November 2012 Scratch Educator Meetup

Key Question
How do we support students who are diverse in their interests and current abilities?

Strategies

• create videos for students, like Colin's Scratch Challenges (http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/scratch-challenges-curriculum-beginner-advanced)
• offer a menu of challenge choices
• give a general challenge, then giving suggestions for adaptations to individual students
• build culture of asking a neighbor
• encourage kids to share their expertise in the classroom
• respond to the "I'm done" by asking the students to add layers
• give students freedom in process by providing them with a project specification sheet (e.g. needs to have a score, multiple players)