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Maryland ScratchEd Meetup Recap

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ScratchEd Team
Administrator
April 01, 2016
On March 19, Dianne O'Grady Cunniff organized and hosted the first-ever Maryland ScratchEd Meetup at Charles County High School, in Waldorf, MD, with help from her colleague, Joe Greenawalt.
 



24 educators participated in the event, from 3rd grade teachers, to high school CS instructors, to librarians.


After a Bingo ice-breaker and introductions, participants contributed to the day's schedule with their passions, interests, and questions.

Dianne combined participant ideas with a few pre-planned sessions, and the schedule for the day became:
  • Elementary Learners
  • CS First Club
  • Finch Robots
  • Scratch Projects
  • CS Framework




In the Elementary Learners session, teachers shared projects their students had created:



In the Finch Robots session, Dianne invited to participants to tinker with Scratch scripts to make the robots move, change colors and say something. No one in the group had used the robots before but after 45 minutes, everyones robots were boistrously moving around the floor, saying hilarious lines like, "Take me to your leader" as their "noses" lit up.




After the meetup, Dianne sent out this note to participants.

Thank you to all 24 of you who came, participated and helped out to make a very interesting and worthwhile Scratch meet-up today!

 

Some resources:

  1. StemKidsUSA.org, the programming books series that people were raving about created by Pam Trepanier

  2. ScratchEd community https://scratch.mit.edu/educators/ ** Amazing resources with TONS of ideas **

  3. Finchrobot.com to get information about purchasing or using robots in the classroom.

  4. Rubric and student handouts for a project to create your own storybook ending in Scratch https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bzy3A1l8jB9ed0xZRGVoUkVKSHc&usp=sharing

  5. Some nice presentations Scratch across the curriculum http://slides.com/jamesabela/deck#/Scratch in ES https://prezi.com/3h4yp6ylqe0w/showcase-portfolio-for-aes-3rd-grade-fall-stem-2015/.

  6. The new framework for computer science K-12 education. k12cs.org all feedback welcomed.

  7. A simple algorithm for bringing coding to your school http://www.wisestamp.com/corporate/resources/wisestamp-knowledge-base/educational-institutions/a-simple-algorithm-for-bringing-coding-to-your-school/

  8. Want to send people to learn about the Code Studio? An introduction to programming with blocks? Have them sign up for a free 1-day workshop

  9. 04/23/16, 09:00 - 03:30 Charles County School Administration Building

  10. 07/26/16, 09:00am - 03:30pmCollege of Southern Maryland

  11. https://code.org/professional-development-workshops

    Do you have more to add? Put it on our sharing wall:http://padlet.com/wall/76regixpsqir

Keep an eye out for more good ideas to share and an invite to the next computer education enthusiasts get together in May!

 

Finally, a survey: An increasing number of schools are teaching children to code. Dr. Peter Rich of Brigham Young University is conducting a study to better understand primary education teachers’ current practices to teach computing. If you teach computing (e.g., coding, programming, computer science) to children ages 14 or younger, please consider participating in this 20-minute survey at https://goo.gl/wzKXRi.

Those who teach computing to children 14 and younger and complete the survey will be entered to win an ipad mini. There will be a random drawing to give away 4 ipad minis for the first 800 complete responses.

Thanks!--


Dianne O'Grady-Cunniff
CS Matters in Maryland
Charles County Public Schools



Are you interested in hosting a meetup in your community? Check out the ScratchEd Meetup Guide.