Thoughts on the Matter

Last year was my first year participating in the Hour of Code.  Prior to this I had no clue it even existed.  And honestly last year I had NO IDEA what I was doing.  I got the kids on the computer, pointed them at Code.org and off they went.  We sort of learned on the way, kids were doing some incredible stuff, and I saw how powerful the activities were. How far I have come in just a year.  Code.org is an "I'm Finished Activity" in my room.  I introduced it in the first few weeks of school.  I participated in Code training at the beginning of the summer and picked up a LOT of cool activities to do with my students. This year we started off Computer Science Education Week early.  I pulled one of the cool activities I did in my Code.org training and brought it to my students.  I had the students do graph paper coding.  The initial direction was to have students shade in 8 squares on their 4x4 graph paper and then write direction...

One of the elements I picked to work on for my growth plan is "Providing Feedback and Celebrating Progress".  When this element was celebrating success I picked it for my growth plan as well.  Mostly I want to provide my students with true, authentic, meaningful praise that encourages them to be lifetime learners.  I'm not there yet. I need to find a way that works for me and my students.  In the past celebratory cheers like roller coaster, fantastic (where you fake spray and wipe),  raise the roof, were some defaults.  But let's be honest they were hokey, I didn't buy into them and they didn't exactly work. I want the celebrations to be authentic and intrinsically motivating to my students.  I feel like the best thing I've got going right now is a high five.  Silly right?  When my students take benchmark assessments they scan their answers with the grade cam and their work is instantly graded.  I'm right there and can give them an i...