Diary of a Digital Learning Coach

Computer Science Education Week and #HourOfCode are almost HERE!!! This year CISD will be celebrating the week of December 3rd-9th. Our Digital Learning Coach team has worked to create some awesome resources all included on the CISD Hour of Code website . K-2 educators will find a collection of resources that can be used with learners including unplugged activities, vocabulary and more. 3-12th grade learners can go directly to self-directed Hour of Code using Learner Choice Menus on the site . On the choice menus, learners may select one of four topics. Each topic has a learn, do, and reflect portion to complete. All reflections will be shared via a districtwide Flipgrid so we can all celebrate our learning together! 3rd-5th Grade Resources 6th-12th Grade Resources Once your learners have participated in the Hour of Code, we encourage you to celebrate and award them their Hour of Code Certificate of Completion . A digital version of this certifica...

Every year, I look forward to the week we celebrate Hour of Code, but not for the reason you might think.  Sure, the exploration time and engagement during HOC is exciting, but what I really look forward to is what happens AFTER the Hour of Code. I wanted to triple like this tweet by Jon Samuelson .  Since I couldn't, I am posting it here: Preach it, @jonsamuelson! The Hour of Code is meant to spark further engagement and interest in coding and robotics.  So as you head into winter break, consider: How does your classroom #continuecoding? What part does coding play in your learning experiences and curriculum?  My teammate, Megan Kozar wrote an amazing blog this week about taking the Hour of Code further.  It outlines the why we must continue experiences past the hour, how CISD's Code2Learn initiative is designed to build the thinking skills behind coding and robotics into the curriculum  and  how we as Digital Learning Coaches can help . ...

I know we are all in "turkey mode", counting the days until we wear our comfy pants and watch football, but truthfully I am just as excited for the weeks after break.   In district? Contact me with questions on how to attend! Not only is my team offering a DLC PLN Launch Party event to kick start professional learning networks within our district (see image on the left), but the HOUR OF CODE is coming!! You might remember my passion for the Hour of Code from last year when I posted about it here and here . This year, my awesome team has built up some awesome resources to support our educators and learners as we once again celebrate the week of December 4-10th. All educators Pre-K-12 are invited to sign up for Hour of Code and check out the resources below! Sign up for the Hour of Code K-12 Resources for educators curated by the Coppell DLCs K-2 Choice board for learners 3-5th grade Choice Board for Learners Are you in CISD?  All of these resou...

The countdown is on...Hour of Code starts on Monday!  Yes, I am a little obsessed.  In my blog here , I broke down some ways to participate and get yourself started in designing. This week, I have had so much fun talking to educators about plans and helping them work on designs that I couldn't resist blogging about it again.   Technology Ted loves to code at code.org The refreshing thing to me is that Hour of Code is what you make of it.   For example, one of the houses of K-5 learners I work with is hosting their Hour Of Code playdate style - with experiences set up in each classroom each day of the week that learners of all ages can choose from. Since they do Challenge Based Learning and are actively involved in the big idea of Discovery,  their challenge for the week's activities will be  based around the challenge, "Discover how programmers think".  They are including robotics like Code-a-pillar and BlueBots, unplugged activities, a...

The Hour of Code is coming!!  A nationwide week to celebrate computer science in our classrooms, this week allows our learners to experience coding in all forms as educators set aside an hour through the week to DEAC - drop everything and code. While we are working to embed the problem solving skills involved in learning the language of coding into our classroom experiences all year round, the Hour of Code week allows us to set aside time to learn and explore with other learners throughout the globe.  Learning is way more fun together! How can my classroom participate? Add your class or campus to the Hour of Code map Determine how your Hour of Code might work.   Will you do it all in one hour on one day? Or through the week? What resources might you use and expose your learners to? How can you involve others in your school to be involved too? Select the resources you might use.  Here are some of favorites! https://code.org/learn Hou...