Friday, April 17, 2015

Scratch and coding!

Solana is teaching me Scratch! She's been creating and collaborating on Scratch this year, and it keeps coming up as a recommended site for students to start learn coding. I had told myself I was going to follow Cornelius Minor's advice to sit with a student for at least a few minutes a week and ask that student to teach you something new. (Yes, I'm part of the Cornelius Minor fan club!)

Of course that was back at the TCRWP Reunion in October...somehow my once a week goal didn't get off the ground for a while. More on SMART goals to come! Here's my project: once you get started, it's hard to stop. Now I understand why I have to drag her off of it! I know it's not that artistically impressive (!), but can't you see the great potential for creating with students while also addressing learning to code?

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

I love the way Expeditionary Learning distinguishes fieldwork from field trips. "Branching out" is one of my favorite videos highlighting an "expedition." This is what authentic learning looks like!
Fieldwork and Experts: The Branching Out Expedition at King Middle School from Expeditionary Learning on Vimeo.