I will be in the GATE classroom for the Tuesday Parent conferences, but unfortunately will be unavailable/ out of town attending a State Gifted Conference during the Thursday conference times.
Elementary & Middle school parents -- come by Tuesday after school if you can make it!
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING STATION:
I have set up computers for students to show you how to computer program. Each computer is labeled Parent 1 - Parent 6 so that 6 parents can be coding at the same time. The password for each account is the picture of the Red bird. Feel free to practice in your own time at home as well~ I will keep these accounts active; however, since you are sharing with other parents you will need to remember which level you are on.
MARKETING / BRANDING STATION:
I will have the iMac & have 3 iPads on the tables for students to show you about the marketing/ branding unit we have been doing. Feel free to use the paper and markers to design your own logo.
Be sure to ask your students the following question:
1. What symbols should you use? Here is the website they drew inspiration from
2. What colors should you consider for your logo? (Use the color chart below)
3. How should your name appear on your logo?
*some classes will be able to show you the logos they have been working on, whereas others have taken their projects home.
SPHERO STATION:
Under my grey cabinets, I will have 3 iPads and spheros waiting for you. Yes, the spheros can move around like remote controlled objects, but challenge your students to show you the app "Macro" and how it works. Students have each created 2-3 small computer programs for the Spheros within this app.
1. Have them show you how to use RGB to change its color
2. How they use the vocabulary "degrees" to set its heading
3. And if they can program it to do something special just for you!
EXCITING THINGS COMING?
We just received a $1000 grant for a 3D printer.
I will work on getting all the materials in needed to run this new equipment and being looking at next year to integrate 3D design into our curriculum.
This week I tried to trick the students. Knowing Hawaii wasn't on the main part of their maps, but rather tucked in the left hand corner -- I was almost sure they'd forget about it. Sure enough, students eliminated every state on the mainland and then looked back at their instructors confused and a little frustrated; however, it didn't take long. Within a minute, the lights in their heads went off and they knew EXACTLY that they were talking to Hawaii.
The second class was just as fun. I was hopeful that putting the other class right under their noses (in Oklahoma) would throw them off a little. As I walked by a few tables I overheard students telling each other, "Well, we know they aren't Oklahoma." Despite my tricks, both teams successfully found the other classes mystery Skype locations.
The last class of the day almost didn't get to Skype! The teacher and I had a miscommunication due to timezones and they weren't available. Thank goodness for Twitter and this sweet teacher in California who picked us up last min! This class was able to find their counterparts just below Los Angeles in California. These students live off the beach and were 20 minutes from Disney Land and many go there monthly!
NEW ZEALAND
This international Skype proved to be absolutely amazing! Students on both sides of the Skype were able to find the location, province/state, and city of the other and then engaged in conversations about where they lived. Highlights: When New Zealand realized it was literally freezing in Oklahoma (32 degrees C) their reactions were hilarious. Our students asked them about the myth that their toilet flushes the opposite way of ours. New Zealand students quickly ran to the bathroom to investigate and the conversations about it had me laughing the rest of the day. Thank you so much for the Skype! We truly enjoyed it! Highlight Version of New Zealand Here:
New Zealand taped the entire version and posted Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il0ZbfWWBsA
UNITED KINGDOM
We used most of the class period trying to find each other and did not have time for question/ conversations after the Skype. These kiddos were a little younger than us, but were every bit as good. We finally were able to find them in Scotland!
ONTARIO, CANADA (St. Thomas)
I was worried that scheduling a skype to Canada would prove to be too easy. We did find the other's nations very quickly, but trying to find their province and city was extremely difficult! Knowing it was an international skype, we kept looking too far away! St. Thomas is just a hop, skip, and jump away from New York and borders our very own Lake Eerie. They were almost hiding underneath us! After the skype students discussed which fast food chain's each nation had and were surprised to see Patriot's football fans in the Canadian classroom.
ONTARIO, CANADA (Toronto)
Again, Canada seems to stump us! They asked if we were in the United States as their first question! I thought we were goners, but we rallied and found their province before they found our state (they have a few more options than we did). We ended up finding them in the last minute in Toronto and decided to take a selfie together :)
VENEZUELA
This teacher was wanting his class to have a "language" experience and we were needing a "mystery skype". The answer was a compromise. Students mystery skyped just like in the other classes, but then had to take their question to a translator. This translator would write the message in spanish using an online translator and then we would attempt to say the question in spanish and then in English.
When the Skype occurred we realized immediately that there had been more of a language barrier than we expected, but we compromised again. They asked us questions about our lives and we asked them normal Mystery Skype questions trying to find them. We were able to get them located between 4-5 different countries on the northern tip of South America when they decided to sing a song to us. Although the song was in spanish a few students thought they heard the word Venezuela and so that was our next guess! Great job kids.
Today we neatly tuck away all of our augmented reality, technology gizmos, Sphero robots, and coding curriculum and move into the creative, artistic world of GRAPHIC DESIGN.
Following the renowned graphic design "Next Door" curriculum, students dove into the world of marketing and began learning all about branding and logo design. What better place to start than with a product you know everything about and are the best expert on.... you!
Students were challenged to take their new knowledge of branding and logo creation and apply it to themselves. We discussed how each of us is a brand. Everyday we have conversations, behave, and make choices that either work for or against the brand we are wanting to establish. We learned that as the designer of our brand, we can have the power to persuade others through the marketing of our brand. In class one, students had to "dig deep" and decide who they were and what their brand should project.
1. Students owned their brand by exploring their name. What does it look like written several different ways. Do I want to look approachable and friendly, or serious and logical? Students learned that their signature "speaks" for them on formal documents. Now they just need to work to get it to "speak" in the same language of their brand they are creating.
2. Students determined the personality& attitude they desired their brand to display.
3. Students learned about color psychology and how brands use colors to influence consumers. Students studied 10 major colors and made notes about if it fit their brand or not.
4. Student explored their goals: made a list of jobs, purposes, visions for their brand. Some classroom brands focused on short term goals (be a good student) while others felt they already knew their purpose (work in education, etc.)
5. Students discussed the use of symbols in branding a company. We explored symbols of current logos and brainstormed symbols that we might want to consider that supported our goals.
6. To help us get started, we then logged into http://www.designmantic.com/ where students can type their name, set filters, and manipulate objects and colors. Students sketched ideas down and used the site for inspiration.
7. Lastly, students will work to design the logo of their brand using their name. They will review their research on designmantic and work to merge their ideas into a cohesive logo. Students will make sure the logo is relevant to their brand's goals and be able to support their decisions in discussions. Students made sure that the logo colors were not their favorite colors, but rather, used color psychology to influence the view of their brand.
Academic Vocabulary:
Marketing
Fonts
Graphic Design
Brand / Branding
Brand Management
Logo
Color Psychology
I cannot put into words what a pleasure today turned out to be.
I had not planned on taking pictures or videos, but it was one of those days where the kids were just blowing my mind. The class was filled with energy as they were designing, evaluating, and changing their codes to include new and creative ideas… all while having a great time.
There is nothing better than sitting back and just enjoying the kids enjoying learning.
Watching students go through our coding curriculum over the past 2 months, I can personally see why computer programming has a reputation for increasing academic ability and test scores. Yes, it is full of math and logical thinking…. but more that that, it teaches perseverance. I know my own children prefer to get the correct answer the first time they attempt something and they'd like that answer to come to them preferably in under 2 seconds flat (as not to waste their valuable time, lol). Most students want the same thing. To answer quickly, and then of course, for their answer to have been brilliant. Computer programming does the exact opposite! When students program, they are wrong just as much as they are right and over time they become okay with it. One of our class mottos is "mistakes are okay," and computer programming definitely reinforces that concept. The fear of failure limits how much they are willing to put themselves out there. Working as a computer programmer, they learn to be wrong A LOT.
In computer programming, this process of being wrong and then working to fix it is called "debugging". When the algorithm the students map out does not bring the desired or intended results in the program, students have to look back into the code they created and find the mistake, correct (or debug) it, and then evaluate if that truly fixed the problem or not. Sometimes it takes repeating this process several times before determining the correct solution. As a past science teacher-- this is the scientific method 101; however, coding does something more for the students. I have never been able to convince students to fully accept their failures as learning or be patient enough to want to evaluate what went wrong and/or fix the problem. The coding curriculum is teaching students to slow down, think logically, and correct their mistakes without taking it personally. Taking it one step further, my students are gaining confidence! They are realizing that making a mistake is a small bump in the road that they can easily fix with a little effort and working through their "failures" is giving them a sense of pride in their own abilities and accomplishments.
To call today a "win" doesn't quite measure up to the success I'm so excited about. Today was most definitely a win! But I'm more excited to watch children gain life skills that will help them in any area they want to pursue. Being able to problem solve ( in such a way that shows perseverance and sticking with a task until completion), think critically and meaningfully, gain confidence in their ability to handle and overcome perceived failure, and to have fun while doing it…shows me they are building on the skills they will need to be successful in life and tackle any profession their heart desires-- Now THAT'S exciting!
The video above is from code.org where the last 10 min. of class we created a flappy code. If you are a fan of the "flappy bird"app then you know it is extremely hard to score points and stay alive more than 4 seconds. The Flappy Code coding game allows students to create their own rules to play the game. Many of my students had a great time making up rules that would allow them to get points no matter what they did. Even more amazing, on level 10, students find out that they are then able to share the game they made and play it on their iPhone or send it to friends! Talk about correlating coding to the real world! I give you 10 stars for this one, code.org. HUGE success! :)
All GATE students will begin a program through code.org They will be given a password in class and can work on their account in GT class or at home! Students can work at their own pace and the great thing about logging in is that it remembers exactly which levels have been completed and how well you did at those levels!
Computer Scientists-->be scared! We are the next specialists ready to take your jobs in 10+ years!!! :)
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