Friday 19 September 2019 - Journey Progress
Progress on this TLIF journey 19 September 2019
Well we have been on this journey for about about a month now. In this time I have set up Google Classroom and started getting my head around Scratch. But this has been challenging. I am going to have to do some research on how to set tasks up in Google Classroom.
We have had two sessions running sessions with our target students. But with this I have found that 1 hour is probably not enough time. We need to use the whole 1.5hours of the middle block. Although some students are quite comfortable with the idea of coding there are a number who are not.
With these students we need to slow the pace and give them more time to get comfortable with the system, what it entails and what it can do. Doing blogging is also a new experience for a number of these children. So I think we need to be more focused and structured for these students. We need to peel things right back to the most basic level we can and scaffold a lot to start with. Once the children are comfortable and have built their confidence, then ramp it up another gear. Those of us who are "experts" in this area mustn't forget there are others who need alot of support (including teachers among this). I feel that the pace can sometimes be too fast and some individuals are left behind feeling incompetent and as if this mountain is insurmountable. Let's slow it down.
I also feel like we need to have some plan of where we are going. Perhaps having a type of Gantt chart may be helpful. But this needs to be flexible and open to change.
Daren has made some good suggestions and perhaps we should have a chat about it next time we meet.
Well we have been on this journey for about about a month now. In this time I have set up Google Classroom and started getting my head around Scratch. But this has been challenging. I am going to have to do some research on how to set tasks up in Google Classroom.
We have had two sessions running sessions with our target students. But with this I have found that 1 hour is probably not enough time. We need to use the whole 1.5hours of the middle block. Although some students are quite comfortable with the idea of coding there are a number who are not.
With these students we need to slow the pace and give them more time to get comfortable with the system, what it entails and what it can do. Doing blogging is also a new experience for a number of these children. So I think we need to be more focused and structured for these students. We need to peel things right back to the most basic level we can and scaffold a lot to start with. Once the children are comfortable and have built their confidence, then ramp it up another gear. Those of us who are "experts" in this area mustn't forget there are others who need alot of support (including teachers among this). I feel that the pace can sometimes be too fast and some individuals are left behind feeling incompetent and as if this mountain is insurmountable. Let's slow it down.
I also feel like we need to have some plan of where we are going. Perhaps having a type of Gantt chart may be helpful. But this needs to be flexible and open to change.
Daren has made some good suggestions and perhaps we should have a chat about it next time we meet.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I do agree with the hour and a half time period. We talked about this in our last session. I also agree that we are introducing a lot all at once. However, I have confidence that our students will all manage and all experience success at some level. Once everyone is familiar with using the tools then they will gain confidence and be able to meet the challenges ahead. I think after the recent teacher only session we had that there should be more clarity in the direction we are going. If we can have one or two more teacher only sessions in Term 4 it will enable you and the other teachers to take leadership of the programme. We can adjust the pace as we go but I think having high expectations to begin with is a good thing. I will share the overview for next term with you soon. I intend adding some video tutorials to help teachers and students with the content. Look forward to reading your next blog post "Surprise Sprite".
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