updated Proposal: Spring 2021
I wrote my campus Innovation Plan with my colleague Jason Long, who is a fellow CTE teacher and in my DLL cohort group. The IP was completely built around Coding Camps. (Scroll down to see initial proposal below.)
Unsurprisingly, when COVID hit, we had to pivot in a totally new direction.
One of the most persistent needs to emerge during the whole pandemic has been the need for students’ SEL (or social emotional learning) to be supported. Mental health check ins, mindfulness and meditation, team building, games and jokes are all ways to build a positive rapport in class and support students’ and teachers’ SEL. Much of my research, PL planning and other work have been toward this goal.
What I’ve just come to realize is that our coding camps were supporting all these elements, just through the lens, or content, of coding.
As an example, we played a collaborative game called Treasure Hunt, where one student hid a little surprise somewhere in the near vicinity, and then made a video recording the step-by-step directions needed to reach the prize. Then the partner student, who didn’t know where the prize was hidden, would follow those video directions and see if they could find the treasure.
On the surface, you might think this activity was all about coding, and the concepts are certainly supported. But there’s a layer underneath the coding that reflects all these goals related to SEL. This activity was collaborative and creative, supported students’ curiosity and problem solving. It was also fun! This is just one example that I can share that shows how our coding camp plans were supporting students’ social-emotional learning.
On the surface, you might think this activity was all about coding, and the concepts are certainly supported. But there’s a layer underneath the coding that reflects all these goals related to SEL. This activity was collaborative and creative, supported students’ curiosity and problem solving. It was also fun! This is just one example that I can share that shows how our coding camp plans were supporting students’ social-emotional learning.
Even though we were forced to take a break from the physical coding camps for the time being, we’ve continued to support our students’ SEL through all sorts of routines, activities and projects in our CTE classes. Furthermore, I think experiences this past year also gave us fresh ideas for what we can add to future coding camps to make them even better. On the surface, it might seem like my Innovation Plan has changed, but I think this year has showed me one of the most essential parts of it is still intact, still supported and still necessary.
To promote and communicate our plan for future coding camps with SEL in mind, we'll have to work closely with our campus admin and leadership team to plan things in a safe and smart way. Athletic camps and summer school are currently being planned, so we have every reason to believe that coding camps will be back in full steam as well. As we near the end of March, we'll be reaching out to our CTE vertical team of teachers so we can promote the camps at their campuses and throughout the district. In the past, we offered 3 separate classes (one for elementary, one for middle school and one for high school) and this worked well to allow students to be with their near peer groups. Furthermore, we will enlist the teachers we had for those cohort groups because they have the experience and rapport for this to be a success.
Moving forward, I'm interested in studying, researching and practicing how technology can support SEL. This work is just beginning.
To promote and communicate our plan for future coding camps with SEL in mind, we'll have to work closely with our campus admin and leadership team to plan things in a safe and smart way. Athletic camps and summer school are currently being planned, so we have every reason to believe that coding camps will be back in full steam as well. As we near the end of March, we'll be reaching out to our CTE vertical team of teachers so we can promote the camps at their campuses and throughout the district. In the past, we offered 3 separate classes (one for elementary, one for middle school and one for high school) and this worked well to allow students to be with their near peer groups. Furthermore, we will enlist the teachers we had for those cohort groups because they have the experience and rapport for this to be a success.
Moving forward, I'm interested in studying, researching and practicing how technology can support SEL. This work is just beginning.
Initial Proposal: 2019 - 2020
Technology in itself is not enough.
Technology has always been a valued tool in the classroom. From pencils and paper to overhead projectors to today’s digital era, classroom instruction has always been guided by the ever-evolving technological landscape. Yet technology in itself is not enough. As the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages notes in their Role of Technology in Language Learning, “The effectiveness of any technological tool depends on the knowledge and expertise of the qualified (sic) teacher who manages and facilitates the learning environment.” At Burnet Middle School, we strive to become facilitators of knowledge through our use of technology. Our goal is to not just put a gadget in a students’ hand, but to guide that hand to applicable, real-world transference.
Our North Austin school is comprised almost entirely of economically disadvantaged ethnic minorities, over 60% of whom are English Language Learners. These students, many dependents of immigrants or immigrants themselves, have had very little access to emergent technologies. Up until last year, very few initiatives in this space were being offered to our student body. Computers on campus were scarce and were being supplied to classrooms at a 1:4 ratio. Laptops and iPads were outdated and hand-me-downs from feeder high schools. Almost no outside involvement or campus initiatives were being offered.
Fast-forward to the 2019-2020 school year. In conjunction with Apple and Lamar University, we have successfully implemented the Apple Coding Initiative on our campus. Every week (Monday and Tuesday) students in Mr. Long’s ROBOTICS classes learn Swift coding using the accompanying LEARN TO CODE modules in Apple’s PLAYGROUNDS, while Fridays are dedicated to coding engaging activities using Sphero robots. We have also partnered with NCWIT and Westwood High School to bring coding to underserved at-risk female students through GIRLS CODING CLUB after school on Mondays with Mrs. Russell. Conversely, Burnet has partnered with CHANGING EXPECTATIONS CORP and the NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION to bring computer science to African-American and Hispanic young men with disabilities through a Saturday coding program on our campus. Couple this with becoming a 1:1 school through Verizon’s Innovative Learning program and you have the signs of a campus on a transformative path.
Looking forward, we plan on continuing our partnerships through both in-class learning and after school programs. The tentative plan is to continue offering a summer coding camp, akin to the one hosted at Burnet in early June. Our first annual camp was a success; over 80 students engaged in meaningful coding activities using Apple’s Playgrounds and Sphero robots. We hosted the camp here at Burnet, and bused in students from all over the district, including elementary, middle and high school students divided into three groups. At the end of the camp, we invited representatives from the tech community to work alongside our students, see the concepts we learned in action, and foster mentorships. We are also actively engaging local technology companies in hopes of bringing real world expertise into the classroom.
All-in-all, we are grateful for the opportunity afforded us and look forward to continuing this endeavor.
Jason Long, Burnet Middle School, CTE
Amy Russell, Burnet Middle School, CTE
Our North Austin school is comprised almost entirely of economically disadvantaged ethnic minorities, over 60% of whom are English Language Learners. These students, many dependents of immigrants or immigrants themselves, have had very little access to emergent technologies. Up until last year, very few initiatives in this space were being offered to our student body. Computers on campus were scarce and were being supplied to classrooms at a 1:4 ratio. Laptops and iPads were outdated and hand-me-downs from feeder high schools. Almost no outside involvement or campus initiatives were being offered.
Fast-forward to the 2019-2020 school year. In conjunction with Apple and Lamar University, we have successfully implemented the Apple Coding Initiative on our campus. Every week (Monday and Tuesday) students in Mr. Long’s ROBOTICS classes learn Swift coding using the accompanying LEARN TO CODE modules in Apple’s PLAYGROUNDS, while Fridays are dedicated to coding engaging activities using Sphero robots. We have also partnered with NCWIT and Westwood High School to bring coding to underserved at-risk female students through GIRLS CODING CLUB after school on Mondays with Mrs. Russell. Conversely, Burnet has partnered with CHANGING EXPECTATIONS CORP and the NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION to bring computer science to African-American and Hispanic young men with disabilities through a Saturday coding program on our campus. Couple this with becoming a 1:1 school through Verizon’s Innovative Learning program and you have the signs of a campus on a transformative path.
Looking forward, we plan on continuing our partnerships through both in-class learning and after school programs. The tentative plan is to continue offering a summer coding camp, akin to the one hosted at Burnet in early June. Our first annual camp was a success; over 80 students engaged in meaningful coding activities using Apple’s Playgrounds and Sphero robots. We hosted the camp here at Burnet, and bused in students from all over the district, including elementary, middle and high school students divided into three groups. At the end of the camp, we invited representatives from the tech community to work alongside our students, see the concepts we learned in action, and foster mentorships. We are also actively engaging local technology companies in hopes of bringing real world expertise into the classroom.
All-in-all, we are grateful for the opportunity afforded us and look forward to continuing this endeavor.
Jason Long, Burnet Middle School, CTE
Amy Russell, Burnet Middle School, CTE
LIterature support.
Drexel University's ExCITe Center (Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies) Making Culture report was featured at South by Southwest Education in March 2019. The first recommendation made by ExCITe in response the report is "within school makerspaces, hosting unstructured open hours (outside of class time) encourages greater exploration, positive risk-taking, and collaboration for a wider range of students." While we aren't yet hosting makerspaces outside of the school day, that is a definite next step for where year two may take us. Currently, I approach my classroom as a makerspace in both my graphic design and photography classes. Students are using the iPads and Apple pencils to create their own content and dream up their own creations. In one graphic design project, my students created a robot that solved a problem. They built the robots by cutting apart physical robot components like helmets, wheels, screens, antennae, etc. and glued them together on paper. They then scanned their design in the Notes app to get a clean render. As the final step, they built a Keynote on the iPad with a sales pitch they wrote about their robot, alongside their original design. This is just one example of how a makerspace approach to the technology classroom can be so powerful.
One of the key findings of the 2016 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, is that technology is vitally important to students. According to the report, "students use their devices extensively and view them as important to their academic success. Laptops continue to be the academic workhorse for students. Academic usage of smartphones by students increased by 9 percentage points since 2015, but tablet usage continues to decline." As critical as technology is to students, our own students on our campus often lack devices of their own and as a result, fall into those groups who are most underserved. This past year, Verizon partnered with our campus to bring 1:1 devices to every student, along with internet access at their homes. The combination of a device, plus interest access has been a game-changer for our school. Now students can continue their work and learning beyond our computer labs after the last bell rings at the end of the day.
2018 NMC Horizon Report cites Redesigning Learning Spaces as one of its identified Key Trends accelerating higher education technology adoption in the short term (one to two years). We are rethinking our Girls Coding Club as a way to change the approach, tone, environment and delivery of the learning space for students. Our club meets after school every two weeks, drawing in a group of girls from different grade levels who may not always be in classes together. The primary instructor is a female high school student, who uses NCWIT curriculum. Even having a younger instructor for the class, who is not a traditional "teacher" has been a way to redesign the learning experience for students.
One key finding of the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology from the previous year (2015) notes that "students and faculty have similarly high levels of interest in using mobile devices to enhance learning, but the actual use of these devices in academics remains low, despite their increased prevalence." The Apple Coding Initiative we embarked on this year seeks to push the boundaries of what a mobile device can do. Students use the iPads to learn about coding concepts in Swift Playgrounds and create their own content in the Everyone Can Create curriculum (see first paragraph above for a more detailed example). After solving coding puzzles and/or creating their own work, one of the most exciting elements to our class is when we mirror their student work to a large screen in the classroom using an Apple TV, which fosters an informal peer-review experience. Students offer comments, feedback and suggestions in an organic way that feels supported.
Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report first identifies users. They go on to study the impact of the Internet on work (via on-demand services and remote options), education and healthcare in the world at large. We know our students make up some of the most underserved users on the internet-- they are emergent, exploring users who also struggle for adequate access. In addition to the Verizon grant, our Apple Coding Initiative has also placed new technology into their hands, opening up new programs, platforms and paths to support their ideas.
More than anything else, we are excited about the progress our students have made, and can't wait to see where the future will take us.
Drexel University's ExCITe Center (Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies) Making Culture report was featured at South by Southwest Education in March 2019. The first recommendation made by ExCITe in response the report is "within school makerspaces, hosting unstructured open hours (outside of class time) encourages greater exploration, positive risk-taking, and collaboration for a wider range of students." While we aren't yet hosting makerspaces outside of the school day, that is a definite next step for where year two may take us. Currently, I approach my classroom as a makerspace in both my graphic design and photography classes. Students are using the iPads and Apple pencils to create their own content and dream up their own creations. In one graphic design project, my students created a robot that solved a problem. They built the robots by cutting apart physical robot components like helmets, wheels, screens, antennae, etc. and glued them together on paper. They then scanned their design in the Notes app to get a clean render. As the final step, they built a Keynote on the iPad with a sales pitch they wrote about their robot, alongside their original design. This is just one example of how a makerspace approach to the technology classroom can be so powerful.
One of the key findings of the 2016 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, is that technology is vitally important to students. According to the report, "students use their devices extensively and view them as important to their academic success. Laptops continue to be the academic workhorse for students. Academic usage of smartphones by students increased by 9 percentage points since 2015, but tablet usage continues to decline." As critical as technology is to students, our own students on our campus often lack devices of their own and as a result, fall into those groups who are most underserved. This past year, Verizon partnered with our campus to bring 1:1 devices to every student, along with internet access at their homes. The combination of a device, plus interest access has been a game-changer for our school. Now students can continue their work and learning beyond our computer labs after the last bell rings at the end of the day.
2018 NMC Horizon Report cites Redesigning Learning Spaces as one of its identified Key Trends accelerating higher education technology adoption in the short term (one to two years). We are rethinking our Girls Coding Club as a way to change the approach, tone, environment and delivery of the learning space for students. Our club meets after school every two weeks, drawing in a group of girls from different grade levels who may not always be in classes together. The primary instructor is a female high school student, who uses NCWIT curriculum. Even having a younger instructor for the class, who is not a traditional "teacher" has been a way to redesign the learning experience for students.
One key finding of the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology from the previous year (2015) notes that "students and faculty have similarly high levels of interest in using mobile devices to enhance learning, but the actual use of these devices in academics remains low, despite their increased prevalence." The Apple Coding Initiative we embarked on this year seeks to push the boundaries of what a mobile device can do. Students use the iPads to learn about coding concepts in Swift Playgrounds and create their own content in the Everyone Can Create curriculum (see first paragraph above for a more detailed example). After solving coding puzzles and/or creating their own work, one of the most exciting elements to our class is when we mirror their student work to a large screen in the classroom using an Apple TV, which fosters an informal peer-review experience. Students offer comments, feedback and suggestions in an organic way that feels supported.
Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report first identifies users. They go on to study the impact of the Internet on work (via on-demand services and remote options), education and healthcare in the world at large. We know our students make up some of the most underserved users on the internet-- they are emergent, exploring users who also struggle for adequate access. In addition to the Verizon grant, our Apple Coding Initiative has also placed new technology into their hands, opening up new programs, platforms and paths to support their ideas.
More than anything else, we are excited about the progress our students have made, and can't wait to see where the future will take us.
Implementation Outline
In year two, we need to continue our current work with fidelity and grow on it to continue our vision. Jason Long (my campus cohort teacher, EP at https://jasonlong52.wixsite.com/website) and I have successfully implemented the Apple Coding Initiative on our campus. Every week (Monday and Tuesday) students in Mr. Long’s robotics classes learn Swift coding using the accompanying Learn to Code modules in Apple’s Playgrounds, while Fridays are dedicated to coding engaging activities using Sphero robots. We have also partnered with NCWIT and Westwood High School to bring coding to underserved at-risk female students through Girls Coding Club after school on Mondays with Mrs. Russell, in addition to embedding coding concepts through the Apple Everyone Can Create Curriculum for Photo and Drawing (in photography and graphic design classes) using Apple pencils on Wednesdays and Thursdays in Mrs. Russell’s classes.
Currently, we have one iPad cart that we share between two classrooms, so we coordinate transfer of the cart twice a week. To double our access for students, we’d like to add a second cart so the iPads can remain in both classrooms 100% of the time. To share out student work/mirror to large screen, we’d also like another Apple TV to remain in the second classroom as well.
Our original plan was to offer another summer coding camp, although that has been postponed because of Covid-19. Our first annual camp, hosted here at Burnet, was a success; over 80 students engaged in meaningful coding activities using Apple’s Playgrounds and Sphero robots. At the end of the camp, we invited representatives from the tech community to work alongside our students, see the concepts we learned in action, and foster mentorships.
Our goals are centered around prompting students to ask questions, explore possibilities, bring ideas to life and dream about how technology can solve problems we face in the world and in our communities.
Items/Equipment needed for implementation - 30 iPads (with cases and 1 charging cart to store and secure), 1 Apple TV
Currently, we have one iPad cart that we share between two classrooms, so we coordinate transfer of the cart twice a week. To double our access for students, we’d like to add a second cart so the iPads can remain in both classrooms 100% of the time. To share out student work/mirror to large screen, we’d also like another Apple TV to remain in the second classroom as well.
Our original plan was to offer another summer coding camp, although that has been postponed because of Covid-19. Our first annual camp, hosted here at Burnet, was a success; over 80 students engaged in meaningful coding activities using Apple’s Playgrounds and Sphero robots. At the end of the camp, we invited representatives from the tech community to work alongside our students, see the concepts we learned in action, and foster mentorships.
Our goals are centered around prompting students to ask questions, explore possibilities, bring ideas to life and dream about how technology can solve problems we face in the world and in our communities.
Items/Equipment needed for implementation - 30 iPads (with cases and 1 charging cart to store and secure), 1 Apple TV
Girls Coding Club!