This week in OLPC our class had the opportunity to teach our first lesson of Scratch to 4th grade students at CSG. We started our class by asking questions to engage the 4th graders. These questions included: “What is programming?” and “Have you used Scratch before?” Next, we gave a quick tour of Scratch to help familiarize the students and completed a drawing game to illustrate how specific the students need to be when coding. Last, we broke into small groups of one or two 4th grade students and an OLPC student to start exploring scratch.
I learned a lot about teaching during our class with the 4th graders. The first thing I learned is it is hard to watch the students struggle while they are learning a new task, but you have to let them struggle. When they struggle, they remember how they got to the answer better than if you just tell them the answer. Second, when the students figured out the answer on their own, it boosted their confidence making them want to complete harder challenges. I also learned it is exciting to watch your student complete a challenge and feel proud of themselves for learning something new. This week I learned a lot and had so much fun teaching; I am excited to teach another class next week!
0 Comments
We just had our first day of teaching CSG's 4th graders. Please check out the photos page for a peek into our work there.
Recently in class, we have been working on planning how we will teach the fourth graders lessons and introductions to Scratch as practice for our Barbados trip, and to even maybe get them into coding. In doing so, we are learning the best way to teach the kids and the best way to get them to understand and enjoy Scratch.
So far I have learned several tactics about teaching kids. The first is that when teaching kids, it’s good to make them discover how things work by doing things they already know how to do. For example, the drawing game in the lesson plan. The kids will act as the sprite and the programmer without even knowing it by explaining how to draw a secret picture to a friend. By doing this, the kids can then realize how Scratch works and how programming every little detail is super important, just like telling their friends to draw every detail and explain it very descriptively. I also have learned that when teaching kids, it is important to plan out everything precisely, and be ready for the kids to either really understand the lesson, or to maybe need the extra help. For the kids moving extra fast on the project, we have challenges for them. For the kids who need the extra help, we wrote out a detailed lesson plan so explaining something is easy and makes sense to the kids. Overall, I’m excited to teach the fourth graders, and hope that they enjoy Scratch. Here is an example of one of the drawings the kids will try to explain to their friends. Recently in class we have been making lesson plans to help prepare us to teach the 3rd graders about Scratch. We have made a basic outline of questions to ask and main points to talk about, so that next class we can go back through, add a little more detail, and finalize our plans. We have split the lesson plans into two sections, as we will be teaching the younger girls over a time period of two days.
While creating these lesson plans, I have realized a lot about teaching others. For one, you really have to explain every little detail, even if it that detail seems like basic knowledge to you. You may perceive the things you are teaching as simple, but to younger people who have less experience or knowledge than you, the correct thing to do might not come so easily. I also learned that you have to ask a lot of questions. The more questions you ask, the more likely the students will actually understand what is happening when they are coding. If they understand what is really going on in the computer, they will be able to discover new things without having to be directly taught. Recently in class we have been working on creating booklets. These booklets cover various
topics about computer programming in Scratch that will be used by the teachers in Barbados to be able to continue teaching after the week we spend there. We have finished up the first four booklet topics and will continue working on them this week. This class has made me realize truly how fortunate we are to grow up in a place where education is so heavily valued and we are provided with some of the best resources and opportunities the world has. While we are so fortunate, there are plenty of others who just do not have great opportunities. That is why our One Laptop per Child program is so important. The children we will help were not born in a wealthy country with great opportunities. For them, an introduction to computer programming could change the course of their lives and could be the difference between being able to get a good education and good job for themselves or remaining in the same situation they are in now. This image suggests that learning computer programming can provide an opportunity to create wealth and leave poverty behind. |
About this pageDuring the school year, students will blog once per week. Please check back often. Archives
April 2018
|