Friday, December 9, 2016

Coding...an update. (Posted on SB Website 12/2/16)

While I would like to think of myself as a well educated individual, I often find myself saying, "what did that mean?" and look to see if I am being directed towards the proverbial doghouse.

Simply trying to follow a face to face conversation between a group of middle school students can leave us asking, "is that code for something?" Now, add the online conversations to the mix and it is clear that they often don't even know what they are saying to each other.  They need constant code breaking skills to navigate their own conversations.  While decoding the conversation is not always easy, the ability to have the conversations keeps students connected at all hours.  If you are looking for additional resources to help navigate your own options in regards to your children's online activity you might find ConnectSafely a useful site.

However, in the world of computer science, the term code brings on an entirely new significance, one of which most of our students are not yet aware.  

With that in mind...throughout the day next Wednesday, Stony Brook students will be participating in an Hour of Code as part of the National Computer Science Education Week .  According to their website, "The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify 'code', to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts (2016)." One of our goals this year involves increasing and embedding maker-centered learning environments throughout the building and in all content areas as best as we can; coding is very much part of that environment.  Mrs. Schultz, our Digital Learning Specialists, has spearheaded our involvement in the Hour of Code as additional support to all of the work that Mrs. Smith, our Librarian, is doing to provide opportunities for students to explore our Innovation Lab in the library (a.k.a. our MakerSpace).  By creating multiple opportunities for students and collaborating with teachers from various content areas and grade levels, these two teachers are actively supporting our students ability to access and explore our wide variety of technology resources on a regular basis.

The maker-centered learning has even spread to our administrative offices.  Towers, walls, parapets and even a bridge or two have been constructed out of the donated cans and various other non-perishable items filling our offices.  Most of the structures have been built and organized by the students, but admittedly I have taken some time to flip a few cans here and there to both upset the balance of colors and or to see how many people entering the office feel the need to organize labels in a specific order.  It's an interesting social experiment.  There is still time to donate to the cause...of supporting the Westford Food Pantry that is...not tormenting individuals with specific organizational talents.  The Student Council Can drive is running through Dec 16.  As of today, there is still room for me to sit in my office.  Just me, however, as the other chairs have all been filled with cans already which I can't say is a horrible problem.  The aroma developing in the office keeps transporting me back to my first job as a grocery clerk back in the day when we actually had to type numbers into a cash register...what a nightmare.

With that being said, please take an extra minute and read the messages below from our parent organizations and community partners, as well.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Chris

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