Dear Parents/Guardians,
My name is Reid Bland and I am very excited to have your child in technology class this year. I would like to start off by letting you know a little bit about myself. I grew up in the Chautauqua Lake region and received a Bachelor's in Childhood Education and a Bachelor's in Computer Information Systems from SUNY Fredonia. I continued my education at SUNY Fredonia and received a Master's in Adolescent Math Education. I have been teaching for about 13 years now and have taught students in all grade levels throughout the years. This will be my ninth year teaching technology class and third year teaching Project Lead The Way (PLTW) at CLCS.Â
A spiral curriculum aligned to the NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards will be implemented, where skills and programs are introduced in the early grades and further developed in the following years. Students in the early grades learn the basics of a computer and how to navigate it, then learn to type properly and use the Google Suite. Activities in computer class will correlate with the skills and information the students are currently learning from their classroom teachers. The Project Lead The Way (PLTW) curriculum will be taught at the 5th and 6th grade levels and it focuses on the engineering design process while slowly moving students from activities to projects and finally to more open-ended problems that they will solve. Students will be slowly introduced to coding throughout the grades. 5th and 6th grade students will get the opportunity to work on robots with their code. Students are not expected to complete homework for computer class, however any extra practice outside of the classroom is highly encouraged. The curriculum is subject to change at any point but a more information and links can be found on this website.
Students will be graded daily on participation, completion of activity, effort, and classroom etiquette. I keep open lines of communication with all parents/guardians about my policies, so feel free to contact me my email at rbland@clake.org. I appreciate any support from home and can't wait to work with your child in the upcoming year.
- Reid Bland