Hour of Code 2019
Free Training Available for Teachers and Volunteers Dec 4-6!
2:30-4:30 Pollicita Middle, Room 16
3:30-4:30 Central Middle, Room 112
3:00-5:00 Burlingame Intermediate, Professional Learning Center
To Prepare for Hour of Code:
1. Choose a developmentally appropriate activity. DO NOT LEAVE THIS CHOICE UP TO THE STUDENTS! Scroll down for the SMCOE's K-12 Hour of Code: Heroes challenge, or search through the hundreds of activities on the Hour of Code website. We recommend Frozen, Dance Party, and Banana Tales.
2. Try the activity yourself, ahead of time. This is vitally important. The only way you can help your students through their struggles and mistakes is to experience those struggles and mistakes yourself.
3. Choose a delivery method. Will you code along as a class on the projector? Will students go at their own pace? Will you wait until everyone has finished each level before moving on? Will everyone have their own devices? Will you use pair programming? Will you use some combination of these?
4. Get your logistics ready. Do apps need to be downloaded on iPads in advance? Do you need headphones? Do you need to book the computer lab or Chromebook cart? Do you need to borrow anything from the STEAM Lending library? Will you need help in the form of parent volunteers or older students?
5. Model growth mindset. Be willing to admit you don't know the answer and learn from your students. You are the expert in following directions and maintaining focus; they will inevitably be the experts at taking risks and trying new things.
For support at any time, call the Hour of Code Helpline: 408-823-9346 (works from Wednesday 12/4)
The Hour of Code: Heroes Challenge
For 2019's Hour of Code, we're challenging you to tell us about your heroes! Teachers, provide evidence that your class has completed an Hour of Code: Heroes project for a chance to win one of our prizes. Winners will be drawn on January 10, so you have the whole month of December to participate! (Date extended to account for reporting time.)
Are your students too advanced for all of these activities? Congratulations! They have graduated from Hour of Code, and their new responsibility is to assist a class of younger students. They can use their skills of problem decomposition and abstraction to explain coding concepts to others, but remember: helping means explaining how to do it, not doing it for them!