Day five in the lab

Today I had 601 and 606 in the lab. That's 36 6th graders - my largest group - and we used up just about every laptop. I gave out all four MacBooks and 15 of the 16 Lenovos. Again, I was so busy running around the room. So many questions! Turns out some kids are really picking it up and others are not. Some kids are not reading the instructions and call me over and ask me what to do or what to do next.

Two boys at the end of class

I feel like I understand what a math teacher must go through. Some kids pick up the concepts easily while others are simply lost. It is something I will push through though as I think coding is fun and I think kids, once they get the hang of it, will enjoy it.

Some kids though had so many computer glitches that they asked me if they could go back to the worksheets I created and if they could use Editra. Yes we can do that. I will do whatever the kids feel like they enjoy more. There are benefits to learning code both ways. Personally, I learned to code the old fashioned way, before there were sites like Codecademy. I used a book to teach myself and typed up code on the computer. With Codecademy, the program does a lot of the work for you. Still, I thought the kids might enjoy the satisfaction they got from the feedback the program provides.

Students working

Student Working

I brought 603 into the lab today to start Codecademy. I had previously taken out the projector and laptop and showed them on the big screen how to get in, but today they went into the lab to actually start the HTML5 and CSS3 modules. Like my other classes this week, it went well. Every student was on Codecademy and doing the modules.

Before class I had to run around the room to make sure that everyone from yesterday's class had logged off. Most did but some didn't so I had to log off for them so that no student in this class would accidentally start off where another student ended in yesterday's class.

Close-up shot of student work

We experienced some technical difficulties -- again. One students' page kept defaulting to French and I put it on English and it reverted back to French. I could not figure it out, but he did and I am grateful. He went into his account and changed the preferred language to English. Now I know how to do this!  This happened once before and I did not know how to fix it for the student. It kept showing up in French, but now I know.

As usual, I ran around the room checking students' code, especially if when they hit "Save & Submit" the module would not accept their code. That means the student didn't do it correctly so I fielded lots of these questions.

Books

I purchased eight books total on HTML, CSS, and Web site design with the INNOVATION! grant; two from Cengage Learning and two from Pearson Eduction. Unfortunately the ones from Pearson did not come. I believe they were out of stock. The books are for student circulation. Here are some photos of the covers. There are two additional books that I bought but they are for the instructor, which is me!

Codecademy Day 2

Student working

604 has library on Wednesdays and today I brought them back into the lab to sign up for Codecademy. Last week I showed them with the laptop and projector and screen how to get into Codecademy and this week we all went into the lab. By the way I have five 6th grade classes, each meeting once a week, so each day is a new adventure with coding.

Today went well. Not as well as yesterday, but still it went well. Every kid, except one, was on the Web site and doing the modules. I was quite pleased. Only one student was not doing the modules and that is because he did not have an email with which to sign up. He is going to go home tonight and see if he can create one with his parents. Incidentally, for some 6th graders, parents do not allow their child to have an email. I don't think that was the case with JM though. He said he forgot what it was. Now, the real trick is getting everyone to remember the username and password they used to sign up with today, next week. I'll find out when I see them again next week.

As usual, I was running, and I mean running, around the room helping all the kids who had their hands up. I was busy the entire class period but of course I expected to be. Plus time moves faster the busier you are and I love being busy. Many of the questions involved, "Am I doing this right?" "What am I doing wrong here?" "How come it says, "Oops! Try again," and of course the "What do I do?" question. For that one I had to break the news to the student that they had to read the instructions on the left hand side of the screen. Of course, I walked them through the instructions as some kids have IEPs and need directions read to them, so that's what I did. When I walked around the room, I saw black screens on everyone's computer. The black screen meant that everyone was in the "sandbox" doing the modules.

At the very end of class, one student I saw, MF, had gotten very far into the program and had done quite a bit of work. He was one of the few students who never raised his hand for help. It was so gratifying to see that. Now what I have to do is get back onto the modules myself because some of the students are going to pass me by and then I'm afraid I won't be able to answer their questions. It is so important to me to be able to answer kids' questions, especially because if a student gets stuck and I am not able to help them, they might become discouraged and I just don't want that to happen. I want every kid to learn to code and to feel good about what they've learned.

Lenovo laptop cart

This is my Lenovo laptop cart. I first bought this one in 2014 when I won a REACH grant. At the time, I could afford to buy 8 Lenovos with that grant money, but it didn't fill up the cart. Now I just bought 8 more and my cart is full! All of these laptops have Editra installed on them and the newest version of Chrome. I had to do all that installation myself!

New Lexmark printer

Among the things I asked for in my INNOVATION! grant application was a printer. I did not buy an expensive one although I would have loved to!! Instead I bought a $423.00 model. (I also remembered to buy a lockdown device so the print doesn't walk away)!!! The purpose for the printer was so that I could print out teacher-made worksheets with code on them so that the students could copy the code into Editra. Editra is a free text editor that I discovered online. It is easy to download and install. I've installed it on all 20 of my laptops in addition to every computer in the lab! Yes, it took a while but it was a very easy download and installation.

I've used the teacher-made worksheets (below and to the left is just one sample) with both of my classes - the 6th graders and the 12th graders. I've been using them since last spring. I create the code in Editra, print the page out, make photocopies, hand one out to each student, and it is the student's job to copy the code EXACTLY as they see it on the page. Then they are to save their file as an HTML file to their flash drive and open it up in a browser by opening a browser, any one, and selecting "Open File." To the left is a sample of the teacher-made worksheets that I've made. I am going to start doing things a little differently, in fact I've already started, by having my students use Codecademy to learn HTML and CSS. Instead of me writing code, printing it out, photocopying it, and handing it out to students for them to copy, they can just do modules in Codecademy. This is the downside to that though. When I write the code and then have them copy it, I can help them with any difficulties they have because I am familiar with the code. With the modules, if a student goes ahead of me (I am doing the modules too), then I cannot help them as I would like. The upside of the modules as I said yesterday is that students can work at their own pace and the program also provides feedback. It's too soon to tell, but I think the students will enjoy Codecademy more. We'll see.

Teacher-made worksheet

Worksheet up-close

MacBooks

Among the items I received with the INNOVATION! grant are a laptop cart specifically for the MacBooks. (I have two laptop carts now). I was only able to purchase four MacBooks and so far, these are VERY POPULAR with my 6th graders. To the left is a picture of the cart with two MacBooks open on top. It's my goal to eventually fill up this 16-unit laptop cart with 12 more MacBooks, whether through other grant monies or maybe my school can buy them for the library??? Either way I am grateful to have these four. I also purchased 8 Lenovo laptops with the INNOVATION! grant money and was able to fill up my other 16-unit laptop cart.

Codecademy.com

Student working 

Yesterday, I had my Monday 6th graders get onto codecademy.com in order to get started learning how to code with HTML5 and CSS3.

First I took out the projector and laptop and screen and showed them the Web site and how to get in by creating an account. Some kids asked me, what is HTML? and I explained to them it stands for hypertext markup language. At that point, I went to Google on my laptop and hit ctrl-u for view source code. A new screen opened up and the source code for Google was visible. It looks prohibitive - not welcoming at all. I told them that this is the coding language that is used to create Web sites and that this is the language I will be teaching them. One student asked if it was like French and I told them that hypertext markup language is a language, yes, but that French is a human language, while HTML is a computer language.

We went into the lab and here is where the fun began. I had kids sign up for accounts in codecademy only to discover that every child's computer said that the browser they were using was not supported by that Web site. This was a new message as just before Christmas when we went on to Codecademy, the browser was supported just fine. So that class was a bust.

Fast forward to today and I came in extra early, went into the lab, and installed a newer version of Google Chrome on 16 desktop computers! This took about 45 mintues. I tried to install a newer version of Chrome on the older Macs - the ones from 2008 - and the operating system would not let me because it is too old. I then tried to install Safari - an older but newer version onto the desktops - and that would not let me install Safari either. So I have 10 Macs that are completely unusable for this project.

Student working

When 602 came in at 8:22, I told everyone we are going in the lab today to start Codecademy. (I had already introduced coding to them in the form of teacher-made handouts back in December and using the text editor, Editra, but I decided to try something different - to have kids use Codecademy instead of using the teacher-made handouts). I had already set up 16 of the 26 computers with Codecademy on the screen so no one had to type it in. I was afraid there would be chaos in the lab as kids and computers are sometimes a dangerous combination in the sense that kids can't help themselves sometimes from going on to inappropriate sites. But everyone either signed up or logged into Codecademy and EVERYONE in the room was doing the lessons!!! (Well, there was just one student who could not get in because he could not remember his email. You need an email address to sign up. So there was just one student not doing the lessons in codecademy).

I was running around the room as I anticipated as questions arose, and I was helping students with questions they had about their code. I think Codecademy is fun because it talks to you. It tells you, "Way to go!" when you do a lesson correctly, and then you are ready to move on. Lots of kids went pretty far into the HTML & CSS course. They still have a long way to go but if they did 5 of the lessons today - at least some of them - then that is great.

At the end of class I told everyone to log out by clicking on the pixelated monster (or machine) in the top right of the program. Most kids logged out this way, but I double checked at the end of the period. (I had the time), and went from computer to computer to make sure that kids had logged out and if not, I logged out for them.

Also...it turns out that those older Macs that I tried to install updated browsers for, were able to use the program. I do not know how or why, but there were kids on the older Macs who were working in Codecademy. And of course, for those students who could not get in, I had the laptops at the ready to lend them so that they could use the program. I have 20 laptops now!!!!! This is awesome!!! The lab has 16 newish Macs and 10 really old Macs, and now I have 20 laptops so I am able to give laptops to students who are on computers that don't work well or are not up-to-date enough to handle the program.

Before the beginning

Last week I created a text for the daily announcements. It reads:

Did you know that computer science is the highest paying career for college graduates and that 60% of U.S. employers are having difficulties finding qualified workers to fill vacancies in science, technology, engineering, and math at their companies? Come learn about this field and learn to code with Ms. Sarles in the library every Wednesday from 3:05 - 4:05, starting on February 3rd.

Now I've been teaching coding since last year. Last year I had two sections of 6th graders and starting in the spring, I decided to start teaching them the beginnings of HTML. It was a challenge trying to teach 33 kids how to code. Some kids "got it" right away. They persisted in learning the code, while others had technical difficulties. This required me running around the room trying to check kids' code. The best part was when they saved their HTML files and then opened their files in a browser and got to see the fruits of their labor. They were very excited when everything worked; when they typed all their code correctly and the browser displayed their work without a hitch.