Introducing 12th graders to Codecademy

Yesterday, I took out the laptop and projector (and whiteboard on which to project) and I introduced my 12th graders to Codecademy. I walked them through sign up and told them which lesson to go into: HTML & CSS, and I told them to read what was on the screen, do what the instructions said, and to "Save and submit" code when they were done, and to continue at their own pace to do the lessons - one after the other. One young woman's laptop was not letting her in so I gave her another laptop. When I walked around the room, everyone was doing the lessons. I told them to copy and paste their code into their wikis, but I have about 7 new students who don't have wikis yet, and I'm not sure that is feasible. I just want to keep track of who is doing the lessons. Another young woman asked me if she could do this for homework and of course I said yes and was thrilled that she would have an interest.

I had already introduced my 12th graders to HTML last term but I have approximately 7 new students who have no idea what code is and would be behind. So everyone is starting at the beginning by doing the lessons in Codecademy. For most, it will be a re-introduction. But it won't be enough for the class. I will most definitely have to create a template for them to do their own Web site and embed their own research into the site. I'm sure the students will need this kind of scaffolding. Creating your own Web site with code you've never used before can't be that easy. Maybe for some students, but I'm sure some will need the assistance. That will be a project for me over the mid-winter break. I also have to create a lesson plan for my students since I will be out on the 23rd. This class meets every Tuesday and Thursday, whereas I see 6th graders every day.

I also gave my 12th graders their first HTML quiz yesterday. There were 15 questions and the lowest score was a 7 and the highest score was a 13. The kids moaned about it because we've had a week and a half since our last HTML class and they claimed to have forgotten the material since, but I was going to do this quiz on the last day of school but because of the snow, a lot of kids did not show so I decided against giving the quiz. So I had new students yesterday and I excused them from the quiz.

I figure I will be giving out quizzes either every week or every other week. We'll see as the semester moves on.