Week two using Codecademy

Six girls coding in the lab

Two boys coding

Today I had a rough class - and lots of technical difficulties. I am going to have to come up with an alternative program for the students to use instead of Codecademy because Codecademy sort of pooped out on us during class. Most kids were working, but as I expected, some kids either forgot or lost their usernames and passwords after signing up last week. I told them to write it down, but not all did that.

As for the technical difficulties, we have 10 really old Macs and thank God for the laptops that came with the grant. I am able to hand out laptops for those with computers that do not work.

You can see from the photos that most of the students were working, but I fielded a lot of questions from those whose computers pooped out on them, or those for whom Codecademy pooped out.

Overall, I am pleased to see the majority working in the program and reading the instructions independently. But I think Codecademy might not be as child-friendly as it could be and I'm on a search for a better program. I know the kids use Scratch from MIT in their technology class and love it. I'll let them use Scratch if they want to, but I'd like to find another program for them to use. Next Monday there is no school so I have until after the February break to find another program - and one that is more kid-friendly. I applaud though those kids who are using Codecademy and working through the lessons. I hope they find it rewarding.