Learning & Leading Through Technology

Computational thinking is not just for an elite group of students who enroll as computer science majors in universities. I have seen every one of my students, regardless of gender or background, benefit from the thinking and collaboration that is inherent in what we do in the classroom. It flows seamlessly into the CCSS and ISTE Standards (see “Meeting the ISTE Standards”). The ultimate goal, after all, is to cultivate critical thinkers who can deconstruct problems into their component parts to solve them effectively, communicate their findings, and justify their reasoning with evidence.

In the words of one of my fourth
graders:
Coding is like doing crossword
puzzles because one word in the
wrong place affects the word that
is going down or across that word.

That relates to coding because if
you do Scratch and put the wrong
block, when you want to do some-
thing else, it turns into a disaster.

When you do a crossword puzzle, at first it might be just experimenting and trying to fit the words in the squares. Same with coding.

You have to experiment to see if the cat moves the way you want or not. At first, the crossword puzzle might look different or weird, but it turns out cool. With coding, it might look weird at first, but when it is finished, it is awesome!

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my technology director Jeff Billings for his leadership and support in pioneering education into the third millennium.

—Janice Mak teaches third and fourth graders in Phoenix, Arizona, and is working on her doctorate in global science education. Her students inspire her to integrate critical thinking and creative problem solving through the meaningful use of educational technology. You can read her blog at supercodingpower.blogspot.com.

Meeting the ISTE Standards

Here’s how this project met the ISTE Standards:

Standard 1: Creativity and Innovation.

Students used coding on Scratch and other platforms to create a variety of projects that encapsulate classroom learning.

Standard 2: Communication and Collaboration. Students blog about experiences with coding, reflect on challenges and successes, and collaborate with one another to solve debugging and robotics challenges in pairs.

Standard 4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. Students are engaged in authentic problem solving through a variety of programming “puzzles” that require students to be analytical decision makers to arrive at viable solutions. They need to be able to deconstruct a problem to understand its component parts and be able to identify patterns as well as cause-and-effect relationships.

Problem: I’m working with my students on setting and meeting goals, but it can be difficult for them to stay on track. And I admit it can be difficult for me too. Is there a tool that can help with this?

Here’s a solution: Keeping on top of goals can be a challenge for students and teachers alike. Regardless of whether your goals are personal or academic, it helps to have a system in place for keeping you headed in the right direction and reflecting on how you’re doing. The website FutureMe. org is set up to allow you to send yourself emails in the future for the purpose of documenting your thoughts and feelings at a particular point in time. But you can also use this site to email yourself a pep talk or a reminder for goals that you’ve set.

It’s such a simple concept, and it can be a powerful way to check in with yourself.

Tip

Have a tip to share? Email tips to senior editor Diana Fingal at dfingal@iste.org.

I have used this site to deliver reminders at key times in order to get things done, and also as a self-checkin to ensure that I am meeting the goals I have set. Say, for example, that I have a goal to contact parents more regularly to share good news. That’s not a task that requires a lot of to-dos, but it is something that I need to be reminded about regularly to make it a habit.

This functionality can also serve as a sort of IEP (individualized education program) for students. They can email their goals to themselves, and when the email arrives, they can respond to themselves with an explanation of how those goals were met or what they have yet to do to meet them.

In short, FutureMe.org is a great site with no learning curve. You can use it from any device to quickly take reflective and progressive action to make yourself a better teacher and learner.

You’ve Got Mail—from Yourself—and an Easy Way to Track Goals

Adam Bellow created eduClipper.net and edu Techer. net. He is a former English teacher, technology training specialist, and technology director. He delivered the closing keynote at the ISTE 2013.