Coding at Edgewood

Coding has never been more important or fun than what it has become today. Our world is highly dependent on programmed electronics at a time when young people are flocking to it on their own. For years in Scarsdale, we have introduced elementary students to the MIT-developed Logo language through programs such as Microworlds, Microworlds JR, and Scratch. These days K-5 students are using iPad apps and online platforms such as Kodable, Scratch Jr, Scratch, and Tynker. These programming resources are teaching students the foundational skills of coding. Later on, they can use these skills to learn additional computer languages to help them meet future intellectual challenges and creative pursuits. But through these experiences, we hope to provide students with an understanding of how they can shape their world.

National Computer Science Education week strives to make this point. The purpose of this event is to call attention to the growing importance of computer science as a staple of K-12 education, rather than a mere enrichment of the curriculum. At the heart of this week is the international event known as the Hour of Code. Students are urged to code for at least an hour. Software leaders have joined forces with influential figures from industry giants to world leaders to athletes to entertainment celebrities all heralding this important message: children today need to understand what drives digital devices and the Internet, to become active producers, rather than passive consumers of today's technology-driven world.

The Hour of Code initiative provides free access to these online programming activities. In Scarsdale, students receive much more than an hour of code during the course of the school year. All K-5 students have access to a web-based coding platform called Kodable, which introduces learners to foundational programming concepts such as sequence, conditions, loops, functions, variables, etc. All students in grades 2-5 also have online accounts to Tynker, a block coding platform that emphasizes learning through step-by-step tutorials and sandbox play. And through robots such as Dash and Dot and Bee Bots, students can see how their codes can immediately impact digital devices. It's a powerful, if not extremely entertaining programming experience!

Storyboard Experiment

Fourth graders use storyboard squares
to during their video production.

I tried a new type of storyboard this year. Instead of the traditional paper comic strip storyboard template, I handed out individual panels, allowing students to focus on one scene at a time.

I did this because after years of experimenting with digital storyboards (Google Slides or Keynote) and the traditional comic strip storyboard handout, both left me frustrated. The digital storyboards tended to feel like finished slideshows and for students, it restricted their vision of what their video could look and sound like. And when it came time to transfer the media elements from their digital storyboard to the editing software, the resulting video was essentially the same storyboard slideshow.

As for the paper storyboard, revisions became a hassle. Once they filled out their comic strip storyboard template, the paper workspace looked full. And then as peers and teachers added revision notes, the storyboard would become messy, even confusing. Visually it would also squeeze out room for any other potential changes, consequently reducing the students' will to revise their work.

But with the individual comic strip squares, students developed one scene at a time. They had greater flexibility to make changes. If they made a mistake or changed their minds, they'd simply grab another clean square. But these individual squares were most helpful when they were laid side by side sequentially. It became a visual retelling tool that allowed the storyteller to see the gaps in their story such as with sequencing, transitions, or a lack of information. If there was a storytelling gap, they'd slide the squares apart and insert in between them a fresh one with proper transitional information.

I will use the storyboard squares next year as well. This may not be the perfect solution, but I like the results I've gotten from students so far.

How First Grade Writing Can Influence a Global Audience

Business cards with logos and
QR codes makes it easy to find our site!

First graders got a lesson in writing for a global audience and corporate branding this spring. Students in Ms. O'Connor and Mrs. Lamonaca's classes authored their own consumer reviews web sites. This Kid Advisory project is an offshoot of their literacy unit on Opinion writing. Students wrote about books, museums, restaurants, vacation spots, and more for the purpose of steering readers towards some of their favorites.

Children today are growing up in what is often called a "participatory culture." They have access to technology that allows them to share their ideas and perspectives with people all around the world. For example, Think YouTube. Think Instagram. The youngest audience members may be passive viewers today. But how long before they become active participants? Liking. Commenting. Sharing. Creating. Uploading.

Ms. O'Connor's class consumer
reviews site.

This is a powerful digital literacy and communications opportunity that comes with tremendous responsibility. But with the proper learning experiences and guidance from teachers (and parents) even first graders can begin to grasp how to craft their message in order to reach and influence so many people. This idea of connecting with an authentic audience becomes more clear when they see their words on a web site and learn that this web site can be seen by anyone -- in the world!

This Kid Advisory project also included a marketing element and the concept of branding. We learned that before our audience could trust and value our opinions they needed to know who we are. In Mrs. Lamonaca's class we created an identity that was packaged in a name, logo, and slogan. We brainstormed and ultimately riffed off the name Yelp. We became Snelp as in-- we were told-- "It's like Yelp, but it's information in a snap." That made total sense. "Snelp -- it's as easy as a snap," became our slogan. So then we needed a logo. An icon. An animal. We brainstormed.

Logos need to be appealing and
recognizable. Our crab is friendly.

What snaps? We searched through our bins of books. Alligators. Crabs. Turtles. Crabs can snap with pincers, almost like people can snap with their fingers. Let's go with crabs. Now let's draw a logo on Seesaw, our online journal so we can look at everyone's contributions. Ultimately, we chose Saki's crab. Cute. Soft features. Curly antennae. Pincers easy to see, non-threatening, and ready to snap!

When Ms. O'Connor and Mrs. Lamonaca held their first publishing celebration, so many guests showed up. The entire first grade, their buddy classes, Dr. Houseknecht, Mr. Yang, and even Mrs. Shain, the Assistant Superintendent. There's still a minor glitch in the web site that needs to be fixed. Our pages won't take public comments. That'll change soon we hope. We've had many readers online and offline, but once we get commenting enabled, as our web sites reach an audience far and wide, we hope to hear back from them, so we know how far and how wide.

Assistant Superintendent Lynne Shain checks out
our first grade Kid Advisory review sites.

Pitching Our Favorite Books

An essential Media Literacy skill involves recognizing a "sales pitch." Today, our culture is immersed in biased messages that seek to shape our mindsets. They come in the form of commercials, political ads, and unsubstantiated news reports that show up in our social media feeds.  But when these skills are used effectively, we can also share information and ideas that are educational and possibly enlightening. Take for instance, our fourth grade book trailer videos.

It began as a persuasive writing project. Mrs. Aberman, Mrs. Blackley, and Mrs. Mraz taught their students the genre of opinion writing. For this assignment, students supported their writing with compelling elements of the story. In other words, no claims without evidence. But this writing assignment required only text. And a story told with only text will be written differently, than when it is told as a video. So the next phase of this writing project involved writing for a visual medium.

Students use storyboards as a guide
during the video production.

That's no small task because it requires students to rethink and rewrite their "finished" writing. So each class did a quick study of the genre of video book trailers. There are several online. Here's one example. We learned that in a visual medium, words are used efficiently. They are spoken and shown on-screen, but they are always supportive of the story that's told by each image.

Students then formed book trailer production groups, although some students worked alone, if they were the only ones to read a particular title. We created storyboards to remind us of the important story elements from our books -- character, plot, situations, etc -- that would provide a compelling hook for our teaser videos. You can read more about the storyboarding process here.

Once the storyboards were teacher-approved, students recreated the storyboard sketches with hand drawn scenes on card stock. These drawings were scanned as digital images and then brought into WeVideo, a cloud-based video editing program.

It was important for students to draw the images rather than download pictures from the Internet for two main reasons. First, it allowed for each image to match what they visualized for their production. The images were a product of their own imagination, not a result of what was made available to them via the Internet or the book's illustrator. So it helped personalize their experience with the story. Second, as creators, they owned these illustrations. Like all media content on the Internet, someone owns them. And nothing can be taken from them without their permission. It's a good lesson in digital citizenship.

As I tell all my students before we begin a video production: "When it comes to making videos, the easiest thing to do is to make a bad one." These days the tools for video production are inexpensive, accessible, and easy to use. Anyone can produce a video and share it with an audience. But it takes time and a desire to use this storytelling medium to effectively reach an audience and to get them to want to watch your video over and over again. I have watched and shared so many of these fourth grade video book trailers, over and over again. They're that good.

Blue-Bots are Elementary

This year Scarsdale elementary students are hearing a lot about robots in the classroom. It doesn't seem that long ago that the idea of a robot in our lives was limited to SciFi plotlines or expensive house servants. But today robots are more accessible to young learners than ever before.

At Jerry Crisci's annual district technology report, he overviewed the K-12 STEAM offerings, but showed how K-2 students in particular are learning to code using an online platform called Kodable and two robots -- Dash and Blue-Bots.

Blue-Bots, also known as Bee-Bots, provides our youngest students with an introduction to programming concepts in a manner that's concrete, hands-on, and so much fun! These robots can be operated using five main push-button commands on its back -- Forward, Backward, Left Turn, Right Turn, and GO, which will RUN the user's programmed sequence of instructions. With each forward or backward command, the BlueBot will roll 6 inches. With each press of the Left Turn arrow, the Blue-Bot will make a 90 degree turn to the left of the direction it is facing.

Seeing these instructions through the eyes of Blue-Bot is important. It teaches students to step outside themselves and see from the perspective of another being, whether it's a robot or a person. But let's face it. Kids treat them as more than just robots. The Blue-Bots are pretty cute and our primary grade students adore them. They shower them with cheerful praise as if they were a younger child or a puppy. But the level of engagement goes well beyond puppy love. These 5-7 year olds are learning how to sequence, loop, and debug. Through robotics they are learning fundamental programming concepts. They are developing an understanding that their actions trigger an outcome and that if two don't match, then they need to walk back their steps, analyze their code, and patiently devise a plan to achieve their hoped for outcome. It's a mindset that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

Video: see BlueBot in action