D107: "Survey Says..." thoughts on pacing

AP CSA
Well today I gave a mini quiz on arrays - it went fairly well.  Today was also our last day to work on our Processing project. 

I gave students a rubric that went up to a "C" and everything else was "pizzaz points".  I learned this from another teacher I met at a code.org workshop.  I liked the idea because it sets a high ceiling. I know I need students to work on CS the whole time.  That needs to be a norm.  But here are some dilemmas with that:

1. Some students go work at home.  And that's fine - it is cool that they want to work at home, but I still need them to come to class, still working.  It ruins the culture when I have some students who are "done".
2. Being done means different things to different students.  Some students are trying their hardest and BARELY have the basics.  That's fine with me.  They are learning and struggling very productively.  Other students are really taking on big challenges with some pretty great successes.  That's fine with me too.  I know we want all students to get to the "same place" but dragging students to the finish line seems harmful.  This allows each student to be challenged in their ZPD. 

Some students HATE the "pizzaz points".  I get it.  They want to know how to get their A.  It feels arbitrary to them.  But I need them to work and challenge themselves.  If I set an A, I set a ceiling.  I don't know how to fix that. 

AP CSP

Students are finishing up their image scroller apps.  It is a good way to gauge who has a good handle on this content.  There is a lot to the task. 

I was trying to figure out where to go next so I asked the group. 

It seemed like there was a lot of off-task behavior, I so I wanted to have students self-report their on-task behavior.  Here were the results:

I think this data is fine, but I am hoping that the students on the "2" side realize that they were in part at fault here.  1 was "I haven't done anything" and a 5 was "I have been 100% on task".

From a pacing perspective, these were the results:

This was mostly good news.  I was concerned I was going too fast, but most students are reporting it is going at a reasonable pace.  I can also now focus on the 10 students reporting it is going a little fast.  I can make sure that we have something for those students. 

Finally, I asked them what they wanted to do next.  Their three major options were:

1. Have a new task that requires you to use code you already learned, with familiar user interface elements
2. Have a new task that requires you to use code you already learned, but use new user interface elements
3. Have a new task that requires you to learn new code, with familiar user interface elements

It is perhaps not surprising that students what to stay with the same content.  So, that's what we are going to do.  I am also going to provide student choices to do something that involves new content for students who are curious. 

Concepts

We reviewed the ACT responses today.  I had students correct half of their wrong answers.  Amazingly, many students got questions wrong that they EASILY were able to fix.  I don't get why students just guess on their ACT questions.  I think they are just avoiding work.  It is easier to guess and then sit there for the rest of the time.  I am going to try trashketball to re-engage them later.  Some students are making the most of the opportunity, others' are not. 

One Good Thing

I am so glad I did this project in CSA.  It really showed me that THIS is teaching CS - there is no one right way to do this.  Each student has a different idea and a different solution.  I feel better about that than how most my labs work...