Scores on our first test were rocky. I think students hadn't seen enough different ways to write if statements. They had written a lot of code, but had not been forced to read much code. So I am doing more of that now.
In light of the rocky tests, I handed them back their tests and gave them 10 minutes to talk it out as a group. I LOVE LOVE this strategy for the first CS test of the year. In reality kids are going to be tested OVER and OVER again on variables and if statements - it is pretty much in every test from here on out. So, I feel like letting this be a "learning experience" rather than a "grading experience" is helpful for student growth over all.
In my 6th hour, we also did the Mr. PotatoHead activity.
Before I describe this, let me go on a little rant about how terrible John Hattie has been for teachers. If I have to hear one more time how "class size doesn't matter"... I don't want to finish that sentence. Let's just say it won't be pretty. My 5th hour is 33 kids big. My 6th hour is 23 kids big. I have better relationships with my 6th hour kids, I know where they are emotionally and academically. We have more fun. I take more risks. I can do those things, because I know I can get things back on track. I have relationships I can leverage. It feels like a family. 33 feels like crowd control. That's not even my biggest class, but for CSA it is the bigger of the two. Any way, let's stop saying class size doesn't matter. It does. My ridiculously large classes (I would throw 33, 34, 36, 36 all in the category of 'too large') makes me a less human teacher. It makes me less authentic. Maybe if I were a "super extrovert" that wouldn't be the case, I don't know. These large class sizes are the "industrial age of education" still at work. It is doing bad things to teachers, students, and the system. John Hattie's "meta analysis" of educational research has been used to justify these class sizes, and even if his meta-analysis is being used incorrectly, I don't see him trying to correct this mis-use.
So, back to 6th hour... 23 students. My happy place.
I had purchased a whole bunch of "Mr. PotatoHead" parts from goodwill online. I threw them all on the table and had students grab their desired materials. They had to create a Mr. PotatoHead character and then write a story on a whiteboard about their character (who is this character, what do they do, make them come alive). Of course I took portraits of their creations. Enjoy.
This was highly entertaining and really made student creativity shine. All students were engaged and working with one another. It was a good team building exercise and also a fantastic hook.
A hook for what, you ask?! Classes! I had each group present out their character. After that, we talked about what attributes and actions their characters had in common. From there, we moved it to a UML diagram.
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| Here was our brainstorm of what attributes and actions their characters had |
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| Here was our UML diagram |
I am introducing UML diagrams MUCH earlier this year. So far, I like them as a way to think about classes. I think it also allows students to brainstorm what could be in a class. Just getting those ideas out there can help them
I also liked this activity to show students the difference between what a "class" is and what an "object" is. We have this PotatoHead class, but that just gives options for our objects. Each of their PotatoHeads were so different, but we could instantiate each of the objects using a carefully made constructor. I didn't quite get to the constructor part during this lesson, but I circled back to it a few days later with students once I noticed that was a gap in understanding.
I think you could also get more intentional about building this UML diagram and do some setter methods in there as well.
The day of, we had a ton of fun, but I was concerned we just did a "fun activity" without actually learning anything. Now, with the perspective of a week's time, I see that actually this was a fantastic anchor activity for the class. Now whenever students have questions about other class related topics, I can use the "PotatoHead" activity as an example.
I could even see doing the actual class in processing, but I haven't done this yet.
AP CSP
We did B&W pixelization widget today. First hour was a little "meh" about it. Second hour I did a padlet which made students more engaged. They wanted to have the "coolest one" up there. Here is what that ended up looking like.
The padlet did a a great job of keeping students interested in the lesson. I was concerned that they might just copy one another, but that didn't happen. They wanted to be unique.
Geometry
We took a test. We have moved a few things around to make proofs later in the year, and I think that is a great thing! We are now working on "segments in a triangle" which I think is helping reinforce vocabulary, notation, and using diagrams. So far, I think it is a win.
One Good Thing
One of my CSA kids said, as he was leaving the room, "Thanks for teaching this class, I love it so much!". That was heartwarming.
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