Midlothian aCODEmy

While attending TCEA 2014, I fell into a coding presentation by Kim Garcia from Georgetown ISD and I was hooked.  Not because I think knowing how to code is going to change everyone's life.  I believe teachers and everyone involved in a student's academic career need to be a platform for many creative and innovative learning opportunities in order to prepare students for a competitive global economy.  The article, "Schools Aren't Teaching Kids to Code; Here's Who is Filling the Gap", written by Selena Larson, (October, 2013) explains this very point.

Each year, U.S. companies need to fill almost 150,000 jobs related to computer science and mathematics, but colleges and universities only graduate about 100,000 students with degrees in those fields.

So, my mission is to initiate code.org, other coding apps and coding web tools within the classrooms of our district.  In working with a couple of classes I asked students what they felt they were learning. One mentioned she is learning to think ahead.  Another said, she kept on trying even though she wanted to give up.  If we want our student to build grit, I believe learning coding basics is one more way we can get our students there.

This Thinglink provides resources for TCEA 2014 Google Academy.  Tap on the touch point on one of the blue blocks to find Google's coding website called, Blockly.

Tech Slam at TCEA iPad Academy 2014

I spend all year getting excited to attend TCEA and I can't believe its over.  This year, my instructional technology team and I attended the iPad academy.  We curated the tweets using Storify from the academy presentations we attended and built the Thinglink below.  It is filled with apps, websites, tips and tricks for using ipads.

One of my favorite features of the iPad academy this year is the tech slam.  A bunch of attendees file in a room and are encouraged to jump up on stage and connect their iPad to the projector to share their favorite app or web tool on the mammoth projector.  It always begins with many of the audience members staring at each other hoping someone will share an idea.  But, it ALWAYS ends up with a line of people vying for the spotlight to share.  It usually takes a few brave souls and then there's no stopping a room full of teachers, instructional techs, librarians and principals.  The result is an ever growing list of new apps that encourage creativity and collaboration.  Just when I think, "been there, done that", I am surprised at the ingenuity of  many app creators.  As an instructional technologist, my team and I have loved the idea of the tech slam so much, we've integrated it in some of our educational technology professional days.  I just know this would be a great learning experience to use with your students in the classroom.