I’m in my second class in my masters and my second class with Alec. These classes are giving me the opportunity and motivation to explore topics that have definitely been on my mind. Totally reminds me of Genius Hour / Passion Projects which I have researched and used in my classes a few times. I have dabbled in coding and have done Hour of Code with my students many times. Each time it has been very successful and I know this is a direction I’d like to implement more into my classroom. There is definitely a place to integrate opportunities like these in many disciplines not just as a stand-alone class. I love using Minecraft in my classroom. In my math classes, I have used this tool to explore concepts such as slope, area, volume, scale, algebra and more. In my social class, I have used this tool to explore archeology, ancient civilizations, and Medieval castles. There is a very exciting app that is embedded in Minecraft Education Edition. This app is called the Agent (click here to learn a little bit more about Coding with the Agent). The Agent is a programmable ‘bot’ inside the game that you can activate to carry out code that you have created. The code is for this is created using MakeCode (similar to Scratch) which is an online coding site created by Microsoft and gives you the ability to use block coding, but also switch to Java Script to let you see the computer programming language ‘under the hood’ of the blocks. I have found many tutorials provided by Make Code (click here to see some of the tutorials I be using), YouTube Videos, course inside the Microsoft Education Community (great source of many course and can also become an Microsoft Innovative Educator – that opens up many other opportunities such as a chance to go to an Education Exchange Conference that is held in different locations throughout the world), and I will also use my PLN on Twitter (https://twitter.com/PlayCraftLearn) and as a Minecraft Global Mentor for help on this journey. I also hope to create a couple projects to use in my classroom 1) have my math students create a calculator with formulas for concepts such as volume and surface area and then have the agent build their shape, 2) have my social studies students program a landmark or signage in the ancient civilization world and hopefully 3) have my social studies students be able to create a code to solve a UN SDG goal (maybe trench for clean water or something like that). I plan to vlog each time I attempt a tutorial, tweet my journey, and share my adventure with our #eci831 community. I also have a class set of Microbits that also use MakeCode so I might extend by project to include a few more adventures using these. I was also thinking about how a teacher can tap into social media to engage students in the election. I am doing this with my social 9 class right now, but I am not sure how I can turn this into a project for this class, but would love if people could go to #oneillss9 and engage with my students. I’m excited about this project and I’m looking forward to this journey.
2 Comments
Matteo Di Muro
9/30/2019 02:12:28 pm
Hey Dean, I think that's awesome that you are into coding! I love it, we need more teachers like you!
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9/30/2019 11:09:12 pm
This sounds like an awesome idea! I love using coding in my classroom, so I understand the draw to it. I also have a set of Microbits, but I would love to learn more ways to use them in my classroom. What kind of things would you do with Microbits for your project? I am intrigued! I can't wait to follow along and learn more about coding through your process!
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AuthorDean Vendramin. Educator for over 20 years. Currently Education Leader for Math/Science at Archbishop M.C. O'Neill Catholic High School. Have a passion for all things in education with emphasis on technology integration, assessment, professional development, and 21 Century Education. Posts are articles he has written for the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation monthly newsletter The Bulletin, Saskatchewan Math Teachers' Society The Variable, blog requests from memberships he is a part of, and his own thoughts. Archives
February 2022
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