Week 4
Principle #3 - Making Things Concrete plus Supportive Practices

Weekly Coding

You do not need to complete every weekly coding activity to be competent. But, you should make an effort to complete at least half of the assignments over the course of the semester.

• Analyzing Super Bowl commercials

Prior to Small Group

Research Readings

This week we are going to start with a couple of readings away from your textbook. We are going to use these to start a discussion about supportive practices. While the study of supportive practices developed while considering ways to encourage and assist underrepresented populations in computer science, the fact is, the techniques discussed improve the teaching and learning opportunities for all students.

NOTE: To make sure that we are not in violation of recent White House mandates, several of the "background" and "setup" readings about supportive practices have been removed from required reading for his course. Instead, we will focus on the results of these projects by considering the "best practices" for all students that are a part of these materials.

• Imposter Syndrome - You don't need to read these in deep detail. But there is something new/unique in each article. Try to find the nuggets for you and your classroom.
  • Wikipedia Article
  • If Michelle Obama felt like an imposter, how can I avoid it?
• EngageCSEdu Engagement Practices - The biggest takeaway from any reading you might have done about the EngaageCSEdu Engagement Practices and Library of Teaching Materials, is that engaging lesson materials should strive to:
  • Avoid Stereotypes
  • Encourage Student Interaction
  • Use Well-Structured Collaborative Learning
  • Employ Meaningful and Relevant Content
  • Make Interdisciplinary Connections to CS
  • Address Misconceptions About the Field of CS
  • Incorporate Student Choice
  • Mitigate Stereotype Threat
  • Give Effective Encouragement
  • Provide Opportunities for Interactions with Faculty
  • Offer Student-Centered Assessment
• Culturally Responsive Computing - You will actually read more about this in your textbook. But for now, consider the "Five Tenets" of CRC
  • 

Textbook Readings

Only then, read pp 32-43 from BBCP As you do, consider how some of the concepts in these materials tie back to the concepts of Supportive Practices.

• Culturally Relevant Pedagogy [Required]
• Learning Through Making [Recommended]
• ScratchMaths: Integrating Computing and Mathematics [Recommended]
• Scratch Encore: A Culturally Relevant Scratch Curriculum [Required]
• "Engineers Make Things That Help People" [Recommended]
• Don't Touch the Plugs or Break Anything [Required]

At the Small Group

At the meetup this week you should

• Discuss the Supportive Practices materials [~30 minutes]
• Discuss the materials about Principle #3 [~30 minutes]
  • What articles stood out to you? Why?
  • What information in these readings were you familiar with?
    • How and why?
  • What information in these readings was "new" to you?
    • What were the takeaways for your own classroom(s)?
  • How do you think this information aligns (or doesn't) with the grade bands you teach? How and why?

After Small Group

• Complete the Competency Demo for this week. (0-4)
  • Do NOT attempt this until after you have done all other activities for the week.
  • Submit the final version of your CD on Blackboard