Thing 13: Coding

My experience with coding is limited to basic HTML while posting my writing online and a confusing computer science course I was required to take in library school, in which we had to code on computers that were probably not that much younger than I was at the time. I cannot even remember what codes she taught us, but anything I may have learned in the course has long since leaked out of my brain. My brother and father are both fairly knowledgeable with code, having used Linux as their operating systems for years, and whenever they discuss it I can hardly understand them.

However, over the past few months I've seen and heard about a lot of really cool and fun ways to teach students how to code, rather than the ways I was taught during library school, with a command line and hardly any visuals. Board games, computer games, and robots all make coding far more interesting than it was years ago when I was in library school!

Yesterday I got to play with ozobots (just had to teach my laptop to recognize that as a word) at the pre-k/kindergarten registration fair my district puts on every year. As soon as I figured out how to use them, I was hooked. They are so much fun! I even stayed an hour later than I had to just to keep learning new things to do with them. I really enjoyed showing them to the kids, too, and watching as the older siblings of the new pre-k/k students drew different mazes for the bots to travel on. I can't wait to show them to my own students!

I'm not surprised I liked the ozobots so much better than the "traditional" image of coding I've always had in my head. I'm a very visual person and anything that combines something new with art is a great way to get me interested in it.

So, today, I sat down to explore Thing 13 and dive into the world of coding. I checked out Hour of Code, which has so many resources that it's a bit overwhelming right now, being the novice coder I am. I'll have to devote more time to exploring all the lesson plans they have and figure out the best way to introduce it to my school.

Then I clicked on Blockly, and proceeded to spend the better part of an hour trying to beat the levels. After finishing the first one, Puzzle, in about three minutes I naively thought the games would all be easy. I have yet to complete the next three, Bird, Maze, and Turtle. I made it to the last level of Maze, but only the 5th level of Bird and the 4th level of Turtle. They are difficult and frustrating in a way that reminds me very much of the logic puzzles my 5th grade teacher had us do. I'll go back to them later and hopefully be able to finish.

Despite the frustration, I really like Blockly and will definitely introduce it to my students in grades 3-6. I like how it's code disguised as games, and even now as I type that, I realize code doesn't exist to simply exist. It's there to make things such as games, so why shouldn't kids learn it while playing games? I also like how the games are all ready to play as soon as the page loads. Accounts aren't required. I think it would work great as a whole class lesson, a library center, or as an option for students who finish work early.

And so, it looks like I'll be diving into the world of code and learning right along with my students!