TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

Postby Sparky of SoCal » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:05 am

I don't live in Trona, I have no kids, never did, never will. Went to private schools and don't know much about kids and typical family life. That said, the idea of giving kids free ASB cards for good grades seems like one of the greatest ideas I have ever heard of. That small amount of money represents, in my eyes, one of the biggest learning tools available. Good idea guys and gals.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

Postby a2z » Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:00 pm

'Hour of Code' to teach kids as young as 5 to program :pac:
I had to teach myself how to code since there were no teachers that knew how. In fact, that's the biggest deficit as I see it in public schools. Teachers are great at reading and writing, but most of them aren't very good at math and tech stuff. So instead of learning to code, they offer crappy classes on using Microsoft Word or even crappier classes on how to put together PowerPoint presentations. That stuff is so lame that it shouldn't even count as using technology! Hopefully public schools will move in the direction of teaching legitimate technology courses in the future, but I'm afraid it probably won't be happening anytime soon, but it's nice to see an initiative like this one that will at least help make the public aware of this HUGE failure on the part of public schools.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

Postby pcslim » Fri Dec 06, 2013 10:13 am

The Hour of Code newsclip did talk about technological literacy and it mentioned that all that encompasses is extremely basic skills such as word processing, internet research, or making PowerPoint slides. That kind of stuff doesn't take too many brain cells and most people of average intelligence don't need instruction even at a young age to figure that kind of stuff out. Coding does require some brain power and it would be a much better way to use time in public schools. There would be a whole lot more bang for our taxpayer bucks, but there aren't many teachers with the skill set to teach that kind of class! Not to be overly critical, but no educational reform program I've ever heard of does anything at all to address this HUGE failure! Thanks A2Z for sharing this newsclip. At least it shows me that there are other people aware of this problem and that at least some efforts are being taken to rectify the situation.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

Postby blackturtle.us » Sat Dec 07, 2013 1:15 pm

Thanks a2z for that info! I put together an announcement which I shared with a few people at the school that I thought might be especially interested in this event. Here's what I sent them:
Hello Everyone:
Sorry for this rather late heads up, but next week is Computer Science Education Week and an event called Hour of Code will be held nationwide. The Hour of Code can be completed anytime during the week (December 9-15) and can be done as a class, in groups, or individually. There are also many activity options. Here are some info pages:

Main Website:
http://code.org/

Computer Science Education Week:
http://csedweek.org/

Moving Beyond Computer Literacy: Why Schools Should Teach Computer Science (National Center for Women and Information Technology):
https://www.ncwit.org/resources/moving-beyond-computer-literacy-why-schools-should-teach-computer-science/moving-beyond

A lot can be said about the importance of this event, but here's a rather interesting statistic:

JOBS: 60% coding / 40% other math/sci
SCHOOLS: 2% coding / 98% other math/sci
FULL INFOGRAPHIC:
http://code.org/stats


VIDEOS:
CODE: THE NEW LITERACY:


WHAT SCHOOLS DON'T TEACH:


If you'd like to participate (all it takes is an hour) an easy to follow lesson plan is located at the following link. All you need is a computer with an internet connection. (The entire activity could also be done on a stand alone computer if the Scratch Offline Editor is loaded on computers.):

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tip_bar=hoc
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

Postby CoolChick » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:01 am

This is totally fun! I did the Angry Birds activity. It was so much fun. I only wish there was stuff like this when I was in school!!!
Pick the Angry Birds activity here:
http://csedweek.org/learn
Or go straight to it here:
http://learn.code.org/hoc/1
You can skip the video. It's just a pep talk, but like the guy says computer programming is the closest thing we humans have to a super power!
(BTW, I recommend running into the TNT at least once just to see what it does!)
:thumb:
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - November 14, 2013

Postby wildrose » Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:37 am

I tried out the Angry Birds activity to and it WAS A TON OF FUN!!! Else where while perusing the website I saw that they recommend that everyone from the age of six all the way up to 106 participate in the Hour of Code event. Exciting to see such fantastic learning opportunities made available to the general public like this!
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