Tech EDGE: CS4NE with Special Guest, Linda Schafer

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08/09/2024 Added

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CS4NE, Computer Science for Nebraska with Special Guest, Linda Schafer. University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Technology (Tech) Education In Digital and Global Environments (EDGE) Innovation in Teacher Education College of Education and Human Sciences | Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

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[00:00:00.029](upbeat music)
[00:00:06.120]Hi, I am Guy Trainin.
[00:00:07.170]And I'm Kimberly Ingraham-Beck.
[00:00:08.570]And this is CS4NE,
[00:00:10.947]and today we have a special treat, and that is?
[00:00:13.959]Yes, we have a special guest from Scribner-Snyder.
[00:00:16.860]Her name is Linda,
[00:00:17.760]and she's been teaching computer science K-12 there.
[00:00:20.160]So she's gonna talk to us a little bit about her program.
[00:00:22.470]And I'm excited to hear about my favorite subject,
[00:00:25.230]which is working with younger kids in computer science,
[00:00:29.370]especially in the elementary age,
[00:00:31.800]because I think we're putting an infrastructure there,
[00:00:34.380]and we're creating a passion
[00:00:36.480]and an excitement about computer science
[00:00:38.790]that we hope will translate
[00:00:40.560]into more students seeking out computer science
[00:00:43.170]beyond the basic classes that are now required.
[00:00:45.720]They're actually wanting to learn more
[00:00:47.490]and maybe even creating a career in that.
[00:00:49.740]Absolutely.
[00:00:50.910]Now joining us is Linda.
[00:00:52.740]Linda, tell us about yourself.
[00:00:56.640]My name is Linda Schafer,
[00:00:58.290]and I teach computer science K-12
[00:01:02.160]at Scribner-Snyder Community Schools in eastern Nebraska.
[00:01:07.800]I have been teaching computer science here in Scribner
[00:01:13.020]for the past nine years.
[00:01:14.610]This will be the beginning of my 10th year here
[00:01:17.850]with this type of curriculum learning experience.
[00:01:23.367]And can you tell us a little bit about your school?
[00:01:26.070]How many kids do you have?
[00:01:29.220]Our school usually runs anywhere
[00:01:31.830]from 192 to like 214 students.
[00:01:36.300]We have a small rural community,
[00:01:40.950]but we also have a lot of students that move in and out
[00:01:45.553]because of the type of population we have.
[00:01:49.830]And so what are some recommendations you have
[00:01:52.980]for smaller districts
[00:01:55.050]that have to start teaching computer science
[00:01:58.200]and tackling this
[00:01:59.760]in the kind of conforming K-12 perspective?
[00:02:04.710]I'm gonna start with the high school and computer science.
[00:02:09.210]With the high school type of curriculum you choose,
[00:02:15.000]you need to make sure, even as a small school,
[00:02:18.210]that you're doing something
[00:02:19.710]that's going to spark the kids' interests.
[00:02:23.190]When I first started teaching it,
[00:02:25.380]the curriculum we were using,
[00:02:27.963]the kids had never coded.
[00:02:30.510]They had no idea what they were getting into.
[00:02:34.920]And the very first year I was here,
[00:02:37.080]it was instituted as graduation requirement.
[00:02:41.822]Wow. So my students here
[00:02:46.017]had had a good background in it for a long time.
[00:02:50.803]But find a curriculum that's fun, interesting.
[00:02:55.260]It gives 'em a broad sense of what computer science is.
[00:03:00.570]And that's why I personally went to Code.org
[00:03:04.260]because about my third year into this,
[00:03:07.170]I got to go to Atlanta for the training.
[00:03:10.710]And it was the AP training that I started with
[00:03:14.760]because by that point, I had already been using CodeHS,
[00:03:21.390]the former curriculum that I used,
[00:03:23.940]and was looking for something better
[00:03:26.670]for my kids to make them enjoy it
[00:03:28.620]because I was afraid they were getting turned off.
[00:03:32.700]So I had just built my program up
[00:03:36.330]from there to include...
[00:03:40.197]I went by the computer science standards
[00:03:43.740]when I started my curriculum
[00:03:46.440]and have built my program up using those standards.
[00:03:50.790]Now, that being said,
[00:03:53.970]there were already standards in there
[00:03:56.040]for like coding and computer science
[00:04:00.660]that I also knew I needed to introduce my littles to.
[00:04:05.730]And so what I had done through the years
[00:04:09.030]is done like Unplugged activities with them
[00:04:13.500]and built that into using like Make Wonder,
[00:04:18.930]which is Dash and Dot.
[00:04:20.820]So they learned simple block coding that way.
[00:04:25.740]We have participated in Hour of Code every year
[00:04:30.150]since I've started because it was a great way
[00:04:34.140]to get the interest going for the kids.
[00:04:38.280]I also used Common Sense Media
[00:04:43.560]because I start every year with the digital citizenship
[00:04:49.050]and the safety that they need to have online.
[00:04:53.430]So it's very possible to do the K-12,
[00:04:57.113]but you just don't need to jump into everything right way.
[00:05:02.160]Do something small, do something simple,
[00:05:04.590]and build your program from vendors, my best recommendation.
[00:05:09.450]Awesome.
[00:05:10.500]So how will your school be fulfilling the new CS standards?
[00:05:15.180]Okay, at this point, (Kim laughs)
[00:05:19.380]I was one of the people that was lucky enough
[00:05:21.360]to help write those standards.
[00:05:23.730]And like you said, my whole curriculum
[00:05:27.570]I basically created on my own,
[00:05:30.090]along with my scope and sequence, based off of standards.
[00:05:34.500]So some of the material that I'll use is the Code.org,
[00:05:41.160]but I'll add some other things
[00:05:43.170]from Common Sense Media, possibly,
[00:05:46.350]especially with AI coming in now.
[00:05:50.860]I have not had a chance
[00:05:52.080]to look at if they have added AI into fundamentals
[00:05:57.000]because that's where I usually start with my freshman class,
[00:06:02.070]is picking and choosing things from there
[00:06:05.820]to get 'em introduced to the coding,
[00:06:08.370]but doing some Common Sense Media,
[00:06:13.110]building it up.
[00:06:13.943]You know, what is cyber security even?
[00:06:17.910]I've added some stuff for that in the past,
[00:06:20.250]and that is one of the standards now.
[00:06:24.116]So like I said, I know CodeHS has come out with a program,
[00:06:29.130]and I believe Code.org has something just
[00:06:32.700]for Nebraska now too, correct?
[00:06:35.370]Yeah.
[00:06:36.203]So we just became a Code.org school,
[00:06:40.860]so I've been working with that this summer
[00:06:45.150]trying to get everything signed up
[00:06:48.390]so that I can get my teachers maybe
[00:06:50.340]to integrate a little bit more
[00:06:52.770]of the computer science with their lessons.
[00:06:56.460]Excellent, and so you touched at least about smaller
[00:07:01.890]or younger kids, right, the lower grades.
[00:07:04.860]Yeah.
[00:07:05.693]And can you tell me what are your goals
[00:07:08.580]and what are you using,
[00:07:10.650]maybe a few more examples of what are you using
[00:07:12.840]with elementary students?
[00:07:14.430]The Unplugged activities come from various sources.
[00:07:19.071]Okay, then I have Dash and Dot robots,
[00:07:24.210]so we do block coding.
[00:07:26.550]I recently got a grant,
[00:07:30.767]so I have now a fleet of Bee-Bots.
[00:07:36.660]Ooh.
[00:07:38.520]Because I have both the beginning Bee-Bots,
[00:07:41.205]and then I have the Blue-Bots.
[00:07:45.210]I understand there's one more level up
[00:07:48.000]from that where there's actually more coding.
[00:07:51.510]But for my littles, just to get 'em to think,
[00:07:55.810]okay, you have to plan ahead, let's break down the task,
[00:07:59.670]because that computational thinking
[00:08:02.070]for the little ones is usually where I try to start
[00:08:06.150]so that they understand how problem-solving
[00:08:09.480]is really what a lot of computer science is.
[00:08:15.330]And I also have used with like fourth, fifth,
[00:08:20.520]and sixth graders, I have a fleet of drones.
[00:08:25.200]Ooh. Oh, wow, exciting.
[00:08:28.076]Yeah, I have them do some drone activities and figure out,
[00:08:33.540]okay, this is what we can do just controlling the drones.
[00:08:38.940]How can we program the drones to do even more?
[00:08:42.990]So I'll do a unit like that with those grades.
[00:08:48.480]This year my curriculum is changing just a little bit
[00:08:52.980]because sixth graders now are part
[00:08:55.710]of our middle school/junior high experience.
[00:09:00.480]So with them,
[00:09:02.610]I am going to probably use the Ozobots that I have,
[00:09:07.733]and they'll do Blockly.
[00:09:08.893]OzoBlockly is that coding language.
[00:09:14.190]And seventh and eighth graders
[00:09:15.960]then will move into my Sparrows
[00:09:19.373]because I have Sparrows to give them that kind of coding.
[00:09:24.780]I have used some Google activities
[00:09:30.810]for Google coding with the elementary kids.
[00:09:34.500]Mostly I've done that with what I call Code Club
[00:09:40.110]because twice a month I have Code Club
[00:09:43.740]with elementary students
[00:09:45.990]just to keep them engaged in the program.
[00:09:49.200]And so we use some AI things.
[00:09:55.852]As I said, we do some Google coding.
[00:09:58.680]I got all kinds of little...
[00:10:00.603]I've got a coding cube that I got last year,
[00:10:04.500]so the kids program those to put their initial on them.
[00:10:11.010]Nice.
[00:10:12.570]Like I said, there's just a variety.
[00:10:14.790]I am constantly looking and trying to add something to it,
[00:10:20.280]but especially when you're in a small rural school
[00:10:24.390]because when I first started I just got Dash and Dot,
[00:10:30.480]and starting small like that was important.
[00:10:34.230]But then the next year I added another robot.
[00:10:37.350]The next year I added something else.
[00:10:40.710]The past two years in my junior high level,
[00:10:45.060]I've added HatchRX coding, which is a 3D coding program.
[00:10:52.500]So we've used that to increase it
[00:10:56.550]to get 'em more excited, keep 'em involved.
[00:10:59.940]In a small school, you fight for students.
[00:11:02.850]Yeah.
[00:11:03.720]And my goal was to build
[00:11:06.900]a sustainable computer science program in our district.
[00:11:11.880]We're a very forward district that we've been requiring it
[00:11:15.990]for graduation for eight years.
[00:11:19.470]So- Absolutely.
[00:11:21.480]Yeah, it's amazing.
[00:11:23.550]And I didn't realize it when I started here.
[00:11:27.060]When they hired me to do computer science,
[00:11:30.270]I finished my computer science degree for teaching
[00:11:35.040]at the same time that I was teaching the first two years
[00:11:38.910]because I had already gotten a master's
[00:11:41.700]in instructional technology.
[00:11:44.490]And so my courses carried over, a lot of them,
[00:11:48.630]to the information technology.
[00:11:53.520]So yeah, I got a lot of experience,
[00:11:56.394]and I did build everything slowly.
[00:11:59.550]I can't stress that enough to small districts
[00:12:02.580]because I feel so many of 'em are overwhelmed
[00:12:07.680]with the state standards.
[00:12:10.770]They didn't know what to do with it
[00:12:12.180]because they've never touched it.
[00:12:13.980]They have no idea how enjoying
[00:12:15.630]and fulfilling it can be for the kids, so.
[00:12:20.700]Absolutely.
[00:12:21.900]So you kind of touched on my last question, which is,
[00:12:24.750]what advice would you give to a teacher starting
[00:12:27.030]to teach CS for the first time this fall?
[00:12:30.660]Yeah, definitely find a curriculum
[00:12:34.800]that is going to not only excite the kids, but excite you.
[00:12:41.730]But my number-one coaches when I started doing CS
[00:12:47.820]were my students
[00:12:49.890]because there is a certain amount of students,
[00:12:52.680]even in a small school like this,
[00:12:55.710]that were interested in coding.
[00:12:58.808]And they were the ones that would say,
[00:13:00.651]"Hey, have you heard about CodeCombat, Mrs. Schafer?
[00:13:03.900]We should look at this program," you know.
[00:13:06.630]So, okay if we get stuck with the coding,
[00:13:10.650]because there's always that point
[00:13:12.240]where you're looking at something,
[00:13:14.790]and what am I doing wrong?
[00:13:17.957]Use those students.
[00:13:19.866]Do that paired programming.
[00:13:22.311]Have 'em work together.
[00:13:23.613]Have 'em help each other.
[00:13:25.560]Don't take all of that stress on yourself.
[00:13:29.760]Let the kids be part of this whole learning
[00:13:33.754]and your learning.
[00:13:35.760]Awesome.
[00:13:36.593]All right, thank you very much.
[00:13:38.490]It's been lovely to hear.
[00:13:40.470]And I hope this also included an invite so we can come
[00:13:44.610]and see your armies of robots and drones and everything else
[00:13:49.320]and see kids interact with them.
[00:13:51.817]Absolutely, you can come visit my school anytime
[00:13:55.225]and see what I've done.
[00:13:56.293]All right. I've had people
[00:13:58.020]from the State Department that have just shown up one day
[00:14:01.413]to do an evaluation, and they were like,
[00:14:04.357]"I've got to see the computer science room."
[00:14:06.930]So, anytime. Ah, that's awesome.
[00:14:08.850]All right, thank you so much.
[00:14:10.740]You're welcome.
[00:14:11.573]Thank you for asking me.
[00:14:13.110]Yeah. Bye.
[00:14:14.700]So what did you learn from the interview?
[00:14:16.740]Oh my gosh, that was awesome.
[00:14:18.360]I can't believe how many hands-on computing
[00:14:20.610]and just physical computing devices that she's integrating.
[00:14:23.730]That is amazing.
[00:14:25.200]Yeah, and the thing that I took is that idea
[00:14:27.960]of gradually adding things.
[00:14:29.850]You don't have to do everything all at once,
[00:14:31.890]or it could be overwhelming.
[00:14:33.000]If you come to somebody who's been doing this for 10 years
[00:14:35.580]and has armies of drones and robots,
[00:14:38.730]that is going to be overwhelming.
[00:14:40.440]But start small.
[00:14:42.570]Adapt a curriculum.
[00:14:43.950]See how it works for you.
[00:14:45.270]Find out where you need a little bit extra.
[00:14:47.460]Find what are the ways, and build it over time.
[00:14:51.210]Absolutely.
[00:14:52.043]And I think that is a really good piece of advice.
[00:14:54.690]Absolutely.
[00:14:55.620]So today we talked to Linda,
[00:14:57.840]and we talked a little bit about what can happen
[00:15:00.510]and what is happening in small schools.
[00:15:02.250]So if you're teaching in a small school,
[00:15:04.380]and you don't have the capacity right now,
[00:15:08.340]remember you can build it over time.
[00:15:10.770]And there are people you can connect,
[00:15:13.140]including us, right here,
[00:15:16.050]connect and answer any questions you have,
[00:15:19.080]advice about what robots to get
[00:15:21.000]if you have the budget for that or to get grants,
[00:15:23.873]all these crazy- Yeah, or even stop by.
[00:15:26.400]Can I view your classroom?
[00:15:27.630]Can I just watch you teach,
[00:15:28.680]watch how you use these things?
[00:15:30.630]I think that would be very powerful as well.
[00:15:32.610]All right, so thank you,
[00:15:34.470]and we'll see you next time on CS4NE.
[00:15:37.884](upbeat music)

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Tech EDGE: CS4NE with Special Guest, Linda Schafer

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