Last week, before reading break I had the opportunity to attend a Scratch workshop to teach us about coding. Honestly, this workshop blew my mind. I went into this experience not knowing a single thing about coding or the Scratch website. While we were getting all set up at the beginning, I was panicking. Technology has never been my strong suit and I was honestly shutting down. Inside I was just telling myself that I just needed to get through the workshop. But then we started, and thanks to the amazing professionals we had helping us, it wasn’t as hard or daunting as I thought. Now I can’t wait to use it in my future classroom.
Throughout the workshop, we were shown many ways that Scratch can be used for both free time fun and learning opportunities. As an educator, this is important to me because it allows for both learning and creativity. I was also pleased to find out how much freedom you have as a teacher to create your own projects for your students. This website allows you to add little sticky notes to prompt your students or you can allow them to play around and make their own imaginative projects.
I honestly think there is so many applications for this coding website. I think it fits in nicely with the Applied, Design, Skills and Technology (ADST) subject matter present in BC’s renewed curriculum. Through programs like Scratch, students can create, innovate, tinker and explore; all important aspects of the ADST curriculum. As we were shown in the workshop, it has great potential to be cross curricular. For example, one of the projects we tinkered with was a map of Canada where the instructions prompted coders to fly a plane to different parts of the country.
Thinking about my upcoming practicum (starting next week and I am so stoked), I was inspired by the number of applications this website can have to my teaching opportunities in the grade three class I will be in. I personally made a lot of connections to the Social Studies curriculum and how it could be used to explore the cultural and technological innovations of Indigenous peoples. Students can use what they learn in class to create on Scratch. It also got me thinking about reading and word work applications for English Language Arts. In the class I will be in, there are a lot of students who struggle with reading and writing. Providing words that the students can move around into sentences and familiarize themselves with difficult words might be a fun way to use this website.
After being introduced to the Scratch website I am excited to play around with it and find more ways I can create cross curricular opportunities for my students. I think that there are many creative and imaginative applications which can engage students to make learning fun for them.
I encourage all to go make an account and explore:
