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In honor of Computer Science Education Week, celebrated December 6-12, 2020, I decided to post about some coding websites to help get you started on your journey to code and program. Let’s empower our learners by learning this 21st-century learning skill of coding. First, let’s start with the basics – mindset.
1. Mindset: Anyone can code – that’s right! YOU can learn to code. A mindset is a powerful tool; start a can-do attitude you can learn to code! You CAN do this! You may need any prerequisite s ills to learn to code. I learned this skill during an edcamp I attended a few years back with my good friends Kelsey and Nicole. A first, I was super intimidated by the word coding. B t once I jumped in and tried something new, I was encouraged and inspired to keep going, and soon I was sailing!
2. Keep it simple: Coding doesn’t’ h ve to be complicated. At first, think about boiling a task down into simple steps and take one small step at a time. Think of Bill Murray in What about Bob. He has to take baby steps each step of the way. I encourage you to do the same.
3. Get a group together: Coding is g eat when you can get a group of friends together (virtually, of course) to code together. S art a coding challenge and encourage everyone to try coding. Each semester in my college course, introduction to educational technology, we do an hour of code (well, more like ½ hour of code) as a class. We see as a class who can get the farthest but most importantly, what coding taught us beyond HTML and JAVA. Coding goes beyond C++. It teaches us perseverance, trying again, reworking, editing, trying something new, and pushing forward.
Alright, so we have everything we need. With an open mind, we are going t take small steps and find friends to go on the coding journey with us. Now, all we need is the internet, thinking positive thoughts, and having a connection. WRONG! You can start learning to code with unplugged activities – here are a few to get you started:
Ok, we did our unplugged or printable activities now, let’s get into some coding on the computer – so now we will need that good ol’ internet connection. Connected? Good, let’s check out these resources to get started:
Perhaps you want to take coding off the screen into your hands! Well, you must put fun and easy-to-use coding toys on your teacher wishlist for all ages! These coding toys are great for beginner to more advanced coders and can become more complex as you hone your coding skills. Spoiler alert I have a robot or two under the tree for me!
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