Blog Journal #4 - Approaching a tech savvy world

 Computing has very quickly become ingrained in everyone's lives, and it is here to stay whether we like it or not. As educators, it is our job to help the younger generation be prepared for the world their in. After looking at all the benchmarks and the Computer Science Standards for K-12, I have varying comfort in delivering all of them. I am more than comfortable teaching K-5 since those are just the basics of computing; I start getting a little less comfortable with 6-8 and am completely lost with 9-12. As such, I thought I would focus on grade level 9. Standard 2: Problem Solving and Algorithms stood out to me as the trickiest, mainly because I do not know how to code. Sure, I took an Intro to Python course, but I was totally lost throughout the whole class, and the most I could do was identify the vocab words. I don't feel prepared, and the thought of that frightens me. If this is what 9th graders are learning, then I should also have the same knowledge and skillset if I want to keep up with this everchanging world. I do not want to get left behind. Conclusion: I should take Intro to Python again.

 On the bright side, the CPALMS tool kit is incredibly useful! I always wondered how teachers came up with any lesson plans or activities outside of what the textbook provides. CPALMS is a wonderful resource for developing clarifying activities for students that are creative and not repetitive. If you look at the Math subject, it's even more extensive. There are 503 lesson plans and MFAS formative assessments with 368 items in the category! I mean, talk about never running out of material! Math is one of those subjects that some students really get it, while others struggle to grasp the basics. Unlike reading, writing, or even science, math is very exact. There is only one right answer. The good news is that it's very direct, and there are many different strategies to use to arrive at the same conclusion. You can teach students all these different strategies using some of those lesson plans to approach math problems from different angles. Great resources!

And in case the lesson plans from CPALMS don't do it for you, just Google it! Google has become so popular that people have come to use it as a verb despite it being the name of a company and its service. It is an incredibly powerful tool that, when handled properly, gives anyone an edge over whatever task they have at hand. A lot of the strategies we learned are useful, especially the advanced search. I will say one of the things that was not covered, which I feel is underappreciated, is Google Scholar. Google Scholar is like regular Google, but it only provides peer-reviewed articles. To access it, you can either go to this link (https://scholar.google.com/) or sometimes Google will give you the suggestion "Scholarly articles for..." as the first result if it detects you're trying to find more credible sources. Google Scholar will often give you free access to many peer-reviewed articles, which can make research easier and more reliable. Although, as a teacher, you may not be using this tool too often, your students who might be researching a topic will most definitely benefit from Google Scholar.