Day 1
01 Workshop Opener 02 Prev., on U3 03 Break 04 Model Lesson U3L6 05 Reflection 06 Debugging 07 Lunch 08 Curriculum Investigation 09 Assessment 10 Break 11 Conclusions and Connections 12 Scenarios 13 Wrap Up 14 Debrief

Session 1: Workshop Opener

50 minutes

discussion-based | speed dating

Purpose

Bring participants together to kick off the workshop and reflect on how things are going in the classroom. This is a place to check in on specific lesson that people have already taught, as well as pacing and teaching practices that were recommended or discussed in the previous workshop.

It is common to surface concerns during this session that can be revisited and addressed throughout the workshop.

Objectives

  • Teachers have communicated where they currently are in the curriculum. This information should hopefully match the information you received in the pre-workshop survey results.
  • Teachers are aware of the theme for the day
  • Misconceptions and existing questions have been asked and answered
  • Teachers are thinking about how things are going and what they want to work on/get help with

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup (using the supplies provided by regional partner):

  • Posters up for people to add post-its to as they come in
    • “Where are we now” - On a piece of chart paper or on the board create a histogram for teachers to add where they are in the curriculum. Reminder teachers to take out their Curriculum Guide as a guide to unit progressions.
    • Question Parking Lot - For people to put up questions they have.
  • Posters ready for Warm up and Check In:
    • “Role of the Teacher” - On a piece of chart paper, create a poster that has the words “Role of the Teacher” written in large letters.
    • "Things we know..." - On a piece of chart paper, create a poster that has the words “Things we know...” written in large letters.

Facilitator Supplies:

Teacher Materials:

Agenda

Workshop Opening Logistics (10 minutes)

Warm Up and Check In (40 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Workshop Opening Logistics (10 minutes)

Teaching Tip

Ways to Prepare for Session:

  • Reflect on teacher needs at the last workshop — what were the most common concerns? How can you check in on those concerns here?
  • Making a plan with your co-facilitator for how you plan to divide up roles during the session

As Teachers Walk In

Have a slide up at the front of the room to direct teachers to:

  • Add post-its to "Where are we now" poster
  • Kick off the Question Parking Lot chart by having participants add in anything they need to talk about when they walk in the room

(2 minutes) Attendance

Have everyone complete the attendance for the day

  • On the online workshop dashboard find your workshop
  • Follow the instructions found on your facilitator landing page to start the workshop.

(3 minutes) Introductions

Introduce yourselves to the room so they know who you are. Teachers enjoy knowing facilitators background so make sure to share some key details of who you are. Also take a few minutes to let the participants introduce themselves. (It has been a long time since the summer, and you might have some new participants.)

(5 minutes) Norms

Set up group norms for the day. Have participants share ideas to add to a norms poster in the room. If there is something that does not come out naturally facilitators may want to add their own ideas too.

Warm Up and Check In (40 minutes)

(2 minutes) Theme Introduction

Create a poster with the words “Role of the Teacher” in large letters. You will draw attention to this poster now, but you will not add anything at this point. The group will add to this poster throughout the day.

Remarks

Our learning today will be focused around an overarching theme: The Role of the Teacher. As you might have already experienced this year, the role of the teacher changes frequently in a CS classroom. Throughout the day we are going to identify the various roles of the teacher in a CS classroom and pair them with teaching strategies that you can use in your own classrooms.

One role of the teacher that we discussed together in the summer workshop is the role of the teacher as lead learner. As lead learner, the teacher’s role in the classroom is to model and encourage good learning strategies. A part of this is helping students find, develop, and use resources to support their learning. As we move through the day we are going to add to this poster to create a resource that we will all be able to use as a reference as we plan for the roles we will play in our own classrooms. During our time together today, keep this theme in mind as you reflect on the role of the teacher in various aspects of Unit 3. After each activity, we will add these ideas to our poster.

Teaching Tip

NOTE: While discussions are happening, one facilitator should circle the room while the other reads over the post-its on the wall from the "As Teachers walk In" activity. During this time, the facilitators are pulling out the topics to discuss in the whole-group share out. Likely example topics are assessments, facilitating discovery without telling students the “right” answer”, learning material along with your students, etc.

Consider having one facilitator run the discussion while the other takes notes in a google doc that is open to all participants (so they have the notes after the fact)

Discussion Goal

The goal is to jog memories and think concretely about the lessons they’ve done so far and what’s coming soon.

(3 minutes) Personal Reflection

Have teachers reflect on their own on the following and be ready to share with someone else. They don't need to answer every question but use these questions to jog their memory.

  • How have your students responded to the lessons you’ve already taught?
  • What adaptations have you made for your student needs?
  • Were there any concepts or activities in Units 1 or 2 that were challenging for you or for your students?
  • What concerns or issues do you have about the topics that are coming up soon?
  • What questions do you have/what do you want to talk about?

Teaching Tip

Some teachers have expressed feeling uncomfortable because of the name speed dating. If you would like to use a different term for it thats totally fine. One you might consider is speed networking.

(10 minutes) Speed Date Warm Up

Have participants “speed date” their responses to the prompts above, looking for advice or ideas questions or issues.

NOTE: here, speed dating means getting up and talking to someone new about your thoughts. Recommend doing 3 rounds of 3 minutes each, where participants check in with someone new for each round

(5 minutes) Share Concerns at Table

Head back to tables and share your concerns + what you learned from others

Goal: bubble up what needs to be addressed by the whole group. Jot down questions or topics on post-its and hold up for facilitators to collect

Facilitators should take the post-its and decide what issues folks are having that others in the room can help solve. Other post-it notes that may be appropriate to answer later in the day can be tabled on the question parking lot.

(15 minutes) Group Discussion

  • Facilitators prime the discussion with topics that have been brought up so far in the day, and put them to the group for everyone to answer. The goal is to pull out widely-held questions and to check in with groups on the following:
    • What student needs have you encountered and what strategies have you found that help meet those needs?
    • What’s happening with your students who are new to CS? Are they disengaging? What we can do to address that?

Teaching Tip

As lead learner, the role of the teacher is to activate prior knowledge and help students articulate their learning.

(5 minutes) Activate Prior Knowledge

Facilitator creates a poster with the words “Things we know...” in large letters.

  • (2 minutes) Independent Journaling Prompt: Think back to the summer workshop and experiences you have had teaching this course. What CS concepts have you learned so far?

  • (3 minutes) Group Share Out: Facilitator adds concepts to the “Things we know…” poster during the share out. Leaving this session, display this poster in the room. Participants can reference this resource throughout the day.

Remarks

Now that we have reflected on where we have been, it is time to continue building. As we continue to build, remember to use “Things we know…” poster as a reference resource.