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 12: Scenarios

30 minutes

discussion-based

Purpose

Teachers will use scenarios to discuss common student needs classrooms, and how to deal with those needs.

Objectives

  • Teachers will develop concrete strategies for addressing student concerns in the course, as well as the student's role in the course
  • Teachers will learn new ideas and approaches from one another

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • None

Facilitator Supplies:

Teacher Materials:

Agenda

Warm Up (10 minutes)

Classroom Counseling Scenarios (20 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Warm Up (10 minutes)

(2 minutes) Preamble

Remarks

At the 5-day summer workshop, we started thinking about how to recruit and retain students, which is a topic we will re-visit throughout our time together this year. Right now we’re going to shift gears to think about concrete strategies for keeping students engaged in your classroom, which is a key element to supporting students more broadly. For this session we’ll be using some classroom scenarios that will give us shared context for discussion.

Remember the goal — at the 5 day summer workshop many people pointed out that CSD is designed to be for everyone. Note that such a goal doesn’t come by being passive, and getting students through the door is only half the challenge. Once they’re in the room, you have to work to keep them there. This will be our topic of exploration today.

(1 minute) Setup

  • In this scenario, you are teaching CS Discoveries.
  • You’re currently at the end of the first month of the year.
  • You’ve noticed one of your students, Jayden, is not participating in class discussions as much as they did at the beginning of the semester, and has taken on passive roles during in-class activities.
  • In response to Jayden’s recent behavior, you’ve decided to engage Jayden in a one-on-one discussion outside of class to learn more about what’s going on.

(2 minutes) Reflect and Write

Before you begin, we have three questions about what you anticipate.

  • What are your initial thoughts about what may be going on with Jayden?
  • What’s informing these thoughts?
  • What are your goals for your one-on-one with Jayden?

(5 minutes) Share and Discuss

Focusing on the third reflection prompt above, what is our goal for this 1:1 with Jayden?

  • Example goals include: to better understand why Jayden isn't as engaged in class anymore, to help Jayden get excited about class again, to understand what I can do as a teacher to change the classroom to better serve Jayden's needs, etc.
  • As a group, you need to decide on a set of goals for the counseling session. One facilitator should record these goals while the other organizes the discussion.

Classroom Counseling Scenarios (20 minutes)

(1 minute) Setup

Remarks

At your table, you’re going to work through a couple scenes that simulate the conversation between you and Jayden. Improvise how you would act as a teacher - don't feel like you need to answer in a certain way. You have probably had conversations like this before, and as you know, each conversation will likely be different. Just keep an open mind to the variety of ways to approach the situation.

Make sure everyone has an elbow partner to work with (or a group of 3 if odd numbers).

Remarks

There will be two quotes from Jayden, and you will have three minutes per quote to work with your partner to develop a response.

(7 minutes) Case Studies

Give elbow partners three minutes per quote from Jayden to develop a response. Guide teachers to develop responses that work towards the goals established by the group during the warmup.

  1. Jayden: “I really want to be a singer. What does computer science have to do with singing?”
  2. Jayden: “I don’t really see people like me working with computers anyway.”

(10 minutes) Discussion

Spend five minutes per Jayden quote sharing teacher responses. While facilitating the discussion, focus on:

  • Drawing out examples that correspond to the goals of the counseling session (as decided by the group at the start of the session).
  • Ask groups to share both teacher responses (direct quotes) and strategies for drawing out underlying issues with students

(3 minutes) Closing Thoughts

Remarks

As we think about recruiting new students to CS in our class, it’s important that we’re supporting those students once they’re there. Classroom counseling discussions like those we’ve practiced today are a good way to understand your students’ needs, and gives you space to provide individualized support.

Give teachers a minute to talk at their tables and take note of strategies and quotes shared today that they hope to take with them back to their classroom.