What’s featured in this episode? 

• The use of different software to help with coding teaching, including Pyonkee & Scratch
• Which year groups use which software to aid learning 
• iPad ownership and use by the school 
• Taking on the role of computer co-ordinator; what does the role entail? 
• Team teaching with other teachers to build confidence in computing 
• Sharing best practice and learning from mistakes 
• Why it’s OK that the kids will know more than you!
• The power of networking and sharing ‘failure’ stories as well as success stories 
• Barclays Coder Dojo and Code Club 
• Is Minecraft a fad or a useful learning platform?
• CPD training for leaders and practitioners  

Tags:

Coding, Computing, Pyonkee, Scratch, Collaboration, STEM, Hackathon, CoderDojo, Year3, Animation, Minecraft, Codeclub

Quotes: 

On coding as career-enhancing: ‘it is a skill set which has really benefited me.’ ‘It’s self taught. I knew it was coming. You are looking to it to develop your knowledge.’

On the role of computer co-ordinator: ‘my role is to help teachers build up their confidence in teaching.’ ‘It’s still very new - i want to learn more’ ‘I have to as a practitioner open their eyes to see the application of computing in the real world’ 

On coding: ‘Key stage two use Pyonkee; key stage three use Scratch Junior.’ 

On students being engaged in computing: ‘One of the reasons why coding is so fun, is the fact that kids WANT to do it. They want to compute, create their own games, their own characters.’ ‘That kind of enthusiasm - it makes it easy to teach it!'

On collaborating: ‘’It's a case of sharing practice, and learning from mistakes.’ 

On Minecraft: ‘Minecraft - for better or worse they are involved in Minecraft. It’s one of those fads at the moment, I’m waiting for it to die down, but it’s something which has helped them. It has it’s benefits!’ 

On CodeClub: ‘Both genders are really into code club which is good, really good.’

On aspirations to bring robotics into the school: ‘I can imagine the kids going WHOA - coding and robots!’ 

On Barclays coder-dojo: ‘i get to see how corporations are hoping children learn how to code. Seeing them get support and making things - it’s really good.’ 'They had bowls of sweets which kept them really hyperactive.’ 

On Local Authority training sessions: ‘I really hope that that continues not just for lead teachers but for other staff as well.'

Reading and resources: 

Lauriston Primary School 

Scratch Junior 

Barclays Coder Dojo 

Minecraft