CodeHS Virtual Teacher Conference 2023

Wrapping up his fifth year using CodeHS to support his curriculum and instruction, Jake Read has developed a number of grading and assessment strategies to pair alongside CodeHS's curriculum. Ranging from custom exercises that provide students with multiple programming tasks to choose from, as well as custom, objective conceptual assessments made in Google Forms and distributed through Google Classroom, he has tried to develop his own personalized and tailored approach to his use of CodeHS in the classroom. Every year brings new students, and Jake has found an incredible amount of success with these approaches, and he would love to share these strategies and others with his fellow CS educators.

Jake Read has been a full-time classroom teacher for the past fifteen years, and most recently, he has worked at the California School of the Arts - San Gabriel Valley for the past six years. He has bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and English Literature, a master’s degree in Educational Technology, and a single-subject teaching credential in English as well as Computer Science. He has started computer science programs at two different schools, and he has had the privilege of teaching Computer Science for a total of five years thus far in his career.

MazeBot is an unplugged activity (in Beta testing) using cards to guide a robot through a maze. Inspired by the AP CSP questions and Touring (a card game) this game allows students to practice creating algorithms. PDF of card fronts and backs, along with rules, will be provided to attendees. Erik is a CodeHS certified Teacher Trainer, 25-year High School teacher. He is Minecraft certified and an APCSP reader. Most of all he believes in differentiation of instruction and that all students, given the right environment, supports, and independence, can code.

Join this session to explore the potential of incorporating AI tools in the classroom. Learn more about what AI tools CodeHS is building and how to leverage AI in your classroom. The session will cover topics such as using AI to help simplify teachers' workflows, enhance student learning outcomes, and make lessons engaging and fun.

Conditionals are a core concept in Computer Science. Many of us have used the “If it’s cold outside we wear a coat. If not, we don’t wear a coat.” example. But do students really understand conditionals? In this session a lesson will be presented that will engage students, allow for individuality and creativity, and truly teach students to understand conditionals. From this session, participants will come away with a strategy and a lesson to teach students what conditionals are in Computer Science, as well as in their personal lives. The topic of the lesson is “A Day in My Life…”, demonstrating many of the conditionals in students’ lives. This session focuses on ways to teach that include many opportunities for students to include their own thoughts and life experiences. The Scratch project will result in a game that can be played by other students, and modified to fit different players.

This session will unpack what it means to partner with an instructional coach and how that partnership can accelerate computer science instruction! Participants will be exposed to coaching strategies that can support high-quality instruction and examine multiple entry points for initiating a coaching cycle. Attendees will take away strategies to advocate for instructional coaching support if their school district does not have a coaching program and will learn the first steps toward becoming an instructional coach if they have a desire to help other colleagues turbo-charge their CS instruction! Margaret Harris-Shoates is the Coordinator of Educational Technology for a school division in Virginia, where she supports computer science integration in grades K-5. In this role, she also leads a districtwide team of K-12 Instructional Innovation Coaches and Library Media Specialists. She began her career in education as a high school English teacher and spent five years as an instructional coach supporting project-based learning and technology integration. Margaret currently supports Cult of Pedagogy as a Social Media and Customer Experience Manager. You can follow her on Twitter at @MHarrisEdu.

Could we get HTML, CSS and JavaScript to work together to format a user message as a 'ransom note?' Better yet: could we do the bulk of the work using AI and ChatGPT? The answer was 'yes' but the AI code had to be tweaked with 'real' intelligence. See the results at TechNoviceTools and learn how we pulled off an AI coding heist!

Kent earned an undergraduate degree in Physics and a master’s in engineering with an emphasis on computer modeling. Although he worked as a ‘rocket scientist’ for a short time at Sandia Laboratories, his real passion has always been teaching. He has been helping students achieve their goals in mathematics and computer science for over 30 years at the same school in north Dallas. An educational leader and curriculum developer, Kent is a lifetime learner who is always looking for something new to learn and to teach.

Tammie teaches in what would be considered an extremely impoverished school just off the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Her students face challenges that few others experience, mainly a lack of resources and little to no knowledge of career pathways and opportunities to enter the field. This session will share Tammie’s experience along with how she has started a Computer Science 6-12 program in a school that had not required a single Computer Science course.

Tammie is a 10th year teacher with a Master's degree in Curriculum with an emphasis in classroom technology. She was born and raised in South Dakota and has chosen to stay and work in one of the poorest counties in the country.

Play and learn using ScratchJr and sampling CodeHS's newest Elementary Division. If you're looking for a fun and engaging way to introduce coding to young children aged 5-10, ScratchJr and CodeHS's newest Elementary Division are great places to start. ScratchJr is a visual programming language that allows children to create interactive stories, games, and animations by snapping together colorful blocks of code. By combining ScratchJr and CodeHS's Elementary Lessons, children can gain a strong foundation in coding and develop their creativity and problem-solving skills in a playful and enjoyable way. At the end of the session teachers will receive a sample lesson plan to try out in their classroom.

In this session you will learn how AP readers are scoring AP Computer Science Principles Create Performance Task projects. The presenter will discuss various tips to use while preparing students for the Create PT and go over the rubric.

A teacher with 25+ years of experience, from middle grades to university, including 5+ years of teaching AP Computer Science Principles and serving as AP Reader.

Developing and using models is a science practice that helps students to gain a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and reasoning skills. Create a physical model, investigate a scientific phenomenon, and code a simulation as you learn about using models in your classroom. Join this session to learn how scientific models can be used as a learning tool and how you can support your students in designing their own models based on class investigations.

The CodeHS Inspire Fellowship is designed to support educators who are driving change for Black, Latino, and Native American students in their computer science classrooms and communities.

Join this session to learn how these creative and innovative educators are molding young changemakers, by advocating for equity in computer science.

Play and learn using Scratch and sampling CodeHS's newest Elementary Division. Scratch is a visual programming language that allows children in 3rd grade and up, to create games, animations, and interactive stories using drag-and-drop blocks of code. By combining Scratch and CodeHS's courses, kids can learn to code, develop their problem-solving skills, and express their creativity through their own projects. At the end of the session teachers will receive a sample lesson plan to try out in their classroom.