'Tis the Season...for testing...

Here we are, two weeks away from an extremely well deserved break, spending a great amount of time...testing. Now is about the time that I start drawing out my plans of my latest, yet to be invented invention. This invention is called- wait for it- iBrain. No, that name isn't very creative. Test Eliminator 2000. Ehh, let's go with iBrain. Anyways, iBrain looks like a USB cable that plugs into the ear of a student- any ear. The other end plugs into a computer. You wait 5 minutes while everything the student has learned up to THAT point is downloaded into a convenient little, easy to read, spreadsheet. Bingo bango boom, you have what you need to plan the upcoming semester. Oh yeah, and all the accountability stuff too. 5 minutes is all it took.

Of course I am being facetious and thinking rather wishfully. I know. I understand the need to assess our students for both planning purposes and accountability purposes. I get it. We (my students and I) get it. I just really really wish it didn't take this long. 4 days a week for 3 weeks in the month of December is what we will have spent collecting data. Dagnabbit I wish there was an easier way. Since there isn't, we shall make the most out of it this way! #positivity #mindset #hashtag

We were able to spend some time coding this week during the nationwide movement #HourOfCode. If you haven't heard of it, basically there are a millionbillion or so resources for students to start learning computer science. President Obama is on board. So is Chris Bosh. This week is the designated #HourOfCode week but really if we want to do our best to prepare these students to live successfully in the 21st Century, we should spend way more time than just an hour this week coding with our students. If you are interested, check the websites linked below!

Coding Websites:
Hour of Code

Made With Code

MIT Scratch

code.org/

I didn't take many pictures of my students coding because we were all so enthralled in the experience together. Here are a few I did get.

#HourOfCode

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